Keeping Rats out of Breakfast

lisan

lisan

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Fylde Coast, Lancs
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Forgot to leave Breakfast outside her stable last night, it was locked in her tack room, in a rubber bucket with a tub trugs elasticated cover on, stood on top of a plastic feed bin.

Took the cover off this morning to find it all mushed together and NO carrots. There were about 6 small ones in there when I left it - but the cover was still on
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Horrible little barstewards, what do I need to buy now to store her B/fast in (I don't always get down to the yard first, so need to leave it out)

Thanks
 
There was a post the other day about catching rats. Apparently you need a swing top bin, half fill it with water, place a piece of meat on the flippy bit, rats being greedy climb up for the meat, lid flips and they fall into the water. From what was said it is an effective way of killing them but not sure I would be able to empty the bin!

If you are going to buy plastic storage boxes the same shop could well have the required bins.
 
Not tried it yet but may have to, guess cat food would do the trick. At least that way you dont the the little bleeders eating poison, crawling off into some inaccesible place to die and then stinking the place out! Guess I would empty onto the muck heap, cannot think of anywhere else really.

Good luck, sounds like rats are a real problem everywhere this year.
 
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If you do the swing bin thing please make sure it is only accessable to rats - especially if you have a yard cat...

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We have individual tack rooms at the back of the stable, cat does'nt go dare go through/in my stable when May is in there! Cat normally stays around the brew room and gets well fed anyway.
 
Maybe don't fill the bin with water - I wouldn't take the chance of a cat falling in there - especially if you are leaving cat food on the lid - couldn't live with myself if I drowned a cat!!!

The thought of any drowning animal - even a rat - isn't very nice!
 
[ QUOTE ]
There was a post the other day about catching rats. Apparently you need a swing top bin, half fill it with water, place a piece of meat on the flippy bit, rats being greedy climb up for the meat, lid flips and they fall into the water. From what was said it is an effective way of killing them but not sure I would be able to empty the bin!



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It is, but watch out for your yard cats.
We used this method ears ago on the pig farm and it is horrid to see a big burly Farmer weeping because a kitten drowned
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I am all for disposing of rats but hate the drowning method, I imagine myself swimming and swimming until I am exhausted, not nice, even for rats. Traps are better.

Simply put another bucket on top and inside of your feed bucket, that stops the blighters.
 
Thats what I do with my carrots, empty them into a tub trug, jam a rubber feed bucket over the top, then a bucket cover over and the rat problem seemed to disappear from my tack/feed room.

need to speak to YM about it tonight, see what they think best.
 
I make up my girl's breakfast the night before to save time in the morning. I leave it on top of my storage box out side her stable with her empty (washed out) dinner bucket stacked on top (so sitting inside the breakfast bucket, right on top of the food if you see what I mean)

There have been a couple of times the wee buggers have obviosly tried to get in as there was poo in the top bucket and some plastic shavings where they'd nibbled the edge, but they hadn't got into the food itself.

As much as I love animals (and used to have a pet fancy rat), the rats were driving my yard nuts and I'm majory peed off with them as they chewed a hole in the side of my brand new, keep-smart-for-being-seen-in-public fleece cooler!
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YO laid poison down and we haven't seen them for the last month. No rat holes in bankings or attempted break ins to my girl's brekkie either!
grin.gif
 
I put my horses breakfast in Bailey's Outshine tubs with the lids secured down tightly. Best thing I found was one of those ultra-sonic plug in rat scarer things, plugged in at the end of the stable block. Other than that have tried the bin technique by putting bricks and grain in the bottom of a dustbin with a small hole in the lid, rats being greedy got in and couln't get out. (Bricks stopped them tipping it over) When OH arrived he then shot the inhabitants of the bin. Great idea if you are brave........
 
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