Eglu Go With 2m Run For Sale

[poppy33]

Oh dear...I seemed to have touched on a very controversial subject Looks like its going to have to be the poison next question which types are best ? and do those of you who have used you buy special bait boxes? and do you find the corpse, I would worry about the dog ingesting the bait via a dead rat, or do they just crawl back to base, so to speak

[Snowy]

My step brother is a rat catcher in London so I am very fortunate to be able to get the latest bait from him (can't remember what it's called and can't see in the shed at the mo - will look tomorrow)

The boxes have pins that hold the bait in place so it cannot be taken anywhere else. I have several boxes around the garden at strategic points where they are likely to run. As bait disappears, I replace it. Have never found any corpses i think they take themselves off to die

[jnb]

Oh dear...I seemed to have touched on a very controversial subject

 

Though it doesn't look that controverisal, reading the above it seems the overwhelming concensus is kill the thing.

 

Looks like its going to have to be the poison next question which types are best ? and do those of you who have used you buy special bait boxes? and do you find the corpse, I would worry about the dog ingesting the bait via a dead rat, or do they just crawl back to base, so to speak

 

Not sure if there have been any radical changes in poisons recently but a lot of the older poisons were anticoagulants (warfarin etc) and so would make the corpse poisonous to anything that ate it. As rats are also neophobic they required mutliple repeat doses to reach a fatal level which means that you can not guarantee finding the corpse. That's also how some rat populations are resistant to the first generation anticoagulants as there is always a chance that some would get a high but sublethal dose. All of which are reasons I prefer guns and traps, although they're only effective with relative low levels of infestation.

 

If you do go down the route of poisons then definitely use a bait box of some sort. It doesn't have to be an expensive bought thing but you do want to avoid accidentally killing the wrong thing. I've known people in the past to either construct boxes from would or use drainpipes, placed along the runs the rats are using and you should get them.

 

But the main techniques are to deprive them of food and shelter, tidy your garden, take the birds food away overnight, get vermin proof feed bins for storing the food. Actually even if you don't think you have rats I'd advise anyone to do that to avoid them arriving in the first place.

[Redwing]

You could try Eradirat/Eradibait, this is a bait that does not kill anything that eats the dead rat

 

Personally I dont have a lot of luck with it so now use Norexema (I think thats spelled correctly??) and proper rat boxes

 

Tomcat is supposed to be excellent

 

As Snowy says some rat boxes have a rod which you thread poison blocks on to so there is no chance of apillage or poison being dragged out

[darthwenger]

Thats something I always worry about as I back onto a farm and I know the farm and my next door neighbour both have poision boxes out - as I saw my chooks eat a mouse whole today and then later on in the afternoon, kill a small/baby rat - I worry that a mouse/small rat will be eaten or pecked by the chooks and they will die of poisioning.

[bronze]

Rats got up through my paving slabs asn had my quail. the gap was only a cm or so. they can get through the wires of an eglu run or the weldmesh (normal size) on my wir

 

I have kept a man (dh) entertained for hours as hes say waiting with his gun for mr fat rat to appear

[Tricky]

why go to all this hassle when your local authority will send their professional rat catchers for free!

 

Don't get get hung up on the stigma of having a rat(s). They're everywhere, its just not nice when you see them in your own back yard.

 

After trying to gt rid ourselves we eventually used the local authority who were excellent.They know exactly what to look for and you will learn a lot from them about rats,so its its worth doing just for that.

 

They will bait traps and will check regularly and top up until it stops being taken.You know then they are dead.

Hope this helps

[patsylabrador]

Over the last few days we realised that the rats were in the compost bin. Son number two positioned himself with gun and bagged three. Very satisfied with days work. I hate killing creatures but rats have to be controlled. I hope I'm right.

[sewitall]

Rats are extremely intelligent. I have watching at least 2 emerge at the back of our garden (our chickens aren't here yet but we do feed the wild birds plus a chap to the back of us keeps ferrets). We have put down a trap with chocolate (making sure we don't use bare hands to set the trap and leave human scent). A week later and the rats have continued to ignore it. We have strategically placed, at various locations, non-poisonous rat bait - all ignored. We have traced the hole they were using to access our garden and filled it with concrete pieces and swept up every trace of wild bird seed the birds have knocked to the ground. Rats not appeared in last 24 hours. This weekend DH will staple 1x1 square 1mm weld mesh to the fence protruding into the soil (Hills of Devon haven't got any 1 x 0.5 inch 1.6 mm weld mesh in stock at the moment). When they do squeeze through the mesh at least it will take them a bit longer to squeeze back again giving my yorkshire terrier a fighting chance to nab them. Failing all that we will have to call in the pest control experts, although when my DH mentioned it to the local council they just responded "yes they are never far away".

[sparkysmum]

Do please arrange for this rat/s to be despatched. I'm afraid I would be livid if someone was to relocate vermin close to me

[jnb]

why go to all this hassle when your local authority will send their professional rat catchers for free!

 

Some councils will send them in for free. Some will only do it it for some people, or some properties. Where I live the service is free for rat problems in domestic premises, but not if your house is on a farm even though you might not be a farmer. Other places have it free for senior citizens and so on, so it is not a simple phone up and it will be dealt with for free. Having said that anyone should be controlling them at all times to avoid the need to call a rat catcher arising.

[jnb]

... We have put down a trap with chocolate (making sure we don't use bare hands to set the trap and leave human scent). A week later and the rats have continued to ignore it. ....

 

As I understand it rats are neophobic, they are averse to new things. So a trap may well be ignored for a time until they are used to it as part of their environment. I have in the past been advised to leave traps down unset so that rats become used to it as something safe before baiting and setting it.

[Chucky Mama]

Over the last few days we realised that the rats were in the compost bin. Son number two positioned himself with gun and bagged three. Very satisfied with days work. I hate killing creatures but rats have to be controlled. I hope I'm right.

This has been our most successful method and much more humane I think.

[The Dogmother]

Phil's folks live on a farm and regularly have rat problems; they either get the terrier in, or use the gun. Both are a quick, clean kill.