Rat problem!

[BIGAL]

Can anyone recommend or suggest how to get rid of rats? We have a farm cottage that we do not often use and on our recent return noticed that rats are trying to set up nests in the cottage as wells as eating through plastic etc etc

We are concerned about using regular rat poison as if they die in the roof this could leave a stench?

[maaka]

for ten years I was a Wildlife Ranger caring for World Endangered birds on the island where I live..I did three years of rat trapping, and research. day after day winter to summer, come rain come shine. not one of my better experiences, but someone has got to learn how best to eradicate rats from off shore islands...so I know where you are coming from BigAL.. they love plastic, even eat the wiring under the bonnet of the car...to be honest if one is trapping then it needs to be done EVERYDAY, (peanut butter/ oats mix ) thats if you do not use a poison like Brodificom, but obviously you are not at the farm cottage ( how quaint ) sorry I tease..you would struggle to find a Self Loading rat trap, one thats keeps on keeping on when you are not there. Though I know an old lady who made one our of a jerry can with chorline bleach inside and alittle tipping draw bridge with the bait at the other side..the rats just fell into the solution and dissolved over time..I was never a poison man, mainly because the land I worked on the landowners were to hot on poisons, but after ten years of working with endangered birds, and other resource managers, one needs to use abit of poison if one wants to stem the tide..you might end up with one or two up in the roof, but the smell wont last to long, as they decay quite fast, and other little creatures like ants and flys and lizards and what have you will clean them up...my only caution with using poisons, is that you cover the bait with a small wooden box with chicken mess as a door, and keep it off the ground so birds and other species dont go for it...the idea is to try and make your house / shed/ garage rat proof so they cannot gain entry, then you can have a half dozen boxs around outside...some rats become trap shy, and some become poison shy, but if you can learn thier life cycle them you can trap just before they come out of hibernation and look around for a mate, and during the months they are active..here they nest in winter and come out for summer, basically when birds have eggs, fruit is ripening on the trees, and seeds are about on trees..generally I have found that all species are linked together like that..its abit like the Artic, everything comes out in the summer, and sleeps during the cold winter, but in Thailand I have not as yet worked out that cycle, but if you watch around your farm, you will know in time...if you can trap or poison them before they mate, then you can get numbers down real fast..The hard part is getting them down.....maybe if you are not using that cottage for afew months, I will come and do some trapping while having a nice country holiday....

[KB_Texas]

As maaka said, you need to be around to use traps, but I use the rodent traps they sell at the night markets, etc. I bait them with leftover pork, and that seems to work best for the rats here. When I tried peanut butter, they did not touch it. So far, in 6 months, I have removed 28 rats from the attic.

KB

[BIGAL]

What terrific advice, had not thought about traps & you day they sell these in the night markets! Looks like you had good results. Also had not thought about the fact that they decay fast with the help of other creatures so going to get armed today & it is WAR tommorow!

Will feedback the results.

Thankyou

[maaka]

BigAl, just remember to get rat traps, not mouse traps. they should be the size of a small brick...or even those mesh box cages are good, but you then need a drum of water to throw the cage in order to drown the bugger..rat trapping is a messy business, germs and blood and nonsense, so wear gloves if using spring loaded traps...I always used to hammer a couple of 2inch nails up thru the bottom of the normal wooden traps, so you can spike old rattus rattus on as well, because sometimes you might just get its leg, and he will chew his leg off to get away, I kid you not...start of spring to end of summer is the time to hit them hard...

[maaka]

sorry Tex, didnt see your opinion until now..yes Siam rats probably wouldnt know what Peanut butter is...its a kiwi things.. I wonder if aussies use vegemite..hahahaha...I have a couple of plastic snap traps, as the wooden ones used to last me only one season in the forest and rain, and the salt air. The good thing about the plastic ones is that some of them have a small bowl type thing, rather than a couple of barbs to jam your bait on..yes, being a meat eater I would cook up my sausages or what have you, and then drain the fat into the little trap bowls, or just drip it over some of my wooden barb traps, and that saved me from touching the trap by 50%, and I didnt have to load it everytime...they were dead before they even got thier head in the bowl...

I used to try all kinds of things. I had a 60 traps set out over 1500m, thru five different vegetation types, foreshore to mature forest, and the data gathered over three years , was to help with funding, but also was put into some scientific paper and presented in Hawaii at some syposium on eradicating rats from off shore islands..I actually discovered a type of rat that was never on the island before..Then I helped with supplying rat tails for DNA testing to see where the Maori rat , Kiore, which was brought to NZ supposedly by Maori came from. Funnily enough the DNA was traced back to China. Here was Maori thinking for the last 100yrs that they themselves came to NZ from the direction of Peru, when in fact, they and the Kiore rat was traced back to Taiwan...the things you learn from rats...

[KB_Texas]

BigAl, just remember to get rat traps, not mouse traps. they should be the size of a small brick...or even those mesh box cages are good, but you then need a drum of water to throw the cage in order to drown the bugger..rat trapping is a messy business, germs and blood and nonsense, so wear gloves if using spring loaded traps...I always used to hammer a couple of 2inch nails up thru the bottom of the normal wooden traps, so you can spike old rattus rattus on as well, because sometimes you might just get its leg, and he will chew his leg off to get away, I kid you not...start of spring to end of summer is the time to hit them hard...

Yes, the mesh cages are the ones I use. They are pretty good at catching the rats, as I have had no sprung traps without a rat/mouse in it. Just be sure to set the catch loop thingie to where it will fall when the door closes. And yes, it is messy, so wear gloves. I hose the trap off after catching and releasing the critter, then let it air dry before setting it again.

My wife, being Buddhist, will not allow me to kill them until they are caught twice. So I mark them with red paint and throw them as far into the pond as I can fling them. So far, no repeats. If it were up to me, I would use a long ice pick through the top of the cage, or a 10 penny spike that's been sharpened, but in this regard, it is a little thing so I make the wife happy.

KB

[KB_Texas]

sorry Tex, didnt see your opinion until now..yes Siam rats probably wouldnt know what Peanut butter is...its a kiwi things..

Heh, I don't think even rats would eat vegemite. But neither rats nor mice seemed to like the PB, and as much as it costs here, it is probably a good thing.

the things you learn from rats...

I tell my wife often that 'science is your friend'. We've come a long way in being able to trace DNA since the early days.

KB

[parrot]

We live in the countryside, so we have our share of jungle rats who like to take up residence in our roof or under the hood of our truck. After 15 years of trial and error, here's what works best for us.
Buy 4 or so of the steel containment traps that are sold in nearly every market/village hardware store. They're about 12 inches long, 4 inches wide/high, with a trap door. Set a 2" piece of fresh (or dried) corn on the hook inside the trap. Set the traps along the walls outside your home. The rats, even the ones in the attic, will usually scamper around at night outside the home looking for food.
If you're home and want to dispose of the caught rat, drop the trap in a bucket of water for a few minutes (bonus: if you've wondered what water boarding might be like, you can view watch the rat drown......or if you already know what water boarding is like, then you can do something else while the rat takes his final gasp).
Our dogs can hear a trap door snap shut from far away.....when they do, they'll grab the trap and the three dogs can usually (not always) get the trap door open and kill the fleeing rat.
Simply reset the trap for another.
We've tried glue traps, poison, peanut butter, sticky rice, you name it, we've tried it. Corn works the best (for us).
Also, if you're away from your vehicle for more than a few days, try setting a few large moth balls on top of the air filter or just under the engine compartment. Seems that rats (and moths) don't like the smell.

[Prenders88]

Get a Cat

[jackspratt]

Get a Cat

Nope - I reckon they are more of an (introduced and therefore exotic) affliction than the rats.

Get rid of the domestic cats first, and then worry about the rats. =D>

[maaka]

a trained Jack Russell is way better..

[BIGAL]

Ok looks like corn is the way to go for the traps, thank you!

Not there often enough to feed a cat. My Jack russel is really quick onto them when we arrive during the day but seems they are more active at night.

Just seen a documentary on various viruses etc on discovery....geez the flees on rats are bad! Makes me more determined to get them out.

[KB_Texas]

If you run out of corn, pork works too. I've never used corn, only pork.

And yeah, the fleas of rats are particularly bad, as in Black Death (Bubonic plague) bad, not to mention others almost as nasty. Be careful that you stay well away from the live rat unless you are wearing gloves, and if the rat is dead, be really careful (long sleeve shirt, gloves, carry it well away from the body, etc.) as the fleas will be looking for a warm meal. (you)

KB

[BIGAL]

Ok 4 traps laid yesterday with corn bait!

[maaka]

good going BigAl....
with all my traps I put a hole in them, and ran some twine thru so I could tie the trap to something..some rats will run off with the thing, and if you cant find it nearby, then thats money and time down the drain..

always wash your hands afterward..we had a fella here die after getting a wound infected with rats wee and poo..and I have had them fleas, which are a bugger to try and get rid of..now you can see why it is best to kill the ruddy things..good hunting anyway..after afew kills in one location, move your traps around...

[fatbob]

In one of the mice plagues in Aus years ago for fun more than anything as it had no bearing on getting rid of the pests we lay a wine bottle on the kitchen bench wrapped in a towell to stop it moving, we rubbed cooking oil around the neck of the bottle put a lump of cheese in the end with a bucket of water under it, everyday we got over 50 + mice.

[Thailander]

I've seen electric traps used with success, they are about shoe box size with a built in battery and are baited with the usual stuff, peanut butter etc. rodent enters at the front, steps on a live area inside and "old sparky" sends him to heaven in double quick time !.

[KB_Texas]

Ok 4 traps laid yesterday with corn bait!

So did you catch a bunch/gaggle/herd/horde/whatever many rats are called of rats?

KB

[writemotive]

"Rat Pack"