RATS!!!

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arabellas dream

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We've recently starting stabling our horses at night and my lad is having a really hard time...with RATS!! But I'm having a hard time convincing people on the yard i'm not crazy! but I'm not going mad, i know they're eating my pony!

I had this problem a few years back and we actually caught the little ****ers in action chewing on my mares face. At first we were puzzled as to where she could be 'catching' herself in the stable as it was so secure. we were in despair at at the 1" square of flesh that was being made at night on my horse. after investigating further we saw a small hole in the corner of the stable with little chunks of concrete and soil around it. we kept cramming bricks tightly into it only to find them spayed out around the hole the next morning. Then we sat up all night and caught the 'filthy rodents' in action, chewing away! needless to say we got the dogs in and shovels and soon they were gone, no more wounds to my poor pony.

fast forward nearly 20 years and they're at it again. different stables, but the same hole in the ground that i fill in with bricks, only to find all the bricks dug out in the morning and my pony baring more wounds! it only went on for a few days before i swopped stables with my other horse who is able to be rugged and turned out. only no one believed me and had never heard of anything so 'ridiculous' in their lives, having to 'see it to believe it'.

no horse has been in the stable for about a week, and a rat guy came up yesterday to put some poison down, only when he came up again this morning the poison was still there. so they think im a loon! and ive had to put my pony back in there (minus the poison).

we've put three flags on top of the hole but i know that when i turn out tomorrow there will be those tell tale signs again. i'm absolutely dredding it, and it really upsets me.

My pal who has a stable opposite is now finding tell tale wounds on her pony, only this time they have pierced the flesh. she too has found a burrowed hole in the banks of the straw that leads to a drainage hole. i believe that this could only mean one thing...the rats have found a new target!

has anyone ever experienced anything similar and can anyone offer any good advice? i have a patterdale terrier that im thinkn of leaving in the stable overnight but i dont want to let her get hurt, or yelp all night as shes a bit of a mardy! i know she would love to get her teeth into a rat tho...
 
We're farmers and we control the rats with rat poison. Horrid, horrid creatures, and I've never heard of them doing this before how awful for your horse and you :( Our dogs, especially the spaniel are also very good ratters. Yes occasionally they get a nip, but the rat always ends up worse off!;) If you do use poison, just handle it with care and make sure it is put down where no other animals can get to it. Good luck:)
 
I find it incredibly hard to believe that your pony was nibbled at by rats and just lay there taking it! The pony would only have to stand up and that would be that.

Even if it did happen then, it's hardly likely to happen again. Rats do not make a habit of going round chewing livestock. They are extremely common creatures, just getting by like all other animals. Probably most yards have them to certain extent, and they're not a problem unless in huge numbers or in foodstuffs etc.

I think you're overreacting. And I definitely wouldn't lock my dog in with my horse overnight, unless they were both used to living like that.
 
i wouldnt lock my dog in with my pony, i would just leave the terrier in there to do her magic and sleep in the landrover overnight so i could check on her.

as for not believing me, if you search on the internet then you will find its a very common problem, especially rats nibbling the bulbs on the back of the horses hooves. a remedy for that is said to be salt and sodium chloride. im just finding this out now as i search.

fortunately the rats are only taking the hair off my pony in patches, and not breaking skin. this must be happening while he is lying down asleep. and as they havent drawn blood on my pony he probably isnt aware until its too late. the bedding is always dreadful, like a dozen cows have been in there, but i have no other option atm than that one stable. i have three horses and i want to keep them all together.
 
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Wild rats are horrible things, unless they are starving or insane I have never known them attack anything other than my stud cat and then he may have had it cornered, but it did make a mess of him and we have lived with rats a lot over the years.
Please, as horrible as they are, use other methods than poison, borrow a ferret, trap them, live trap or snap traps, terriers anything but poison, not even rats deserve that death from the inside out
 
I would leave my dog overnight in the stable (obviously without horse in it). I don't see a problem with it.

As for not believing original poster, why would she lie?
 
flirtygerty said:
Wild rats are horrible things, unless they are starving or insane I have never known them attack anything other than my stud cat and then he may have had it cornered, but it did make a mess of him and we have lived with rats a lot over the years.
Please, as horrible as they are, use other methods than poison, borrow a ferret, trap them, live trap or snap traps, terriers anything but poison, not even rats deserve that death from the inside out
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On a farm, where feedstuff is readily available to the rats poison is the only option, we just keep them under control, never totally get rid. If we didn't use poison we'd be over run.
 
Horsesgalore
Horses can be incredibly stupid, our mare was lying down in the field and let a crow peck at her back, she twitched her skin every time it pecked at her but didn't get up, this crow was on her back pecking, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
As for rats, we had a rat run outside our back door which was the wall of the horses field, we also had chickens in the garden so I know from experience how cheeky rats can be and could believe anything of them, at one point our resident rat had more dog food under the sink unit than the dog had in it's food bag.
 
Horrible things!!! A livery yard I was on 15 years ago was over run with rats and I'd often find knaw marks on the back of my mares heals! I couldn't believe she'd actually stand and let a rat chew her feet but she did... And it's not unheard of!
 
Horsesgalore said:
:confused:What do you mean? What makes the bedding dreadful?
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i thought he may just be a messy bugger but i think he must just be that unsettled, walking round and round.

and those marks are coming from somewhere! there are no nails, sharp or dangerous things for him to catch himself on, and why just the hair? why 1" square bald patches?? i know why, but like i say, people are having a hard time comprehending my conclusion.
 
Horseyscot said:
We're farmers and we control the rats with rat poison. Horrid, horrid creatures, and I've never heard of them doing this before how awful for your horse and you :( Our dogs, especially the spaniel are also very good ratters. Yes occasionally they get a nip, but the rat always ends up worse off!;) If you do use poison, just handle it with care and make sure it is put down where no other animals can get to it. Good luck:)
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i think thats the next step for me, letting the patterdale do what she was bred to do, and thanks for your advice, much appreciated
 
Horseyscot, I'm not knocking you for using poison, but I recently had to watch a family of mice die by poison and it was horrendous, it's the same end for anything poisoned.
Years ago I worked in a hunting yard and on night duties the stables were overun by rats, it was solved by leaving the jack russels in the feed room and walkway overnight, there were multiple rat bodies in the morning, but it was a quick death, unlike the mice and rats on our yard
 
laura7981 said:
Horrible things!!! A livery yard I was on 15 years ago was over run with rats and I'd often find knaw marks on the back of my mares heals! I couldn't believe she'd actually stand and let a rat chew her feet but she did... And it's not unheard of!
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from what im reading, a horse wouldnt even feel someone chewing on their hooves very much like we wouldnt be able to feel someone filing our nails unless it went down too far. so while horses sleep the rats get to work! its only when they draw blood that the horse wakes and realises whats going on. ppl use something called bell boots or disposable nappies (as unbelievable as it sounds) to eliminate the problem while they disperse of the rats.

thanks for backing me up, i knew i wasnt being neurotic!
 
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I hadn't heard of them chewing at horses but I did once see one firmly attached to the back end of one of my hens, fortunately to the feathers rather than flesh. It was dispatched very quickly with a shovel after I had kicked it off her, I was soooo angry with it! I have used poison in the past due to them moving into the walls of a building in great numbers and the dog being unable to get at them, I would never use it again, horrible to see them dying slowly! I have to be honest, I quite like them, I just wish they would live outside and not bother the hens for their feed and so force us to control them. In our old place I was amazed at just how clever they were, they used to hear the geese come in on a night and then they would appear from the tops of the walls in droves to steal their food, the geese just used to let them which I thought was very odd!

Our JRT is no ratter and hides her eyes but the mastiff x loves it, he is a real killing machine and goes mental when they are around.
 
hch4971 said:
I have to be honest, I quite like them.
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I quite like them too! Like all animals, they're just trying to survive, and it's not their fault they cause us the occasional problem.

At this time of year, I hear rats scurrying through my house, between the living room ceiling and bedroom floor. They never come out from the floor and into my house, they're just passing through. I worry they might chew at wiring, although they've never done that so far. I wish they'd live outside, but hey, it's getting cold. ;)
 
I hate rats but have to admit that I also admire their tenacity and determination to get to feed or where ever they want!

I had some chew through the ramp into the dick house and kill a young duck. I put extra wood over the hole and they chewed through another part of the ramp so spent two hours in the pouring rain stapling chicken wire to the outside of the duck house.

I also hate poison because of the knock on effect but live trapping is practically impossible - you might catch a few young rats but the adults are to clever for that.

I have plenty of terriers that love to kill the rats but it is flushing them out that is the problem so have rigged up a hose to an old chainsaw exhaust and use that to smoke them out straight to the terriers.

Ferrets are OK but if they appear to quickly the terriers will kill them!

Good mornings sport is rat catching!
 
my OH runs a pest control company. Rats have neophobia (fear of new things) so the fact that the poison hasn't been touched doesn't mean there isn't any. When he puts rat bait down its left for at least a week before checking as if it's moved/disturbed it can set them off again.

No clue as to rats eating your ponies though, he does central London so not something we come across!!
 
i knew just one night wouldnt be long enough for the poison to be left down! i think im gonna get a few live traps and then cull them with a shovel like we did years ago, altho i cant bare to do that myself, the OH can dispose of them
 
If you put the poison in little bags and roll them up tight and pop them near the hole and leave for a bit they will eat though them and injest the poison. It's worked for us as we had a run through the place.
Poisoning them is horrible but I think that if I caught Weils disease then those pesky wee blighters would not be bothering about me. And they are munching on your yards ponies.
We had a Patterdale who was the worst ratter ever and came from champion ratting stock.Would take a strangers face off 'tho! Our springer was deadly and when she was alive never needed poison or traps.
Happy ratting and I hope you get your ponies in "nibble free" soon
 
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