Roof Rats. I can’t remove the food (citrus)

[Allthefloofs]

Hardware cloth works wonders.. Use lattice for shade.. You live in AZ, you know what that is.. Used to live there and loved it! Giant roaches, chameleons parting like the Red Sea, pulling back your covers looking for snakes in your bed and looking for scorpions in the corner of your shower.. Took me a full year of pounding out my boots every morning before I realized I didn't live there anymore.

I particularly hate the scorpions. I was chilling out with my chicks one day and I had no clue but one crawled up my pants leg in broad daylight and proceeded to sting me 15 times. Bark scorpion. My leg was numb in one spot for 3 months. I had cramping and heart palpitations for 24 hours. I have now devoted my life to murdering them.

 

[writerskramp]

I particularly hate the scorpions. I was chilling out with my chicks one day and I had no clue but one crawled up my pants leg in broad daylight and proceeded to sting me 15 times. Bark scorpion. My leg was numb in one spot for 3 months. I had cramping and heart palpitations for 24 hours. I have now devoted my life to murdering them.

That's how I got stung nineteen times by ground hornets.. as a kid. Didn't see em' coming.. Crawled up my pant leg.. I now have first strike capability.. Glass pop bottle and petrol..

 

[Al Gerhart]

Very off topic, but there is a great video somewhere of a guy trying to keep squirrels out of his bird feeder by making more and more elaborate obstacle courses and its hilarious.

I have seen that video. Those squirrels always found a way.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Well I hate to rehire these girls. We enjoy the, so much. But I don’t need rats in the food. Luckily our house is block and we have all the trees trimmed away from the house. But every neighbor has citrus and we are a block or two from horse property. I think a better feeder might work as suggested but these rates couldn’t reach the feeder on their hind legs. To small. And the birds have to put their head down in the feeder so how can a rat eat in there.

Rats can and will jump yards high if needed. As far as a bird having to put their head down in a feeder to eat, that isn't stopping them either. All that stops rats is a treadle feeder with a stiff spring holding the door shut. If you have any smaller birds they will quickly learn to eat when another bird is eating.

 

[Windrider]

Well I hate to rehire these girls. We enjoy the, so much. But I don’t need rats in the food. Luckily our house is block and we have all the trees trimmed away from the house. But every neighbor has citrus and we are a block or two from horse property. I think a better feeder might work as suggested but these rates couldn’t reach the feeder on their hind legs. To small. And the birds have to put their head down in the feeder so how can a rat eat in there.

I feel for you. People in colder parts of the country don't understand that roof rats are a whole other type of rat and the usual methods used on black/Norway rats aren't particularly effective. The rats in my area, Los Angeles, are also roof rats.

Roof rats are the original species that the white lab rat came from. Even regular rats are smart and adaptable, but these guys take it to another level. They are so difficult to control because they are extremely trap shy and suspicious of any new thing and can learn from watching other rats get killed.

One tip I got from a professional, was to get a LOT of snap traps and put them high on fences, etc where the rats are. Bait, but don't set them for WEEKS. In other words, you are feeding the rats on the traps to get them used to the traps (works best in winter when there is little other food). Then one night set them all. BAM! You will get a bunch of dead rats that night. But that will be it. You won't be able to trap anymore rats for many months, as any survivors will have seen the other rats dead in the traps and won't go near them. I am serious.

Live traps definitely work better for roof rats, because the trapped rat is there still alive for the other rats to see it wasn't harmed, but you still have to wait quite a while for them to get over being spooked by the presence of the trap. You still have to deal with disposing of the live rats (I use an ether bucket).

Using these methods, I still can't get all the rats, but it thins them out. My coop/run is small and totally enclosed in hardware cloth, even the floor of the run under the dirt. Food is not left out at night. I also have fruit trees and a garden, also fully enclosed (although those plant "runs" just have an apron, no floor).

Good luck, it is a hard fight!

 

[Al Gerhart]

Ha ha. the rats stand on their back legs and eat WITH my birds. From a treadle feeder.
[/QUOTE

Yeah, if a hen tolerates the rat, she opened the door so it can eat. Have you thought about setting two patio blocks up, one to just catch the front edge of the feeder and the second back at least 6" away so that the treadle just hits it? The rat couldn't stand on the ground and eat that way. Or hang the feeder 8" off the ground and lay a cinder block down so that the treadle bottoms out on the cinder block. Then you have a 8" deep moat to prevent the rats from reaching the feed.

That is very strange though. Usually if the instructions are followed the rats never learn that feed is in the feeder and they leave before they starve. Maybe if the rats had already been feeding with the chickens during the day they would figure out to eat with the hens.

 

[Bill752]

I have heard good things abbot them too, but it also makes you think, poor rat! I mean, they are just stuck there, dying of thirst and hunger. That is a terrible death don't you think? I don't know , I don't win kI could use them for that reason.

Yes, you could allow them to die a slow lingering death or you can choose to hasten their demise by drowning, crushing their skulls, or whatever humane way you can devise. They are not your friend and the more quickly you get rid of them then the more feed your poultry can enjoy & convert to eggs & meat.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Brutal advice but true none the less. Sympathy cannot survive pitted against logic if you eat meat, even a vegetarian diet means billions of creatures are wiped out using poison in order to protect the crops.

 

[bryan99705]

consider a chicken tractor. the chickens are protected, you can design shades so it doesn't get too hot, chickens get fresh ground every time it moves, and chickens only poop and peck where you want them to

 

[Allthefloofs]

I feel for you. People in colder parts of the country don't understand that roof rats are a whole other type of rat and the usual methods used on black/Norway rats aren't particularly effective. The rats in my area, Los Angeles, are also roof rats.

Roof rats are the original species that the white lab rat came from. Even regular rats are smart and adaptable, but these guys take it to another level. They are so difficult to control because they are extremely trap shy and suspicious of any new thing and can learn from watching other rats get killed.

One tip I got from a professional, was to get a LOT of snap traps and put them high on fences, etc where the rats are. Bait, but don't set them for WEEKS. In other words, you are feeding the rats on the traps to get them used to the traps (works best in winter when there is little other food). Then one night set them all. BAM! You will get a bunch of dead rats that night. But that will be it. You won't be able to trap anymore rats for many months, as any survivors will have seen the other rats dead in the traps and won't go near them. I am serious.

Live traps definitely work better for roof rats, because the trapped rat is there still alive for the other rats to see it wasn't harmed, but you still have to wait quite a while for them to get over being spooked by the presence of the trap. You still have to deal with disposing of the live rats (I use an ether bucket).

Using these methods, I still can't get all the rats, but it thins them out. My coop/run is small and totally enclosed in hardware cloth, even the floor of the run under the dirt. Food is not left out at night. I also have fruit trees and a garden, also fully enclosed (although those plant "runs" just have an apron, no floor).

Good luck, it is a hard fight!

I turn my zap traps off for a week or two at a time then turn them all on in a night. I then turn them off and move them around for another two weeks. It still is hit or miss. I used to work with research rats and they are the most incredibly smart animals. I actually had to quit that job because I could tell they almost had a sense of humor and they loved me. It's so hard for me to kill them but I love the chickens more...