Rats and Mice ?

[TwoForTwo]

We have a family of red kites at the farm and everything Elvis kills gets chucked into fields and a kite always comes and takes it, Once the little sod came trotting in with half a rabbit, presented it to the yard manager and then grinned at her, it was stiff and mangled we think the kite had dropped it.

 

[GSD Woman]

I had mice get into the house one summer. I found their access point and blocked it with steel wool and live trapped everything still in the house.
At the yard we had a few cats and a black snake. They did a good job. The black snake can get to the areas where the cats can't.

 

[palo1]

Rats hate disturbance and although it can be effective, poison is a grim death for them as well as potentially poisoning anything that picks up a sick rat. The most effective and humane way of getting rid of rats is a gang of terriers; those they catch will die very, very quickly and the disturbance of the terrier gang will encourage the others to move on. Having said that, rats are with us, just about everywhere; you probably just need to disrupt them and get them to move out of particular places as you will never rid yourself of them entirely!! They are amazing animals really - so clever, social and blooming adaptable. There are folk who will happily bring terriers to a yard/farm for little or no money and do a great job! You won't then either have issues around sick rats or unwanted poison on the yard.

 

[Keith_Beef]

There is a 19th century French technique, I thought I had read this in a book by Victor Hugo, but I can't find any trace of it, now...

I'll spare the more squeamish, by just linking to an article about it.

https://www.lindependant.fr/2018/10/14/connaissez-vous-la-couseuse-de-cul-de-rat,4731732.php

 

[Parrotperson]

you need..TERRIERS! ie. 3/4. then d]find out where the rats are nesting. uncover and let the terriers do the rest. You can get firms who have terriers for this job over here not sure about French franceland though!

 

[Berpisc]

I went to a plant in Hartlepool.
I backed the truck up and got out to open the doors . As I walked back round to get in a bloke ran out of the garage with a rat on the end of a pitch fork.
I'm not sure if he was their pest control but it definitely had a very surreal feel to it!

He hadn't got the barbeque sparked up he?

 

[Fransurrey]

I read somewhere, cant remember where the information came from though. It said, grated sweet potatoe was toxit to rats. I havnt tried it myself, as my rats seem to have dissapeared for the winter. If and when they come back I will give it a go. Its also not toxic to other animals. Please correct me if Im wrong.

This isn't true. I have no idea where the idea comes from, but I know of many chicken people who have read it and tried it, with the result that they ended up with fat rats. Perhaps in high doses it is toxic, but dose makes the poison.

 

[cremedemonthe]

This isn't true. I have no idea where the idea comes from, but I know of many chicken people who have read it and tried it, with the result that they ended up with fat rats. Perhaps in high doses it is toxic, but dose makes the poison.

True, you're right, read my post further up (number 25) spent a small fortune on the stuff!

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

We had a rat infestation last year. We had a really good clean and stopped leaving any food out anywhere. Then came 3 feral cats from cats protection and practically overnight we stopped seeing rats and I haven’t seen one since.

 

[meleeka]

To those recommending terriers. I have one of those that is obsessed with mice and rats. This would be great but she will chew through anything if she thinks they are there. All my stables have inverted skirting boards - a gap at the bottom where she’s chewed through the wood. It also cost me £80 when she dug under the feed bin and ate a bit of poison because it apparently smelt of mice ?. I still have mice and rats but I think they visit overnight rather than live in. After the incident with the poison I daren’t use that and I don’t think I could deal with a dead body so a snap trap is out. I do have an electric one which has caught mice, but no rats to date.

 

[mariew]

Make sure they can't get any grains or hard feed, and don't feed the birds anything with corn! I used to be at a stables where the owner believed all beings had a right to live. Rats and mice around stables don't actually bother me that much but pigeons do as they crp on everything. We had a mouse issue once in a house and the only way to sort it was poison. Nothing else worked.