How do you handle rats?

[GSD Woman]

I didn't want to high jack the hunting thread but a comment on that thread had me thinking.
Rats have set up housekeeping under my chicken coop. The little so and sos are bold enough to poop in the bedding in my coop. I poured bleach down the tunnels and blocked them with Brillo pads.I couldn't find steel wool and that was the best I could do. It kept the rats away for about 2 weeks. I've tried traps but the little buttheads have managed to take the bait without triggering the traps. I would love to borrow a terrier for a few days. I am now trying baking soda and peanut butter balls. Supposedly the baking soda causes the rats to fill up with gas and since they can't belch, and I guess fart too, it kills them in about 24 hours.

Any other ideas? No poison. I wish my bleeping neighbor hadn't killed the black snake that liked to hang out in my yard.

 

[PurBee]

Young strong male outdoor cat ?

My female cats have never been into killing rats….but the males will tackle them no problem! Only ever had black male cats…but both were/are ferocious hunters…being black means they camouflage well and have better success hunting possibly?

My latest male tends to just kill them and eat their heads ?? He sits in wait in my polytunnel for hours waiting for the rodents that love to nibble root veg growing.

My gsdXhusky loves to hunt rats…she sniffs them out but cant fit into the tiny spaces they hide in, much to her frustration!

 

[Harry Houdini]

I didn't want to high jack the hunting thread but a comment on that thread had me thinking.
Rats have set up housekeeping under my chicken coop. The little so and sos are bold enough to poop in the bedding in my coop. I poured bleach down the tunnels and blocked them with Brillo pads.I couldn't find steel wool and that was the best I could do. It kept the rats away for about 2 weeks. I've tried traps but the little buttheads have managed to take the bait without triggering the traps. I would love to borrow a terrier for a few days. I am now trying baking soda and peanut butter balls. Supposedly the baking soda causes the rats to fill up with gas and since they can't belch, and I guess fart too, it kills them in about 24 hours.

Any other ideas? No poison. I wish my bleeping neighbor hadn't killed the black snake that liked to hang out in my yard.

My greyhounds loved hunting rats, and were quick enough to catch them!

 

[emilylou]

We don’t handle them we kill them.
but joking aside, live traps and crunchy chocolate bars, then we shoot them for a quick end, or our collie dog has them as equally as quick.
It’s a bit of an art form though, you need to put the traps on their runs, but my dad enjoys the chase so is willing to spend the time.
best option really is to get a man out with a dog trained for the job a couple of times a year.

 

[DabDab]

My terriers. Well, more accurately my older jrt x.

 

[Peglo]

We have 3 cats (although one doesn’t count) and our neighbours have 5. I’ve only ever seen one rat. But we also put our hen house on chips in the drive so not anywhere for the rats to hide around it and I’ve taken to feeding the hens away from the henhouse so there’s no food laying around for them to be attracted to. But my hens are free range. Harder if you’ve got a run.

we had a rat at work that got so fat it could only waddle about. It set off a trap a couple of times and went off with the cheese. ? We hired a pest control man but after months he still couldn’t catch it.
Hired a 16 yr old boy and within his first week managed to kick the rat with his size 12 boots and that was the end of him. ?

 

[rextherobber]

Raise the chicken houses up about a metre, rats like living under low things.,chickens prefer being higher anyway, and it's easier on your back cleaning them out.

 

[meleeka]

I have an electric trap. I’m yet to actually catch a fully grown rat but i’ve had a few little ones and medium ones. It kills them instantly and no poisons involved. I also have a terrier, but she’s quite destructive in her pursuit of them, so isn’t allowed in the barn.

 

[palo1]

Please don't try to poison rats with baking soda - for one thing it is unlikely to work and for another it could cause quite prolonged suffering.

There are several things you can do. Rats are neophobic (they hate change) so if you disrupt them often enough, severely enough they will sometimes decamp in favour of somewhere more peaceful.

If you are going to or need to kill them then several terriers and a few people are the best way; you need to move stuff to get the rats to come out into the open for the dogs to get them. That is probably the most humane and efficient way of killing rats and they won't then suffer in their runs. It is likely that you may have young rats remaining - if they have stayed in the runs; if it is practical you should probably dig so that you can despatch them as quickly as possible.

 

[little_critter]

I didn't want to high jack the hunting thread but a comment on that thread had me thinking.
Rats have set up housekeeping under my chicken coop. The little so and sos are bold enough to poop in the bedding in my coop. I poured bleach down the tunnels and blocked them with Brillo pads.I couldn't find steel wool and that was the best I could do. It kept the rats away for about 2 weeks. I've tried traps but the little buttheads have managed to take the bait without triggering the traps. I would love to borrow a terrier for a few days. I am now trying baking soda and peanut butter balls. Supposedly the baking soda causes the rats to fill up with gas and since they can't belch, and I guess fart too, it kills them in about 24 hours.

Any other ideas? No poison. I wish my bleeping neighbor hadn't killed the black snake that liked to hang out in my yard.

To get round the rats raking the bait without triggering traps I used chocolate covered mini pretzels tied to the trap trigger (pretzels because of the useful holes I could tie string through).
I did nearly lose fingers setting those flipping rat snap traps though! They are strong springs.

 

[palo1]

To get round the rats raking the bait without triggering traps I used chocolate covered mini pretzels tied to the trap trigger (pretzels because of the useful holes I could tie string through).
I did nearly lose fingers setting those flipping rat snap traps though! They are strong springs.

Death by mini chocolate covered pretzel doesn't sound such a bad way to go!!

 

[laura_nash]

Most of our rats left when we switched the chickens to a rat proof feeder (they have to stand on a pedal to get the feed, didn't take them too long to figure it out). We still had the odd one though till the cats arrived, not seen one since.

 

[ycbm]

Cats.

Friend did everything else but still had rats eating through her bins to get at the horse feed. 3 feral kittens rehomed from charity, no rats.

I've always had cats here and the three rats we've seen in 30 years have all been dead ones.
.

 

[southerncomfort]

My JRT has stopped catching them for some reason.

Unfortunately after trying all other options we came to the conclusion that instant kill snap traps are the most humane way to get rid of them.

We did try poison bait but the results were frankly horrific and I would never go down that route again.

 

[palo1]

One issue with using cats is that they tend to be rather indiscriminate and may kill songbirds and amphibians too and a large rat is a dangerous thing for a cat to take on. Cats are very, very good at catching mice but for rats and targeted pest control a dog is probably a safer bet all round.

 

[Xmasha]

Cats.

Friend did everything else but still had rats eating through her bins to get at the horse feed. 3 feral kittens rehomed from charity, no rats.

I've always had cats here and the three rats we've seen in 30 years have all been dead ones.
.

Same here . We bought a run down dairy farm . The cats ( semi feral farm cats ) moved in first .
They cleared the place . The only thing we get now are dead ones .

Had the fright of my life the other day , as they’d left one right by the entrance to the stables. I nearly stepped on it . It was huge with scary black eyes that where looking right at me ?

 

[Peglo]

One issue with using cats is that they tend to be rather indiscriminate and may kill songbirds and amphibians too and a large rat is a dangerous thing for a cat to take on. Cats are very, very good at catching mice but for rats and targeted pest control a dog is probably a safer bet all round.

not for my hens As well as 5 cats my neighbours have 3 dogs. Never see the lab but the 2 nippy duckers chase me hens and has pulled the tail feathers out of my cockerel.
The cats maybe don’t catch the rats but it seems it’s no worth their while hanging around with the cats about. But the cats can also get under my hen house so there’s no where for rats to hide.

 

[Hallo2012]

cats.
i have 4 cats and haven't seen a single live rat in the 3 years we have been here to the point the main hunter cat has to go to the neighboring farms to continue to his sport as we have so few mice or rats left on our property!

 

[teapot]

Been on two yards - one handled rats with very discrete bait boxes (you honestly wouldn't have known) and possibly the most professional company to work with. The attention to detail was spot on. Second yard went for open bait traps behind locked/blocked doors and areas. Will let you guess which one quickly didn't have a rat problem...

It's not just about removing them. It's then blocking holes properly, making sure your feed bins are pristine, rubbish is put away properly, and addressing any water sources.

 

[Polos Mum]

We saw a massive reduction in rats when chicken food was moved to a covered feeder only chickens can access - not cheap but well worth it

 

[Antw23uk]

I would raise the coop and make the place as open an airy as possible so they have no cover to hide or move around in. A grandpa feeder and raised water container so only the chickens can access it are really good ways to deter rats. Good hygiene and no food laying around is key.

The grandpa feeder was a game changer for us and it also kept the starlings from swooping in and clearing out a feeder in five minutes flat!

No available food. No place to hide or nest .... no rat problem.

 

[PurBee]

One issue with using cats is that they tend to be rather indiscriminate and may kill songbirds and amphibians too and a large rat is a dangerous thing for a cat to take on. Cats are very, very good at catching mice but for rats and targeted pest control a dog is probably a safer bet all round.

Thats true - the large male black cat of mine turned up here…middle of nowhere…as a thin 6 month old stray, and never left. He’s such a character, but grew huge! Maybe around 7kg now? He climbs trees, gets squirrels…anything and everything. He is even so bolshy as to play attack the dogs. He’s more like a dog! Sleeps with them! Dogs are NOT amused ?
Only he can handle the large adult rats, but even then i suspect the tail sores he’s come in with were due to fighting a large rat.

A smaller male cat will handle smaller young rats as they are born. So best to have a cat on hand to get them while theyre small, so they never grow large - if there’s lots of large ones…i’d set traps or terrier man.
I read, as you say, they prefer to stay where they nest so its cruel to capture them alive and relocate them as they likely will die, so best a quick humane kill On site.

 

[PurBee]

Here’s my ratting team…locator and hunter ? Theyre best mates and play together and snooze together

 

[cremedemonthe]

I'm using the baking soda and peanut butter route too and I have a reduction in numbers after using it. Rest are caught by my JRT and if injured, shot by me to finish them off.
I have snap traps but the rats seem too large for them and escape.

 

[Cutgrass]

Cat. Got one that's not into birds, and she doesn't catch rats but the fact that she kills so many mice and is generally around has sent the rats packing.

 

[Fransurrey]

We saw a reduction after getting rat proof feeders. Ours are the Roamwild Pestoff. Are they going in the coop during the day?
Are you taking up food and water at the end of the day? We're kind of buggered for this as we have geese with a pond, so water is always accessible, but the feeders are easy to move. I'm sadly also on a bit of a loser as my idiot of a FIL insists on throwing down potato peelings for the chickens, which they never eat and also thinks my feeders are why we have rats (I bought them BECAUSE of rats) and he keeps throwing them on the coop roof. Any ideas for handling FIL that doesn't involve a grave?

For humane dispatch (of rats, not FILs) we have the snap traps, but you have to be very careful where you place them. My chickens managed to drag one out from under a pallet and I did catch a song bird, which made me very sad. They do work, though, if placed in a tunnel and baited with peanut butter or whatever they normally eat (if they raid layers pellets, then bait with those, for example).

 

[vhf]

We don’t handle them we kill them.
but joking aside, live traps and crunchy chocolate bars, then we shoot them for a quick end, or our collie dog has them as equally as quick.
It’s a bit of an art form though, you need to put the traps on their runs, but my dad enjoys the chase so is willing to spend the time.
best option really is to get a man out with a dog trained for the job a couple of times a year.

Oh I was so desperate to say "With very thick gloves"!
Big young outdoor cats seem to work better than anything else (when combined with poultry keeping) on a daily basis. Never had a patched-white cat that was a good ratter, but have had male and female black/ginger/torties well up for it.

 

[GSD Woman]

Several good ideas here. I can raise the coop and look for a grandfather feeder. I like the idea of the pretzels tied to the snap trap pedal. All are most doable. I don't know where to find a terrier man in the States but I'll ask my hunting friends. The dogs, especially the young dog, hunt them but haven't managed to kill any. I can't legally fire a gun where I live. Too close to other homes.

I plan on digging up the areas where I know the runs are and killing anything I find with the shovel.

Thanks for all of the ideas.

 

[Goldenstar]

Cats we have three only is any use the other deterrent only .
I have three times had to get professionals in , which was when a neighbour started keeping pigs ( twice )and once when building works at an very old house up the road displaced a population .
We have metal corn bins.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

the best thing really is to not inadvertantly give them a home once you've cleared this infestation-I keep poultry and ducks, have never had rats. Mice are seen off by the cats (I have no doubt my cats would see off rats although not all will, a ginger and a tabby both from formidable lines of farm cats). Lift up your houses, dont leave food out at night, remove piles of wood etc, keep outbuildings as clear of potential nests as possible.