I’ve never seen the little bast***D, but two months ago “he” ate the important section of wiring in my car, leaving me half stranded 10 miles from help!! (left a “poop” on the engine big enough for a Great Dane!!) Now he has moved into our new barn…old one burned in Jan. and we have never had a problem before. This bugger has eaten a serious section out of a new, expensive half pad…a whole fleece pad and bits of assorted other tack!! I have traps set, expensive “Pack Rat” poison set in boxes which he frequents…poops in…collects assorted items (like 50 screw eyes he stole from a 5 gallon bucket), sweat scraper, hoof picks, anything shiny or bright colored!! My cats and dogs are in and out most of the day and we never see him…only results. I’ve moved all my tack into the house so that is safe, but I’m at my wits end!! Any good advice, attack plans??
Pack rats are an actual thing?? I’m sorry I have no input, I’m just seriously amazed that pack rats are real animals and not just what people who save every receipt from 30 years ago are called.
If you know where he hides, and can find regular runs he uses, set traps on the runs and you might luck out.
Star Pattern…I too always thought it was just a joke!!! Nope…they are a real, LIVE pest!! We are wayyyyy our in rural NE Ok…our neighbor has had to replace the wiring on 2 cars and a truck to the tune of $1500 or more each time. Ours was a quicker fix and only cost $200!! We have NEVER had even a mouse problem due to good barn cats…I haven’t seen this one, but anything that puts out a turd as big as the one we found has some size!! Daughter said the one she saw (dead) was as large as a young cat!!
sk_pacer…I have live traps ALL over the tack/feed room and a box with “lures”…screw eyes (which he obviously favors) red/blue plastic cups and yummy poison. I check twice daily and things are disturbed, but haven’t caught or killed him yet!! Three mice poisoned though!! The poison is VERY powerful, so I can’t let any cats or dogs have access. I have two or three dogs that are hellacious hunters and they don’t show any interest in the rat’s smell…odd!
I’ve caught several in Hav a hart type traps baited with peanut butter - usually in 1 night of setting it out there. Maybe you have too many options out there…?
We had one a few years ago and it was never destructive, just collected middens of various bits and bobs and stolen feed. Now the regular rats? Horrible little turds! Despise them!! Hard to kill. I used poison. Traps are usually not big enough. Have you sighted it or assuming it’s a pack rat?
Pack rats are “bushy tailed wood rats” and have, we’ll, a bushy tail! From seeing one in my barn rafter, without my glasses on, it looked like a cross between a Norway rat and a tree squirrel. I only saw mine twice. I have my barn cat and a neighbor’s cat who comes over to hunt. I don’t know if they dispatched him or scared him off. Otherwise I don’t know how to get rid of them!
I have trapped (small have a heart baited with smelly cheese) and relocated two of these in the past year or so…
[QUOTE=BEARCAT;8948852]
I’ve caught several in Hav a hart type traps baited with peanut butter - usually in 1 night of setting it out there. Maybe you have too many options out there…?[/QUOTE]
I’ll try the peanut butter. Last night he stole 2 red plastic lids, 2 blue medicine scoops and a bottle cap out of the large trap!! I’m thinking he is big enough to back out of the squirrel trap when it trips. He can steal goodies and still get away!! The poison isn’t working at all!! Maybe smear PB on the poison blocks??
[QUOTE=Calvincrowe;8948967]
We had one a few years ago and it was never destructive, just collected middens of various bits and bobs and stolen feed. Now the regular rats? Horrible little turds! Despise them!! Hard to kill. I used poison. Traps are usually not big enough. Have you sighted it or assuming it’s a pack rat?[/QUOTE]
He has destroyed or damaged a good bit of horse stuff…pads mostly. I moved all edables into the house. Now mostly he is making a mess…hauls a 1/2 flake of hay into the feed/tack room every night, but doesn’t seem to be making a nest…just a mess. I DO object to his eating my new 1/2 pad, though!! No we haven’t seen it…but the car damage was confirmed to be a pack rat. Assuming he has moved to the barn 100 feet away…more yummy stuff there!!
Packrats are a stinky, destructive pain.
They are not very bright, about anything…the one exception being that they can be really hard to trap.
I have had some success with two types of trap.
The first, takes advantage of the packrat’s lack of wits: take an empty muck bucket and put a few inches of water in it. That’s it. They are curious, and will go check it out, fall in and drown. Killed a few this way.
Second method takes advantage of their vegetarian lifestyle…my Mom calls it the Dangerous Broccoli method. Take a victor rat trap (snap trap like the cheap spring mousetrap, only bigger.) Then, take a bit of a fresh broccoli floret, attach it to the bait paddle securely with a rubber band. Works pretty well, though the spring on the trap won’t kill more than one or two packrats, best to replace the trap after it kills a packrat.
Don’t bother with the sticky traps, and I haven’t heard of the live traps being successful.
As for poison, they just tend to collect it all someplace inappropriate to eat later…and never eat it.
Got the little “rat” last night in a live trap!! Thanks Bearcat…peanut butter did the trick!! If he didn’t owe me a bunch of money for my saddle pads…he was rather cute!! Probably a young one as he didn’t have much of a bushy tail and he did have a cute little face…then I remembered my saddle pads!! I have cleaned the tack/feed room floor everyday, but this bugger must stay awake nights moving stuff in…I took another half muck basket of hay and leaves out with all of my assorted, colored plastic toys/bait!! He also seemed very fond of screw eyes…found another 1/2 dozen of them in the hay. I had an empty, 1 gallon container on a shelf…when I picked it up it was stuffed FULL of saddle pad guts, feed, a half quart of alfalfa pellets, bits of colored baling twine, and poop!! Apparently they have no sense of cleanliness. He is now history!! RIP rat!! Thanks for the suggestions!!
That’s good news for you. I’m glad something finally worked.
Glad it worked for you! (And I have to admit to beeing taken by the cuteness also, and been known to drive mine deep in the forest away from human dwellings and releasing them!!)
Having nothing to do with anything but yes, they are real and yes, they live up to their name.
From what I understand, all kinds of interesting things can be found in their nests…
[QUOTE=BEARCAT;8949506]
Glad it worked for you! (And I have to admit to beeing taken by the cuteness also, and been known to drive mine deep in the forest away from human dwellings and releasing them!!)[/QUOTE]
Since my closest neighbor - 1/2 mile has spent thousands of $$ rewiring 3 vehicles I didn’t feel “rehoming” was an option…we don’t have nearby forests in Oklahoma!! We dispatched him with a 22…never knew what hit him!! Judging by his fat little body and plush coat…he lived well right to the end!!
[QUOTE=Where’sMyWhite;8949674]
Having nothing to do with anything but yes, they are real and yes, they live up to their name.
From what I understand, all kinds of interesting things can be found in their nests…[/QUOTE]
Yes…the areas around my tack room and feed bins looking like a pack rat had been dwelling there!! Oh yeah…we had a pack rat!!! 50 old …not shiny…screw eyes at one spot!! Many bright colored, assorted items!!
I too didn’t realize that pack rats were a real animal! Glad you got the little bugger. A quick google search found this monstosity - OMG!!!
[QUOTE=equinelibrium;8951174]
I too didn’t realize that pack rats were a real animal! Glad you got the little bugger. A quick google search found this monstosity - OMG!!![/QUOTE]
Holy hell. I don’t even think a salty unfed barn cat will help with that. Maybe a nasty tempered terrier?
FWIW, that doesn’t look like any pack rat photos I’ve ever seen…
They are more usually about the size of a Norway rat. They tend to love small, bright, shiny objects and those are often found in their nests.
