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Rats?

Around The Farm
#21

Hi Simkie, I got the large boxes when I got the Terad 3 blox and have always used them. I feel a little better knowing the poison is not out in the open.

We’ve always had snakes. Still had the rates, just not as many. One of my funniest experiences was being in the feed room and this rat came running out from a front wall. He quickly went behind the hay and then out the back door. You could honestly see the expression on his face - SCARED.

Nancy M, Your post is hilarious. Once we caught a mouse in our house and let it go in the backyard - we didn’t know any better. I love the idea of leaving the hoods open. We’ll start doing that.

Clanter, That’s awesome! I like that idea. Besides owls, we have hawks too!

Carman_liz, I really dislike the rats too! That’s why I like the snakes. We’ve had them every year. My DH thinks he saw our snake from last year (Willow - long and slim) yes we can tell them apart.

Willesdon, My daughter’s boyfriend has a terrier and he’s got an aggressive streak in him. I’ll try him in the barn!

Mosey, I wonder what that costs. That the the official rat exterminator people that come out periodically. I hope I don’t get that desperate. That would be really cool though seeing it happen.

Bluey, I’m going to try the bucket thing again - it won’t hurt and we definitely don’t want any more damage.

Everyone, You have been wonderful! I really enjoyed all the responses and I laughed a lot. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks again.

4 Likes
#22

We knew they are smart but to take a grooming glove is genius! Do you have dogs? I keep thinking dogs are the answer to my problems. We had raccoons over my tack room and built a physical block once they left (mom and babies).

#23

I had no idea. How to find them?

#24

There’s at least one outfit in my neck of the woods that posts on FB. Do you have a local horsey FB group you might be able to ask? Or a chicken group, rats often show up for them, too!

The key to getting rid of rats for me was to figure out what was drawing them & get rid of that. Food is obviously a biggie, but the ones in my barn were there for tunnel sites, rather than food. So I redid the stall floors and extended the stall walls down to limit their ability to tunnel between, and dug out their tunnels under the concrete foundation of the barn. Kept it all closely mowed, and collapsed any new tunnels. Added an apron of hardware mesh to the run-in to prevent them from living under there.

For your vehicles, parking on concrete would be best, but if you can’t swing that $$ (it’s so expensive!) consider putting down stall mats over a tarp. It’s not concrete, but will eliminate all the brush under & around and give you a parking spot.

Once we zipped up all the potential living spaces for them, the Terad3 takes care of anything looking to move in. I refresh it every 4-6 months at this point, and really just don’t have a rat problem anymore (knock on wood!)

2 Likes
#25

I have no grain on site and a fully enclosed tack room. The only place I’ve seen them is getting out of my muck tubs and can see they are breaking down fecal balls. I do supplement minerals and vitamins so maybe they are after that??? Appreciate your thoughts I see them too tunneling under the outer walls of my indoor.

1 Like
#26

Do you feed any whole grain? Or flax?

I had them shredding manure when I was feeding whole flax. It’s actually why I went back to grinding it.

A hardware mesh apron around the whole indoor would be a bit of an undertaking, but it would prevent them from getting under there!

2 Likes
#27

we have hawks also (and every now and then eagles), often the crows will engage the hawks into territorial battles, but both remain in the area… we encourage the crows to remain around specifically to forewarn when West Nile is a hot item as Crows and Blue Jays are more susceptible and finding dead crows or blue jays will be a first sign there is major problem with West Nile

As for Rats, there is not much for them to eat around here since my neighbor finally got rid of their chickens (much to the disappointment to the hawks)

1 Like
#28

OMG I do feed whole flax! Wow.

2 Likes
#29

Grinding it solved that problem 100% for me :slight_smile:

4 Likes
#30

So here’s a question. I stop (or grind) the flax, there’s no other feed source out. Do they go away? Or, once you have them…you have them? Do they leave on their own? I saw one run by a few hours ago.

1 Like
#31

If you remove all the reasons why they’re there, they will go away. But the flax in the poop isn’t the only reason why they’re there. You have them tunneling under the indoor, so they’re also there for housing. If you remove the housing, and the food, and put out bait, you’ll kill the ones hanging around, and new ones won’t have enticement to move in.

If you’re actually seeing rats, though, especially during the day…you probably have a LOT of rats. Expect some work to get them gone.

6 Likes
#32

I don’t currently have a farm, but am always “planning for one”. Lol. I came across these a few months back. Has anyone tried them? Successfully? Not so much? They are pricey, but look to be humane and poison free… and if scavengers get rid of the carcasses, very hands off.

#33

Dead rats just … stay in the trap? How does that work? Rats are going to be awfully wary of going up to this with one of their dead friends in it. I dunno, it’s a neat concept but I’d expect to get one rat (maybe) with this and then the rest wouldn’t go near it.

2 Likes
#34

No only their heads ever enter the trap. Then a self-resetting cartridge shoots them in the brain and they fall out. Wildlife may eat them, or you can clean them up. There are photos and videos where the living rats seem unperturbed by their assassinated kin… which sounds too good to be true, which is why I asked if anyone had used it. When I found this product, I spent an ungodly amount of time watching videos and reading up on it… considering that I board mine. It looks cool in theory.

#35

There are situations…like bluey’s I guess…where rats are hungry enough and unwary enough to step over their dead friends at a chance at some food.

And then there are situations where rats are smart, and careful, and it’s just effing HARD to trap them or kill them.

This trap could work fine for the first situation. So could a free bucket trap built with stuff you have in your garage. But having dealt with rats in the latter situation, I don’t see it getting more than one, maybe.

1 Like
#36

I had to pour a glass of wine after reading I have LOTS of rats. OK, so what do any of you know about this Uhlik rat trap? Seems pretty clever and I could then least horribly go drown them in my pond?
I don’t want to be cruel but can’t have LOTS of rats.

1 Like
#37

Lol wine is a great first step :joy:

I’ve seen some people post on FB about great success with those repeater traps, and some find them not effective. It just depends on how savvy (and desperate?) your rats are?

Drowning a cage full of anything is beyond my own level of comfort from a cruelty perspective. I just couldn’t. Drowning is a terrible way to die. And in my experience, things that you have to handle regularly, like daily to empty and reset, don’t work. Rats here are far too suspicious and careful.

So I exclude, and remove every single scrap of food I can, and use cholecalciferol bait in boxes. And that works for me. You also describe suspicious, savvy rats, so trapping them could be tough.

4 Likes
#38

I’m the girl who asks wolf spiders to get in a big cup (using a lid for guidance) and they DO. And take them outside. I don’t want to kill anything. What do I do with them once trapped? How do I get them to leave?

1 Like
#39

This is why I don’t live trap. If you remove the food, and exclude from the tunnel sites, your place is a whole lot less attractive and they’ll move along–no reason to stay.

I use Terad3 to clean up stragglers, and once you remove other food sources, bait is the only option. Keeping the boxes baited takes care of anything looking to find a way to move in.

2 Likes
#40

candyappy, wow! I never knew rats killed chickens. It makes sense though. Thanks for the help!

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