RATS!!!

[Ohiogoldfever]

I?ve been struggling with rats around our property. In the past regular wood and wire rat traps seemed to get the job done but this years brood seems keen to the traps. I don?t care to poison them as we have other animals around.

Anybody have any out of the ordinary suggestions? Or maybe your retired, board and care to come man a shot gun and a lawn chair for a few days? I?ll buy beer....

 

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[villagenut]

Cats.....

 

[releventchair]

some years, it's mice for me here.

A variety of bait samples far removed from each other can help find what's good at the time.
I bait traps. then have some smaller bait samples near the set usually.

Lure can help. But like bait , what lure works right now? That could be ascent. Or a feather on a string free to move. Or a raw egg (that rats can't get to). Or a stone that looks like an egg...

You could try blending sardines with peanut butter. Mixed until sardines are only small pea sized pieces or smaller.

Having dogs , if other baits are not working , I use a breadbag twist tie to secure a piece of dry dogfood to a traps bait pan/trigger.
I also make "cubby" sets. Traps covered by being inside a container. Keeps weather off , and a critter crawling in usually ends up pinched.

Do be scent free handling your traps. Even the site we put a trap can pick up scent. Our scent can linger a long time. Some rats don't care and associate our scent with just us being around. Rats that associate human scent with trouble , sidestep loud human scent.

Rats have been adapting to persecution a long time.
Change what you're trying . And always have an experiment brewing in at least one set. Even a blind set unbaited at just the right pinch point....And we can create funnels/pinch points too.

 

[tamrock]

https://pethelpful.com/dogs/Top-10-Dog-Breeds-Ideal-for-Catching-Rats
My little Yorkie - Maltese mix, goes insane when it comes to an opportunity to kill vols and baby bunnies. No rats around here, but if we did, I'm sure she be relentless on trying to kill one of those.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Having similar problems this year in our chicken coop. My old pump-up Benjamin pellet pistol gave up the ghost so I bought a C02 pistol/rifle (Diana Chaser) with a red-dot holographic sight and a "tactical" flashlight under the barrel. In the past eight evenings (two trips to the barn to "sweep" the area) I have shot 15 rats. Ours are roof rats. Since the beginning of the year I have also placed a Have-a-hart in the coop with the chickens (six trapped there) and unbaited Victor snap traps along the barn walls where the chickens (and dog) don't have access (11 killed in those). I also have placed Tomcat posion stations (yes, I hated to do that) which I loaded with an apple "flavored" block bait. The active ingredient is Bromethalin. I was VERY reluctant to use the posion as we have "volunteer" barn cats. Our are indoor bums . . . but that's fine.

I'm trying to remain careful with the bait blocks - the three stations I use are locked and I check the whole area every morning for carcasses BEFORE the dog goes out. The traps were basically ignored until I tried smearing peanutbutter on the blocks and a little dab at the enterance of each trap. Immediate success. So far I have removed 8 rats but I find "bits" where the survivors and mice have helped themselves to the easy protien. I open the barn and listen for the flies. They help pinpoint the deceased rats. All told 40 have been removed this year. Unknown how many are deceased in various tunnels and warrens under wood-piles, hay bales and behind equipment. There is definately the smell of death permeating the barn and attached coop.

The red-dot sight is not a night sight, and the rats skedaddle as soon as the flashlight goes on. So I pre-align as best as I can with the available light and click on the light with my left thumb. Rats "talk" and I have homed in on some by listening to their little "mews" and "meeps". Good sport as they seem very seldom to pause in indecision.

The target is five shots from 25 feet - good rat distance. And the supressor really does almost eliminate the sound. Without it the pistol is half as loud as a .22 LR +/-. With it there is just a little "sup" noise.

 

[Honest Samuel]

A big amount of mass potatoes will kill them.

 

[ToddsPoint]

That target you shot is probably a collectors item! I've never seen a rat here, only deer mice. Lots of deer mice. Gary

 

[Ohiogoldfever]

Thanks for taking the time to respond guys. I’ll try a few of these things and report back. I do like the idea of picking up a new plinker. I like that more than the 4-10 I was considering posting up with.

 

[Tony in SC]

I got to put one of those in my arsenal!!

Having similar problems this year in our chicken coop. My old pump-up Benjamin pellet pistol gave up the ghost so I bought a C02 pistol/rifle (Diana Chaser) with a red-dot holographic sight and a "tactical" flashlight under the barrel. In the past eight evenings (two trips to the barn to "sweep" the area) I have shot 15 rats. Ours are roof rats. Since the beginning of the year I have also placed a Have-a-hart in the coop with the chickens (six trapped there) and unbaited Victor snap traps along the barn walls where the chickens (and dog) don't have access (11 killed in those). I also have placed Tomcat posion stations (yes, I hated to do that) which I loaded with an apple "flavored" block bait. The active ingredient is Bromethalin. I was VERY reluctant to use the posion as we have "volunteer" barn cats. Our are indoor bums . . . but that's fine.

I'm trying to remain careful with the bait blocks - the three stations I use are locked and I check the whole area every morning for carcasses BEFORE the dog goes out. The traps were basically ignored until I tried smearing peanutbutter on the blocks and a little dab at the enterance of each trap. Immediate success. So far I have removed 8 rats but I find "bits" where the survivors and mice have helped themselves to the easy protien. I open the barn and listen for the flies. They help pinpoint the deceased rats. All told 40 have been removed this year. Unknown how many are deceased in various tunnels and warrens under wood-piles, hay bales and behind equipment. There is definately the smell of death permeating the barn and attached coop.

The red-dot sight is not a night sight, and the rats skedaddle as soon as the flashlight goes on. So I pre-align as best as I can with the available light and click on the light with my left thumb. Rats "talk" and I have homed in on some by listening to their little "mews" and "meeps". Good sport as they seem very seldom to pause in indecision.

The target is five shots from 25 feet - good rat distance. And the supressor really does almost eliminate the sound. Without it the pistol is half as loud as a .22 LR +/-. With it there is just a little "sup" noise.

 

[DizzyDigger]

I bought a single break-action/pump pellet rifle about 15 years
back, and it came with a full-sized 4x scope. Doubt I've put 5
rounds through it since I bought it..

Think I'll make me some type of safe, indoor target (with backstop)
and see if I can get that scope sighted in.

The world's greatest mouser recently went to kitty heaven, sadly. Callie
was 17, a real character, and rodents feared her name...

 

[jeff of pa]

You might try planting these in or around your home to keep the mice away: any type of mint, amaryllis, sweet pea, lavender, daffodils, wood hyacinth (or squill), grape hyacinth, alliums, catnip, camphor plant, elderberry, euphorbias, and wormwood. * Oak and bay leaves are also known to repel rodents.

 

[smokeythecat]

I have a Stoeger Air Rifle, .22 caliber. It's the kind you break in half to cock, and I THINK it shoots about 1600 fps so can take out a rat or even a larger animal. I don't really shoot it, but keep it in case something gets after the chickens and won't leave and I don't want to traumatize the neighbors.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

That target you shot is probably a collectors item! I've never seen a rat here, only deer mice. Lots of deer mice. Gary

Yeah. I still have a pad of them I figure I purchased in 1975 from an older fellow who repaired airguns and Coleman lanterns & stoves in his basement. They were probably 25 years old when I bought them. I also have an old Webley Tempest pistol that needs new springs and seals . . . but it was cheaper to buy a new pistol than the bench-charge just to have that looked at.

When we first moved here I occasionally saw timber rats (look like big deer mice) in our pasture. About two years ago something - maybe a inhabited bale of hay(?) - changed in our coop and we started noticing turds and tunnels all over the place. That was my introduction to roof rats.

Some years ago we were in Portsmouth, NH and walking along a wharf THE ADMIRAL noticed two "woodchucks" out on a grassy knoll about 20 feet away. They were Norway rats as big as our medium sized cats! Turns out they had decimated the local duck population that nested in the grassy spots beside the shore. I'd be out with 12 gauge or a centerfire rifle if we had them in the barn/coop. I never believed the "City Rat" stories until I saw that pair.

 

[releventchair]

Having similar problems this year in our chicken coop. My old pump-up Benjamin pellet pistol gave up the ghost so I bought a C02 pistol/rifle (Diana Chaser) with a red-dot holographic sight and a "tactical" flashlight under the barrel. In the past eight evenings (two trips to the barn to "sweep" the area) I have shot 15 rats. Ours are roof rats. Since the beginning of the year I have also placed a Have-a-hart in the coop with the chickens (six trapped there) and unbaited Victor snap traps along the barn walls where the chickens (and dog) don't have access (11 killed in those). I also have placed Tomcat posion stations (yes, I hated to do that) which I loaded with an apple "flavored" block bait. The active ingredient is Bromethalin. I was VERY reluctant to use the posion as we have "volunteer" barn cats. Our are indoor bums . . . but that's fine.

I'm trying to remain careful with the bait blocks - the three stations I use are locked and I check the whole area every morning for carcasses BEFORE the dog goes out. The traps were basically ignored until I tried smearing peanutbutter on the blocks and a little dab at the enterance of each trap. Immediate success. So far I have removed 8 rats but I find "bits" where the survivors and mice have helped themselves to the easy protien. I open the barn and listen for the flies. They help pinpoint the deceased rats. All told 40 have been removed this year. Unknown how many are deceased in various tunnels and warrens under wood-piles, hay bales and behind equipment. There is definately the smell of death permeating the barn and attached coop.

The red-dot sight is not a night sight, and the rats skedaddle as soon as the flashlight goes on. So I pre-align as best as I can with the available light and click on the light with my left thumb. Rats "talk" and I have homed in on some by listening to their little "mews" and "meeps". Good sport as they seem very seldom to pause in indecision.

The target is five shots from 25 feet - good rat distance. And the supressor really does almost eliminate the sound. Without it the pistol is half as loud as a .22 LR +/-. With it there is just a little "sup" noise.

Fine shooting.
Nice Ford!

 

[SlateBeltDigger]

Putting a few fake owl or hawk decoys around will scare the begeezus out of them and they'll hit the road.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I have an Airedale Terrier and if he doesn't put the fear to flight into them a bird statue probably won't. ;-)

 

[jeff of pa]

Putting a few fake owl or hawk decoys around will scare the begeezus out of them and they'll hit the road.

yea perhaps a loud speaker or when you go off play this

 

[SlateBeltDigger]

I have an Airedale Terrier and if he doesn't put the fear to flight into them a bird statue probably won't. ;-)

LOL touche' Charlie!!!!!!!

 

[DizzyDigger]

Putting a few fake owl or hawk decoys around will scare the
begeezus out of them and they'll hit the road.

Had one of those sitting next to my front porch...the 'coons
ripped it's head off..

 

[newnan man]

I used to have 5 aviaries with various parakeets & conures. They are messy & the rats had a great time! I wouldn't use poison but had a BB gun & got a few. Also peanut butter on snap traps got a few more. 2 bad ass Siamese cats did the trick. I only have 1 cage of birds now, still have my 2 clowns & no rats for years.