Help! Rat control without traps or poison

lazybee said:
I put the traps up against the wall, behind a couple of roof tiles.That way you'll only get rats. I have a fox terrier who catches one or two and a humane trap that's quite good. I never get a serious problem with rats. I actually have a bigger problem with mice.
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big problem with mice sure sign you not got many rats.
 
I don't like to use poison cos you can never be certain where it might end up. I would go with the smoking/gassing them out method and let a terrier (or in my case my springer :D ) get them.
 
There are some people who hunt rats with terriers as a sport. These dogs are extremely effective and can apparently clear a barn within an hour or so. I think this is a lot kinder than using poison.

We have a bad rat problem too, I'm not sure why but it is worse than ever this year. We've even had one in the loft of our house. We've spent ££££s in poison and bait boxes and thankfully found a body in the loft this morning....I'm praying it was the only one and that its friends and relatives aren't still under the insulation. I HATE rats.
 
Most rescue centres have farm cats they are desperately seeking homes for - they really don't need much - just a dry sheltered place to sleep.

The best advice I've ever been given re rats is to find the hole(s) they use and place a random object there - small bucket, garden gnome etc and then change it to something else everyday. Apparently rats really hate change and will bugger off - only problem is it could be to somewhere else on the yard! But I much prefer not to kill the things unless it's a cat getting it's dinner :)
 
Got one through the neck once with a pitch fork, didn't half squeel, that'll learn him/her not to jump out from behind the water bucket when I'm mucking out!!! ;)
 
Have you tried dried sugarbeet shreads? Rats love sugarbeet and eat loads of it if you leave water near by they then drink and the sugarbeet expands and their stomach pops...one dead rat and no poison anywhere.
 
I have a half Maine **** cat who is a fabulous ratter. At times he has brought home up to 5 a week, all varying sizes, from babies to one we could not get a bucket over.

I contacted the local authorities as I was imagining we had a really big rat problem, they came and investigated over several weeks, but could not find a nest in our property or our nearest neighbours. So the verdict is that he is going some distance to find them and doing someone a great service.
He never eats the, just lays them on our front door mat. I don't know how he gets them and him through the cat flap - he's quite a big lad!

Still, this soloution may not help with you robin preservation problem though!
 
Can you get glue boards in the UK? They always worked for us, although there was always the sticky ( :D ) issue of what to do with a very angry, live rat on a board...
 
Hope you have better luck than us with cats then, all four of ours sit and watch rats but won't tackle them.:D They are lovely to have around anyway though and will catch mice.
 
nicelittle said:
I have a half Maine **** cat who is a fabulous ratter. At times he has brought home up to 5 a week, all varying sizes, from babies to one we could not get a bucket over.
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Oh dear, HHO thought you were trying to be racist! LOL, I knew what you meant. Cats are fab, we have a feral ginger Tom here, I live/work on a small stud (80acres) and very rarely see a rat and never see mice. All our feed is stored on pallets so you would expect some rodent problems. Apart from the cat who just turned up and adopted us, we have a professional pest controller who sets bait boxes. I have had no problems with my dog, a keen killer poodle x, and the bait boxes.
I tend to spend more time trying to control the wretched pigeon population, with my air rifle. And we have more rabbits than Watership Down, even after bunny Armageddon last year when we gassed most of the holes on the stud.
 
Sorry haven't read all the posts but when we had rats, we poured petrol down their holes and set light to them, it caused a big bang and the rats haven't been back since.
Failing that, we once had this rat at our yard and it was a huge ********* and we spent weeks trying to catch it with traps and terriers with no success, anyhow went down one morning and Ebony looked surprisingly pleased with herself, she was stood on it! :eek: You can borrow her if you like :)
 
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