This used to happen at Pimlico all the time. They also ate their tails. Cats do not help and dogs were not allowed on the backside. They did put out hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of poison to no avail. Rat dogs ala jack russels would be my choice.
I am so excited!!!
[QUOTE=Miss Motivation;4452444]
This happened at our barn when we were first here… I couldn’t believe it was true! Why would the horses let the nasty nasty rats chew on them? We keep our place nice but this was residual from years of deferred maintenance by previous owner, and also being in an open area of small farms absolutely ringed by high density development. We’ve had a number of bizarre animal issues.
We got very aggressive about rodent control with bait and traps and keep on it with weekly visits from the service. Actually had the real Verminator TV guy come out here and he said this is a quite common problem (rat nibbles) and they had huge issues with it at Santa Anita and had to do a very extensive cleanout.[/QUOTE]
I can’t believe you had the Verminator TV guy!!! I am or actually was horribly afraid of rodents, but by watching Verminators, my fear has turned to hatred. I love that show. Rodents are just so dangerous as far as diseases are concerned. Truthfully, I would not want my dog killing one of those giant cat sized rats, as I would be afraid the dog would get sick!!!
If you get a Terrier or 2 or some cats (not so sure that cats can take on big, well fed rats) you have to make a commitment to those animals. Rats are sneaky buggers and can often get into places where dogs and cats cannot kill them!
If it were my farm, I would have a Verminator-esque firm come out and clear out the rat population. Once the farm was rat free, I would get a couple terriers and/or barn cats to prevent the population of rats and mice from building back up.
She’s merely a boarder, so let’s assume that she can’t unleash hoards of JRTs, guinea pigs, etc. on the property. If she put out rat bait around her horse’s stall, there’s no chance her horse would eat it, is there? I think she’d like to know what she can do for her own horse, assuming that the ranch management knows what they’re doing? She can definitely suggest other measures, but I would guess that the barn owners, and other boarders, would have brought this stuff up before. But, maybe not! And it’s definitely rats, not bats.
Is there anything you can paint on a horse’s hooves that would keep critters from chewing on them? We were brainstorming and wondering if pine tar would deter them.
And, omg, if they start going for her QH’s TAIL, she just might camp out there with a shotgun and go postal all over the rat population, LOL!!
[QUOTE=hessy35;4452710]
Are you sure it’s the rats that are doing this? Sounds like bats to me! They are known for sucking the blood from live stock in areas that you mention. Vampire bats that is. Huge problem!![/QUOTE]
Exactly. Rats don’t feed like that, bats do. A horse would not stand still and let a rat gnaw on its feet.
I find it amusing that my post is being ignored for the most part 
Eileen
[QUOTE=LisaW-B;4452830]
. . . And it’s definitely rats, not bats… . [/QUOTE]
How do you KNOW they are rats? Did you actually see them chewing on her feet?
How can you tell me that a horse will stand still for something like this? A sick horse, yah. A cast horse, yah. A perfectly healthy horse? I don’t think so.
Eileen
Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQxFi0oGZl4&feature=player_profilepage
I ended up with a bad enough rat problem that they were eating large sections out of my pet Hampshire pig. I could not figure out what was going on, even called in the vet. He thought that Oliver was rubbing himself somewhere, but we could not find it. I asked him if rats would do it, he did not think so. Well - I saw them myself actually chewing on the poor guy.
I immediately got poison - hated too but the cats and dogs could not take care of the problem. Once they started dying the rest left to who knows where.
It was awful - both my poor pig and killing the rats with poison.
Roan, I’m not there – this is a friend of mine who moved out of state who asked me if I’d heard of this and had any ideas on what she can do. I do believe her, her new barn owner and her farrier when she tells me they have a huge problem with the rat (not blood-sucking vampire bat!) population. They have a lot of strict barn rules about feed and hay storage, treats, and not leaving antyhing lying around the barn. It did strike me as the wierdest thing I may have heard of with horses, but apparently it’s going on. I doubt they’re seriously gnawing on hooves or leaving bloody marks. She and her farrier were describing little marks all over the backs of the heels, left by the rats when they come in the horses’s stalls. I agree that it’s wierd, but that’s why I figured this was a question for the collective wisdom of COTH.
[QUOTE=LisaW-B;4453056]
Roan, I’m not there – this is a friend of mine who moved out of state who asked me if I’d heard of this and had any ideas on what she can do. I do believe her, her new barn owner and her farrier when she tells me they have a huge problem with the rat (not blood-sucking vampire bat!) population. They have a lot of strict barn rules about feed and hay storage, treats, and not leaving antyhing lying around the barn. It did strike me as the wierdest thing I may have heard of with horses, but apparently it’s going on. I doubt they’re seriously gnawing on hooves or leaving bloody marks. She and her farrier were describing little marks all over the backs of the heels, left by the rats when they come in the horses’s stalls. I agree that it’s wierd, but that’s why I figured this was a question for the collective wisdom of COTH.[/QUOTE]
Nod, well, all I’m getting at is to have her look into a possibility that it is bats. I’m not saying they don’t have a rat problem – they probably do – but it can’t hurt to suggest it to her.
Eileen
I’ll mention it to her – but I’m assuming that her barn owner and farrier, who’ve been there a long time, probably know what they’re talking about when they say it’s rats and that they do it to other horses there and throughout her area, as well.
Maybe you need to borrow some of Jackie’s JRTs and go for a road trip!
Noticed similar marks on a horse I was riding for someone. Looked kind-of like a mild heel grab, but not quite. Everyone said it was rats and people had seen rats in the stalls when the horses were lying down at night. Not sure if anyone every caught a rat in the act. But no one ever mentioned seeing bats in the barn and there were tons of rats so maybe it was a statistical thing. This occurred with horses in stalls in a center-aisle barn, not ones out in a field if that makes any difference.
We have a large rat problem at our barn, probably beyond what a cat (or even several cats) could handle at this point. Our semi-resident roadrunner catches mice, but not rats. But no gnaw marks as of yet.
The rodent population does always seem to expand this time of year in Southern California.
I wonder if one of the chew stop type of products would work?
Would a good field biologist be able to tell the difference b/w bat and rat chew marks if you sent photos?
Eww, gross. I am glad I haven’t seen a rat at my barn, only mice. I also made friends with a barn cat so he hangs out near my horses stall all day because I bring him treats and he waits for me to put him in his owners office every night so the coyotes don’t get him. I don’t know why she leaves him out. We have tons of coyotes and I have seen large packs of them at night walking around the stable. He is the sweetest cat and very well behaved. When I come down to the barn he is usually sleeping under my tack box or waiting in my horses stall.
I did tell her to move back to Arizona where it’s hotter, but safer, and that the rats must be payback for getting to live close to the beach and rubbing it in to her land-locked 'zona friends. :lol: Peggy, what you’re decribing and what she was telling me sounds like the same kind of ratty issue. She’s boarding in San Juan Capistrano, FWIW.
RAR, this might be a better job for the beagles than the JRTs. Or maybe the beagles could track them down, then the JRTs could “close the deal.” Great, now I’m imaging a SoCal hunt club with a JRT pack, and their quarry is rats. Since everything else is scaled down, they should also be riding Thelwell ponies.
What stable in SJC? That is where I board my horse and I have never seen a rat - just plenty of mice!
I don’t know the name of the stable, sorry!
Oh ok, hmm now I am curious and will be on the look out for rats.
We have persistant mice but occasionally a rat will try and move in. The dogs are excellent hunters and kill them all. We’ve tried traps & bait to no avail. Of course cats didn’t do squat either.
On a frequent basis lift the floor & stall mats- and let the dogs have at whatever they find. They also alert us to any new nest with their little “mom-look-under-here-quick!” dance. BTW I have a Golden RetrieverX and a RottieX that are my mousers- the LabShepardX could care less.
We store any grain or supps in lockable metal containers. Chicken and pet feed is also stored in containers.
The barn where I rode the rat-gnawed horse was RH Stables in Palos Verdes. Not sure if they still have the issue. Current barn is in Chino Hills.
We have learned that rats really like Succeed. They selectively ate all the Succeed out of someone’s SmartPaks, leaving the rest of the supplements behind. At least we have healthy happy rats:lol:.
