You Dirty RAT!

[Gelky]

I recently noticed that rats have been getting into my coop. At first it was a few droppings but then I noticed my feed has been disappearing rather quickly. So then of course it means RATS, not just one rat.

I put out a rat trap (snap trap type) and that for 4 straight nights I have have trapped one rat a night (4 rats/4 nights! YUCK!). I am not sure how big a rat colony can get, but how big can a rat colony be?

I know from this morning that I still have more rats to deal with because each night when I catch a rat. I see a dead rat in the morning and all of the bait (peanut butter) is gone. Those sick little creatures would continue eating from the trap even another of their colleagues have been caught and killed right next to them.

I live in a city. My coop is in my back yard. I have no neighbors in the area where my coop is, just a 2 lane road which is somewhat busy. I assume the colony is on the other side of the fence to my backyard (city property). They hop the fence and get to the feed, the hop back over when they stolen my food. I prefer not to use poison because I rather not have a colony of rats off and die on the other side of my fence. Resulting in decaying smells and such.

Here is an earlier version picture of my coop area (the welded wire fencing is higher now around coop and hen house because of an escape). I placed the trap on top of the hen house. So the chickens don't have access to the trap area.

From the look of my feed this morning, I still have more.

With that said, how big does a rat colony get? How long should I expect to continue trapping rats?

Thanks!

 

[sticksoup]

Hi- I can't answer you about rat colonies and the like- but we've been dealing with the rats too since we got chickens. We don't want to do poison, or use it very seldom. We've caught a few dozen in the live animal traps~ but I think the rats breed faster than we can catch them. But now we have no rats. No rat poop evidence, no nothing.

I hate to say this- but my DH picked up one of those silly "seen on TV" invisible noise things that is supposed to ward of rodents from Walgreens. It was about $20, I think. I scoffed at him, told him it was a waste of money and the invisible noise would bother the chickens. But... since he plugged it in- not a rat turd since. And the chickens look/act normal.

I'm not one to plug goofy products but I really love the lack of rats. Now if I can find something for the mosquitos.

 

[sticksoup]

Clarify- The product was from Walgreens, not the rats. That sentance reads funny.

 

[WildWoodsWoman]

The rodent war continues here. Just when I think I must have them all......they're baaaackkk. Too bad chickies and duckies can't reproduce at the same rate! I don't know how to get rid of the entire colony. Wish I did.

I won't use poisons as the poison is just too risky and I doubt it would wipe out the entire population anyway.

 

[Gelky]

Dozens?

UGH! Not what I wanted to hear but thanks.

Maybe I need to get myself a sentry gun. Except with BB's

Well more traps for sure then. no electrical to the coop. so no sound thingie.