The Old Folks Home

[superchemicalgirl]

I had terrible luck with rats a few years ago. They are smart and suspicious. Not sure if this would work for your situation, but all that worked was shooting them (and after a while they got wise, but moved on).

I used .22 ratshot. Be careful, it can jam your weapon because the end of it is crimped and opens up to release the pellets, but then the shell is too long to be ejected normally by your gun. I have three .22s that I use pretty regularly: a shotgun, a handgun with a magazine and a revolver and it got stuck in all of them so you only have 1 shot.

 

[drumstick diva]

This is when you hire members from the "working Jack Russell clubs," - they love it and it keeps their dogs sharp.

 

[drumstick diva]

Rats are very sharp and wary. One rat will try something new, the others wait to see if it dies. If it does none of them will eat the same thing. Kinda like food tasters for a king.

I remember here on BYC that someone suggested leaving out a dish of instant mashed potato flakes. and some distance away bowl of water. Drinking the water causes the flakes to expand. Rats(apparently) can't vomit and die. That's all I've got.

 

[drumstick diva]

Oh a neighbor with a rat problem years ago, poured kerosene down the holes and then tossed in his lighted cigars. He said that worked just fine. I would think he'd wait till it was just a cigar butt. Can't imagine him wasting cigars like that. Also said cigar smoke kept wasps and bees away from him. None the less, I never smoked any.

 

[Cryss]

Oh a neighbor with a rat problem years ago, poured kerosene down the holes and then tossed in his lighted cigars. He said that worked just fine. I would think he'd wait till it was just a cigar butt. Can't imagine him wasting cigars like that. Also said cigar smoke kept wasps and bees away from him. None the less, I never smoked any.

I haven't had any rat problems in my 14 months with chickens. I hope I don't ever! But if I do you can be sure I'll be trying the cigar method. Well, minus the kerosene. Aw heck, I guess I'll just be smoking a cigar. Yup. Cigar smoking, chicken raising grandma.

 

[getaclue]

I was doing fine with them, until Dh messed around in my coop. I was also using a different brand of bait, which seemed to work better. I had one rat hole going into the tack room section. When I noticed activity, I would set out some baits. Within a couple days, no more activity. I've been doing this for about a year. The sentinel (taste tester) rat would die, so I guess it would signal the others not to come to the coop. Dh went out a few weeks ago, and covered the hole. I was NOT happy. Of course, the next time, it/they dug a new hole in one of the coops. I covered that one, and got them re-directed into an empty coop. I didn't want to go all the way to the next town, so I bought Tom Cat baits, figuring one is as good as the other. NOPE. They don't like the Tom Cat. That's what prompted me to put the thin layer of peanut butter on them, so maybe they'll like the taste of that better.

 

[sourland]

@getaclue , Tom Cat has never worked for me.

 

[drumstick diva]

There are even chocolate peanut butters - yum. Maybe rats would like that better.

 

[drumstick diva]

Tom Cat never worked for me either and their plastic traps never sprung. Nuts to them.

 

[getaclue]

I'll go next pay day, to the big city, and get the ones that work. In the meantime, I thought maybe the peanut butter might work. I also wanted to give the plaster of paris mixture a try. Some say it works, others say it doesn't. Regardless, I will be getting the baits that I know will work, within a short time.