Shay
Well-Known Member
Don't poison them unless you have absolutely no choice. I lost my cat last year to soemone who put poison down for rats and believe me if is not a nice way to go. I'm not a rat fan by any means but there is cruelty I will draw the line at!
I know the bait boxes are supposedly secure from small animal tampering, but if the rat dies elsewhere then other animals can pick up the body. Poisoned rats can also kill foxes and badgers who scavange on the bodies. If mice take the bait (and some will) then a cat gets the mouse then the cat will be poisoned too.
We had rats in the house once a few years ago and we always have a few at the yard. The yard rats belong to the combination of the feral cats and the YO's jack russels and are not a problem. The house rats on the other hand...
We got rats - and mice - becuase my neighbour likes to feed the birds and there is always a lot of food out in her garden. We live in the suburbs so whilst we do have birds we also have a fair rat and feral fox population. Unfortunately all that bread / fat balls / piles of nuts etc is a dead cert rat attractor.
We electrotrapped for them. It is just like a conventional trap but plugged into the mains. Once the rat's weight pushes the plate down...zap. 240 volts. Instantly dead rat. Much nicer that jaw type traps which can catch the rat by a leg rather than killing it. (Plus you can accidentally snap your finger!) We found peanut butter a sure fire winner. Once we had 3 days clear with no bodies we took the traps up and installed a rodent repeller - the things you plug in. (NB do not use these if you have pet rodents / hamsters / guineapigs etc!) We've now had 3 summers totally free of any rodents. We used to have feild mice from time to time which I'm not overly fussed about - but we've not had those either since the repeller has been in. And the neighbour still feeds the birds.....
I know the bait boxes are supposedly secure from small animal tampering, but if the rat dies elsewhere then other animals can pick up the body. Poisoned rats can also kill foxes and badgers who scavange on the bodies. If mice take the bait (and some will) then a cat gets the mouse then the cat will be poisoned too.
We had rats in the house once a few years ago and we always have a few at the yard. The yard rats belong to the combination of the feral cats and the YO's jack russels and are not a problem. The house rats on the other hand...
We got rats - and mice - becuase my neighbour likes to feed the birds and there is always a lot of food out in her garden. We live in the suburbs so whilst we do have birds we also have a fair rat and feral fox population. Unfortunately all that bread / fat balls / piles of nuts etc is a dead cert rat attractor.
We electrotrapped for them. It is just like a conventional trap but plugged into the mains. Once the rat's weight pushes the plate down...zap. 240 volts. Instantly dead rat. Much nicer that jaw type traps which can catch the rat by a leg rather than killing it. (Plus you can accidentally snap your finger!) We found peanut butter a sure fire winner. Once we had 3 days clear with no bodies we took the traps up and installed a rodent repeller - the things you plug in. (NB do not use these if you have pet rodents / hamsters / guineapigs etc!) We've now had 3 summers totally free of any rodents. We used to have feild mice from time to time which I'm not overly fussed about - but we've not had those either since the repeller has been in. And the neighbour still feeds the birds.....
