RATS!!!!!!!!

[jackal68]

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations about these parasites. They look like roof rats. their droppings are the roof rat kind. I found droppings under my bbQ. Should I sticky pad these bad boys? Could they be coming from my house or neighbours? I live in a decent middle class area, with a field on the backside of my property. Any help would be cool!

[Joey]

Get a nice big Boa or Python for a pet, problem solved

[Headhunter]

Musky bait!

Get a cedar plank and giver a go!

HH

[charlesn]

Pretty serious issue. They are vermin and known to carry disease. I'd try the kinds of poisons that will dry up their insides so they kind of shrivel up and die in their hole or wherever they live.

 

Maybe even call a professional to deal with it before it gets worse. I live next to a big field and field mice used to be a big issue, then we called a professional company in (brain cramp - can't remember the name - maybe PCO) and since then we've been good.

 

All rodents give me the heebie jeebies.

 

Good luck with it!

 

Charles

[ckrb2007]

A 1/0 or 2/0 circle hook baited with a clump of peanut butter on a spring loaded tip-up should do the trick. Then you'll need an old-timers muskie club to finish it off........then the cedar plank may be in order.

Seriously, I'd go grab a few of those large rat-traps from the hardware store. Put peanut butter on the trigger......not cheese!! hahaha

[Headhunter]

Try using a piece of "Fruit Roll Up" on the trap... rub it with our fingers to make it plyable, then put it on the trap. It will harden and the rodent will try like H E double hockey sticks pull it off the trap.

They are attracked to the scent.

HH

[bigugli]

Couple of Jack Russels or daschunds running loose in the yard will solve problem.

[mercman]

find where they are comin from. they usually follow walls or fences cause the cant see well in the dark. you sould see a dark trail on walls and around rocks where thier fur leaves an oily trail.

trap them by placing traps on thier runs. they always use the same trails cause they follow thier own scent. and dont use cheese. only cartoon rats eat cheese

 

peanut butter is best. sticky paper isnt any good. iv'e used it and all i had was butt hair stuck to it next day

 

not mine!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

[GBW]

google "fly bait and coke" is all I have to say...

[smally21]

rat poison - i beleive warfarin was the stuff mentioned earlier works great but you gotta figure out where they are coming from or their buddies will just move in. plus with poison you have to make sure you dont get some collateral damage like your daughters cat or something. there are humane traps out there that you can buy or rent (usually for squirrels and coons). not sure why they call them humane as most people just kill what's inside!

Edited August 25, 2010 by smally21

[craigdritchie]

Problem with just whacking 'em is, if you get rid of the rats you see, others will simply move in and take their place. You need to make your place less attractive so they don't have a reason to visit in the first place.

 

Bigugli hit it on the head - get a dog and your problem is over.

 

Barring that, you need to keep the rats in the field and out of your yard. Rodents will only venture into a yard for one of two things - food, and shelter. Keep the area around the BBQ absolutely spotless at all times, and be sure to burn it for a few minutes after you take the food off, to incinerate any scraps remaining on the grill. Then close up any spots around the yard that could provide rodents with a place to hole up over the winter (like under the deck, under sheds, pool houses, hot tubs, etc). And get rid of any thick ground plants (ivy or shrubs) they can hide under. Keep the lawn mowed short, especially near the field, so they feel exposed traveling back and forth. Basically, make it as uninviting as possible.

 

Doesn't matter what kind of area you live in - rats and mice are everywhere. If you back on to a field or a ravine, then you'll run into them now and then.

[John]

Problem with just whacking 'em is, if you get rid of the rats you see, others will simply move in and take their place. You need to make your place less attractive so they don't have a reason to visit in the first place.

 

Bigugli hit it on the head - get a dog and your problem is over.

 

Barring that, you need to keep the rats in the field and out of your yard. Rodents will only venture into a yard for one of two things - food, and shelter. Keep the area around the BBQ absolutely spotless at all times, and be sure to burn it for a few minutes after you take the food off, to incinerate any scraps remaining on the grill. Then close up any spots around the yard that could provide rodents with a place to hole up over the winter (like under the deck, under sheds, pool houses, hot tubs, etc). And get rid of any thick ground plants (ivy or shrubs) they can hide under. Keep the lawn mowed short, especially near the field, so they feel exposed traveling back and forth. Basically, make it as uninviting as possible.

 

Doesn't matter what kind of area you live in - rats and mice are everywhere. If you back on to a field or a ravine, then you'll run into them now and then.

 

Great answer Craig. Saves me the post..

[bigugli]

You don't want just any dog. The breeds mentioned, along with several others, are excellent ratters.

[esoxansteel]

Problem with just whacking 'em is, if you get rid of the rats you see, others will simply move in and take their place. You need to make your place less attractive so they don't have a reason to visit in the first place.

 

Bigugli hit it on the head - get a dog and your problem is over.

 

Barring that, you need to keep the rats in the field and out of your yard. Rodents will only venture into a yard for one of two things - food, and shelter. Keep the area around the BBQ absolutely spotless at all times, and be sure to burn it for a few minutes after you take the food off, to incinerate any scraps remaining on the grill. Then close up any spots around the yard that could provide rodents with a place to hole up over the winter (like under the deck, under sheds, pool houses, hot tubs, etc). And get rid of any thick ground plants (ivy or shrubs) they can hide under. Keep the lawn mowed short, especially near the field, so they feel exposed traveling back and forth. Basically, make it as uninviting as possible.

 

Doesn't matter what kind of area you live in - rats and mice are everywhere. If you back on to a field or a ravine, then you'll run into them now and then.

 

Craig hit the nail on the head, as an exterminator myself you have to eliminate food and harbourage areas first and foremost, look for burrows on your property or close by, if you are going to be using bait avoid the pellet baits as they can be stored and carried by rats and deposited in areas where kids, or non-target animals may come into contact, I would avoid warfarin myself as it is a first generation rodenticide developed in the 50s and used extensively since that time so there is resistance with that product, if using snap traps prebait the trap first until you have acceptance, as rats can be shy when something new is put in there path, once they have accepted the bait on the snap trap set the trap and remove the body as soon as possible as the remaining rats will once again be shy when they see a family member dead on the trap hope this helps pm me if you need further assistance

[Muskieman]

Peanut-Butter-Tilt-A-Whirl....

 

Works like a charm!!!! I've caught my fair share of vermin with this ...smear the can with peanut butter.. and add about 8" of water at the bottom of the pail ... vermin jump onto the can the can spins and the falls into the water below.

 

I've drowned from Mice to Black Squirrels with this ... I leave it in my shed....armed and ready to go.

 

Make sure to have a stick or ruler for them to climb up onto the edge of the pail..

 

Or this can work well too...my Min-Pin ,Paris.

 

Randy

Edited August 26, 2010 by Randy from Sturgeon

[Paully]

sounds like the same problem Richard Gere had..

[Bondar]

Peanut-Butter-Tilt-A-Whirl....

 

Works like a charm!!!! I've caught my fair share of vermin with this ...smear the can with peanut butter.. and add about 8" of water at the bottom of the pail ... vermin jump onto the can the can spins and the falls into the water below.

 

I've drowned from Mice to Black Squirrels with this ... I leave it in my shed....armed and ready to go.

 

Make sure to have a stick or ruler for them to climb up onto the edge of the pail..

 

Or this can work well too...my Min-Pin ,Paris.

 

Randy

 

 

also put antifreeze in the pail and they wont go rotten on you

[Billy Bob]

Peanut-Butter-Tilt-A-Whirl....

 

Works like a charm!!!! I've caught my fair share of vermin with this ...smear the can with peanut butter.. and add about 8" of water at the bottom of the pail ... vermin jump onto the can the can spins and the falls into the water below.

 

I've drowned from Mice to Black Squirrels with this ... I leave it in my shed....armed and ready to go.

 

Make sure to have a stick or ruler for them to climb up onto the edge of the pail..

 

Or this can work well too...my Min-Pin ,Paris.

 

Randy

 

LOVE this idea....do they make a larger one for Ferrel cats that roam my yard at night.LOL

 

Now how do you handle the P3TA nut cases...

[Muskieman]

LOVE this idea....do they make a larger one for Ferrel cats that roam my yard at night.LOL

 

Now how do you handle the P3TA nut cases...

 

 

 

 

Use a 45 gallon drum and a 5 gallon pail instead

as for P3ta...People Eating Tasty Animals.... vermin kebab.

Randy

[jackal68]

thanks to all for the handy advice! the bugger give me the slip. I set out two sticky pads and he peeled himself right off of it! I set a "victor trap" with pb the little bugger licked it off. It's time to get medevil on his

[camillj]

By the way .. one of the major vermin attractors is bird feeders ... the rats etc love to get free food from the seed sprayed by the birds ... lose the birdfeeders if you have any.

 

There are professional traps that worked like a charm for us ... gone in a day or two ... now the little red squirrels are a different story... they are crazy !!!! Keep trying to re-enter my house (had some winter boarders last year) by chewing through the dryer vent cover ... found about 20 lbs of pine cones in boxes in my basement

 

I have taken to screwing wire mesh into the brick behind the vent cover but they are working on that too !

[jackal68]

One down one to go!!!!!

[John Bacon]

also put antifreeze in the pail and they wont go rotten on you

 

I would be cautious about using antifreeze. I understand that dogs (and I would assume other animals) drink it and it is fatal to them.

[Rattletrap2]

About 20 years ago, I lived in a relatively new sub division. There were old quarries all around us. When they started to fill in the old gravel pits to make parks and such, it destroyed the habitat for a lot of animals such as coons, skunks, and of all things....RATS! We would see them all over the neighbourhood, but especially on garbage day. They openly went about their business running back and forth across the streets from garbage can to can.

 

We had them burrowing in the sand beside our house and found they were storing food under our pre-cast concrete steps. We called the city and the idiots that responded didn't believe us. They said they could only be mice! I had to use large snap traps baited with peanut butter to trap them. I kept them in a plastic bag to prove to the city idiots what we had.

 

Long story short, everyone in the area had to make changes. No garbage left outside. No firewood piles on or too close to the ground. Any debris between houses had to be cleaned up. Like already mentioned, get rid of the housing and the food! Trap as many as you can and keep setting the traps until you stop getting any or seeing the signs of them.

 

Good luck! They can certainly be disgusting!

[bassnass]

It's all pretty good advice.

 

Mine would be to rat-proof your home. Doesn't matter whats runnin around outside, if it can't get in. It can be an involved and tedious process, but once it's done, it's DONE & maintenance (disposal-, poison-, anti-freeze-free!).

 

Use 1/4 or 1/2" inch hardware cloth.

 

And if your uncertain about what to do - hire a control professional that specializes in exclusion.

 

Cheers,

L