Rats - How to get rid of them

[filly190]

I have suddenly become over run with rats, seeing droppings all round my stables and feed room. I keep my feed in metal bins and sweep everyday.

Any suggestions on what to do, how to get rid of them

 

[calon]

we poisened ours and it took a couple of weeks to get rid then got some cats havent come back its been three weeks now god luck

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Rat poison or cats/terrier.

 

[Nic]

I can lend you a Nava Scotion Duck Toller who is good with rats!

 

[Accy]

Poison or small terrier imo, or a couple of ferral cats should really do the trick.

The same as everyone else really

 

[flyingfeet]

Ditto above but also:

Make sure your feed is all in rat proof containers and sweep up any spills from the horses. Also if you can try and control the mice (which rats eat) the vermin level will drop.

Rats are all moving in for the winter, so the best method is to keep their food down and try and control them. Obviously don't use posion and terriers / cats as you are likely to accidently poison your pets.

 

[Sooty]

If you can find their runs, you can get poison gas pellets that you bury down the hole. When the damp earth comes into contact with them, the gas is released down the run and kills the rats. I think you have to either be a business or a rat killing person to obtain them, but we did get hold of some. We had tried cats and traps and didn't want to use poison above ground in case the cats ate a poisoned rat. Ring a pest control company for advice.

 

[Capriole]

i had them in my student house and they were indestuctable super rats - poison EVENTUALLY killed them after several attempts

 

[Agent XXX999]

Terriers!

 

[teapot]

Think poison was used at the yard when they had a problem

 

[filly190]

Thanks for that, we watched a big fat slow rat go down a hole that looks very established and wondered how we could get them underground.

Will look in yellow pages, many thanks

 

[LadyB]

Gun...??

sorry i just cant stand the B*ggers!!!!

 

[airedale]

terriers

 

[Boolagh]

If you are thinking of getting yard cats and you're based in the South East contact the Pussycat Trust Lodge in Brentwood (www.pussycatlodge.co.uk). They were brilliant - I have three of their cats and no rats or mice!

 

[RachelB]

Our yard has poison in little tubes specially for poisoning rats, and we have two cats (usually only kill bunnies and pheasants though, a bit useless) and a fantastic JRT, quickest dog I've ever seen! Getting a JRT tomorrow as well, so Harry the yard dog will have to teach Toby how to do it and they can go ratting together! I'd prefer to be killed by a dog if I were a rat though, nicer than poison!

 

[airedale]

absolutely - terriers are the best choice and if you don't have one then there are terrier clubs that may well have members who's dogs want a good 'hunt' )

I don't like chemicals much and avoid if possible due to the danger of getting the wrong animal - and if there are any kids on the yard I think poison bait is positively dangerous.

rats don't seem to go much for live catch box traps these days - the old fashioned kill trap does work but it is vicious to use and dangerous to set if you don't know what you are doing - however the rat is either dead or alive - and again dangerous if you have kids around or people who won't wear proper shoes round stables.

 

[Happytohack]

It is usually quite easy to find their runs, they love going under things like pallets. Get some poison from agricultural merchants and put it in a small piece of drainpipe(about 1 ft long) as near as possible to the run. This prevents cats & other pets from accidentally coming into contact with it. You will need to keep putting new poison down until the poison stops being taken - this can take quite a few days. Then you will have the pleasure of finding dead rats - easy to find by the pong. If you don't tackle the problem now, you really will be over run with them.

 

[sorona]

Yuk, i found the rats werent bothered about taking any bait and i had a rat zapper trap which electrolutes the rats but only managed to catch loads of mice in it. The spring loaded traps are good, managed to kill loads of rats in the garden with them but unfotunately managed to catch and kill 2 robins too, ahhh! Dont have any terriers but my farriers terrier goes nuts in my hay barn so I know theya re lurkin in there somewhere.

 

[wench]

good lurcher works just as well as a terrier!

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Cats, terriers, traps will all do the job to a degree but the only sure way is to use poison. They will eat it and take it back to the nest where you'll eventually take out all of them. If you haven't got the knowledge to poison safely then call in a professional to do it for you. I doubt if cats etc will be able to make much impresion on the population.

Good Luck clearing them out

 

[filly190]

I have been to Central Wool Growers and have bought some DRAT, they told me to mix this with sugar beet which rats like. I also bought 10 x bait boxes and have dotted this around where I think the rats are. I had got a humane trap (box) which has been set up for the last week, to date nothing has happened.

Fingers crossed I can get rid of them. All of a sudden rat droppings are everywhere