Rats......

[JamezF]

We've had the "pleasure" of having the cats bring three rats (DOA this time, fortunately) into the house over the last couple of days

James

 

[Nijal]

1 - if there is food there will be rats, so ensure they can't get any.
2 - poison is the professional's choice, but not the environmentalists.
3 - integrated pest management - use several pest control methods at once.
4 - all traps - peanut butter is the bait of choice. Check traps regularly.
5 - rats are neo-phobic, they don't like anything new. regularly disturb them.
6 - another tactic against neo-phobism - try snares instead of traps.
6 - walk the plank - barrel of water, plank up to it. small (1") piece of balsa with peanut butter. they drown.

 

[marklaverda]

I use smoke from an old bee smoker down the hole having lightly blocked off as many exits that I can find.
Just put the business end of the smoker in the hole and make an earth seal.
I burn cardboard with a scotch bonnet pepper and this gets the rats exiting the holes where i finish them off with the back of a shovel, as they come out gasping for air. Smoking pepper is very (100%) effective and no traps to set or poisons to worry about. Any rats that dont come out end up dead in the hole.

 

[hedgerow pete]

if you want i can post over to you a proper rat bait poison box as used by the proffessionals , when your finished you can send it back to me, no charges for rent.

i have a couple spare at the moment

 

[Lois]

We had some rats under a building at work, the rat man came over and put poison in the holes and filled them in. A few weeks later the worst smell in the world. It stayed for many months and sometimes we can still smell it, so be careful about sealing in the rats, the dead really smell bad!

 

[Gardenbees]

Fenn traps, ferrets and .22 rifles are all things I've found to be useful, but ultimately you need to make sure that the hidey-holes are as few, and as uncomfortable, as possible. A good blast of strong air-freshener around know nest entrance points helps too: they really hate it, and seem to stay outside more (perhaps sizing up whether something has changed, which they are very wary of). This makes them more vulnerable to shooting and trapping.

Poison is a pain: it can work (farmers often use it - on the Isle of Man it used to be given out free rather than risk a total infestation). But the rats tend to die in inaccessible places, making terrible smells. Not so good for in or around a domestic dwelling...

 

[nonstandard]

I have lived in rural locations all my life and kept chickens for about 8 years so I have had a fair amount of experience with rats. It's not much fun laying in bed at night and listening to them running around in the loft!!

I have tried most things,
Fenn traps work but need protecting from inquisitive pets and kids as do the large traditional mouse type traps. Traps also need securing to something as a trapped but still living rat will drag your expensive trap off to somewhere where you will probably never see it again.

Live traps also work and will catch multiple rats but you then need to dispatch the rat(s) oh and if you put them in the open you will probably catch allsorts. In the past I have caught squirells and the same blackbird twice.

I generally use bait blocks, buy the ones with a hole through the centre so that they can be secured on a rod or wire. I put them in boxes which I got from here. The reason for preferring the use of boxes is that if the bait is secured inside with a rod or wire it is safe for the kids and dog as well as being more economical and easier to monitor consumption. It is economical in that if the blocks are loose the rats will drag them off and stockpile them before consuming them; however if they are secured they have to consume them then and there leading to a better kill rate per refill. Monitor the consumption and when you no longer have to replace the bait you should have no rats for now; leave the bait down but keep your eye on it as nature abhors a vacuum.

 

[countryman]

rats

get on old wire coat hanger unfold it so straight bend end over so 90o thread bait blocks on (about 5/6) those lovely blue ones ,shove it down the hole where roland keeps popping out secure the end so cant be pulled in or out ,cover hole with slab or something heavy so kids or animal cant get it, check every 2 days or so rebait unit bait is no longer taken problem sorted dead roland

 

[victor meldrew]

We had some rats under a building at work, the rat man came over and put poison in the holes and filled them in. A few weeks later the worst smell in the world. It stayed for many months and sometimes we can still smell it, so be careful about sealing in the rats, the dead really smell bad!

The expression "I can smell a rat" wasn't chosen for the difficulty in Detection
VM

 

[JamezF]

The expression "I can smell a rat" wasn't chosen for the difficulty in Detection

You're not kidding. We (well, my wife, actually, on the grounds that I'm fortunately too large to reach fished out a dead rat that one of the cats had left under the bed a couple of days ago. Ye gods did it stink.

The cats are now restricted to outside and the utility room at night, so future catches (such as last night's rat) are contained.

James