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bessandra

Rats - again and again

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Hi

I've got rats again! I'm despairing. Theya re back living under the shed I reckon. Apart from shutting my girls away, with their food in the cube run and denying them the luxury of their large run, any other tips. Poison is down but I'm guessing s"Ooops, word censored!"s and pellets and corn and fresh water is tooo tempting..

It's so gross. We have new neighbours and I'm sure they must have noticed. I'm writing an essay upstairs and just seeing the rats coming and going as I'm looking at the window.

Perhaps I should board up the base of the shed? it's about an inch or two off the ground so plenty of space for the rats to access. The massive garden behind is just a tip with piles of rubble everywhere - I blame them!

 

:(

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By the sounds of it, even if you removed them from the shed, the garden behind you isn't going to help...

 

I am sure you have tried all this already, but I can only suggest

1. Take all food and water inside at night. The day will still be an issue, but the hens must help keep the rats away while they are up and awake. Try and clean all the food off the run floor as well if possible.

2. See if you can see if any rats are coming through from your neighbours garden - are there any little holes under the fence for example? Fill any suspecting holes in, and if they are re-opened you know it is a used rat run.

3. Get a really good quailty rat poison - don't go for the cheap option, wheat based one worked for us. Put little trays down wherever you think a rat run is, and under your shed in case of a nest there. Keep them covered from the weather and other animals (I put a very large plant pot upside down over the tray, with a stone under the rim in one place, so the rats could get under to the poison, but nothing else (including the rain) could. Resist the urge to peak for a few days - rats are cautious, and take a while to accept new things.

4. Once they start munching, top up the poison as often as necessary. You will be surprised how much you need to keep putting down. Only when nothing has been touched for several days are you OK to remove everything, and keep your fingers crossed!

 

I wouldn't board up the shed - they will still get in, and it will make it even cosier for them, and harder for you to kill them.

 

Failing that - call in the Rat man!

 

Don't give up! It is possible to get rid - our rats also came from next door - and if we had done nothing their whole garden would be a breeding ground by now - our neighbours are a nightmare!!

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Good advice given so far. We had a rat problem which affected us and our neighbours. The rats were either under our shed or under their decking - perhaps both!

 

We watched to see the 'paths' they used each evening as they scurried around and placed three enclosed bait boxes at sheltered points along their chosen routes. I also put rat poison in knotted freezer bags and pushed these under the shed and well into the tunnels they had dug under my chicken run. I then blocked the tunnels with gravel and mud.

 

Each evening we removed food from the runs and brushed up spillages. When the chooks were securely in bed we closed the eglu and set rat snap traps in the run and to the side of the eglu (the rats were running underneath).

 

Each morning we removed the traps, put back the chooks food, checked that no rat poison had been scattered (it can appear in small quantities outside the bait boxes and we wanted to ensure that none of the bags had been pulled into the open) then let the chooks out.

 

We caught 3 rats in the snap traps and within two weeks there was no sign of rats and the bait boxes still had bait in them (to start with they were emptied within a couple of days :shock: ).

 

Our neighbours got the rat man in so it was a concerted effort but worked.

 

The thought of having rats around is horrible - good luck sorting it out.

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I have already mentioned this in another thread but PLEASE consider other animals when using rat poison!!!

 

The death is slow, painful and far from being humane....there is also risk of poisoning other animals, including loved family pets...and even your chickens, via secondary poison if they find and eat the poisoned rat.

 

A friend of mine lost his beautiful 18 month old terrier this way.

 

Please research poison-free solutions first!

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I agree, poisons shouldn't be used ad hoc, and we tried many different "snap" type traps around the garden before moving onto poison. The snap traps we found really didn't do much. The food would be removed (and we tried all the sticky stuff like bits of mars bar or peanut butter) or ignored.

 

Had we not used poison, we would be overun by now - and while I would prefer any animal to have a quick humane death, I am not prepared to have a garden overun by disease ridden vermin, especially with our chooks and children visiting. Diseases like Weils (sp) disease are really really nasty. The neighbours could also (understandably) blame our chooks for their associated rat problems, and cause us neighbour relationship issues as well.

 

The choices are tricky - rock and a hard place.

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Could always try this stuff... clicky thingy

Apparently it claims

no risk to children or pets

no risk to livestock or birds

no risk of either primary or secondary poisoning - bird of prey friendly

no known resistance

no special requirement for transport, handling, storage or disposal

no risk of contamination to crops or food

no environmental pollution - fully biodegradable

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Is there someone in your area with a pair of working terriers. A very quick solution to the problem if you don't care for poison.

 

Traps don't always work instantly as can be seen on many youtube videos.....I won't post a link .... and live traps leave you with the problem of despatching the viscious disease ridden creature you have caught. Remember that it is illegal to release them eslewhere.

 

Personally I have no qualms about using poison, in bait boxes.

 

Some tips **here**

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