Rats

[tatty_v]

Anyone got any tips on how to get rid of them?! YO has put down sachets and granules and that normally works, but this year they seem really persistent and I’m fed up! All feed is stored away in metal bins, we’re really good about sweeping every day and leaving nothing out, no spillages etc.

 

[Seville]

A really good cat. Cliche I know, but worth their weight in gold. Our rat problem was exceptionally bad last year and the ruined rugs and rat $h1t really p££ssed me off. Council vermin control was brilliant for a fixed fee, and came back four times to ensure they were gone. So far so good this year but I think they will be back when it gets colder. My yard cat is a demon ratter and did his best before I called the council chap.

 

[scats]

We used to get semi feral cats from the local cat rescue place. Sorted out our rat and mouse problems.

 

[TelH]

I use a dog to get them. My springer is a great ratter, my old jrt was good too.

 

[Beth206]

We have two cats and no problems with rats or mice. I'm sure my JRT would love a go too but after killing one of the yard hens she is now banned!!

 

[JillA]

Following - I have 3 good cats, who have been known to catch moles but the rats are too much for them. Tried poison but didn't seem to affect them, so I bought a load of traps and a jar of peanut butter. Seems my rats have lizard tongues, they can empty a well of peanut butter (or chocolate) without triggering the trap!

 

[MyBoyChe]

Following with interest. We have more at our yard this year, the yard cat is getting a bit too old to keep on top of them. YO is using bait traps which are gradually reducing numbers. Ive also got rats at home, close to river, fields and an allotment. Ive resorted to poison as after my hubby found one looking straight at him when he opened our green bin decided enough was enough. Seriously considering a semi feral cat at home as my jrt is useless.

 

[DappleDown]

For anyone thinking of using poison I can't stress this enough - please - NEVER NEVER NEVER use poison, especially where there are other animals in the food chain.

And NEVER with a yard with a cat or cats (or indeed, any visiting cat).

Any animal eating the poisoned rat will in turn be poisoned.

Traps should also be used with caution as they will also trap and injure other animals.

*If you have to use a trap, humane traps are the best way forward for not harming other wildlife and living creatures.

 

[Asha]

I suppose it depends on how bad the problem is, if you are over run, then Id get a pest control firm in first, then get a couple of cats to keep on top of them.

My 2 lads do a fabulous job, we only ever find the odd dead one, which the boys proudly leave for me to see. They do a grand job of mice, moles and rabbits too. I always keep an eye out for any droppings, and no sign of anything.

 

[JillA]

I don't know any animal that will eat a dead rat? Most cats and terriers are movement orientated and chase/kill then leave them? Also I have been told that if you poison in the runs, rats will go underground to die?
As for traps, they are best covered anyway, I have some heavy vegetable trays on mine with one corner raised up on a brick, or they can be put somewhere in accessible to other animals. Mine are like giant mousetraps, all you find (hopefully) is a carcase after an instantaneous kill. I don't think I could kill even a rat, and to release one elsewhere is irresponsible IMHO

I was quoted well over £300 by a pest control company locally

Incidentally I was told recently the effective rat baits will only be able to be purchased by someone with an appropriate licence in the near future

 

[SEL]

We seem to have a bit of a problem on the yard this year too. Plus mice moving into the garage at home early too - maybe the Daily Mail's forecast of winter armageddon has something in it!

I gave the yard cats a stern talking to this morning. They blinked at me and went back to sleep on the pile of clean numnahs. What's more annoying is they are asleep right by a window and the other side of the window is a stack of hay - with rat droppings on top. It must be like cat telly. Snooze whilst watching the rats play around on top of the haystack...

 

[Nasicus]

For anyone thinking of using poison I can't stress this enough - please - NEVER NEVER NEVER use poison, especially where there are other animals in the food chain.
And NEVER with a yard with a cat or cats (or indeed, any visiting cat).
Any animal eating the poisoned rat will in turn be poisoned.

An ex's cat died after eating a poisoned rat, it was absolutely awful.

 

[turnbuckle]

Agree on the poison being horrid, cats the best, but they do poo everywhere.

Can you find someone with a good ratting terrier?

Or a trigger-happy (but SAFE please) teenager willing to while away a few nights with an air-rifle?

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

Semi feral cats- always loads of them in cat rescues that they advertise for farm homes for them.

I've always found that female cats were a lot more efficient at eliminating vermin, our male cat was quite lazy and only hunted when he felt like it, whereas the females hunted every night. That might have just been our cats though - not sure if this is a common theme?

 

[Goldenstar]

We poison the whole time from October to March we have two cats and dogs the rats are not bold here you rarely see them we monitor number by how much bait gets taken we never use sachets only wheat laced poison in bait stations .
We check bait stations every seven to ten days that way we know how much if an issue there is .
We don't have mice so I know there are rats about .

 

[Seville]

The council vermin control are pretty clued up. All bait is concealed in bait boxes, neither the yard cat or my dog can get at it. Bait layed in ratruns is covered. I am pretty sure anyone with rats and domestic pets is on the ball with where poison is put. The professionals definitely are. ETA in response to dappledown

 

[suestowford]

I've tried many different kinds of trap, the best is the Little Nipper. Don't bother with the electric traps, you might kill one rat with it but once one has died in there the rest won't go in. Cage traps are OK but then you have to kill the contents. Snapping traps mean it's all over very quickly and you can chuck out the corpse for the crows to eat.
I won't use poison for the reasons mentioned above but also because you can bet the rat will die in an inaccessible spot and I'd have to put up with the smell of it decomposing for days on end

 

[hopscotch bandit]

Anyone got any tips on how to get rid of them?! YO has put down sachets and granules and that normally works, but this year they seem really persistent and I’m fed up! All feed is stored away in metal bins, we’re really good about sweeping every day and leaving nothing out, no spillages etc.

Speaking to Rentokil guy recently that comes round work to replace the bait in the bait boxes rats are becoming more and more intelligent in terms of touching bait in bait boxes. So what Rentokil do is put flapjacks in the bait boxes and the rats feast on them.When they have been doing that for a few weeks in a continuous eat/replace cycle they replace the bait with the poison bait. Also keeping the feed room clear of rubbish, emptyings bags in bins with lids on, sacks of chaff on the floor, sweeping and getting people to put feeds in metal bins reduces the problem significantly.Rentokil tie the bait into the boxes with cable ties and then put a cable tie around the box so cats/dogs etc can't get in which all pest control companies should do. They said that a pet would have to consume lots of carcasses of dead rats to accumulate sufficient poison for secondary poisoning, as secondary poisoning is very rare, rats eat so little of the poison that it is not a great deal to dog or cat, also that pets are normally well fed enough to not want to do this anyway. But if they do eat a lot of poisioned rats and therefore accumulate a lot of posion vitamin K is an antidote given by the vet.

 

[rabatsa]

I have bait boxes with dummy bait in them. This gives the rats glow in the dark poo when a light is shone around so you know that the rats are eating the bait from the box. The bait is then changed to a true bait until the rats stop eating and then back to dummy bait until the next batch of rats move in.

 

[Overread]

Incidentally I was told recently the effective rat baits will only be able to be purchased by someone with an appropriate licence in the near future

This legislation is already in place for buying larger bags of poison; I believe you can still get smaller portions, but some and the larger bags are already behind the certification wall. That said the test is neither that hard nor that expensive so its not too much of a barrier to get hold of.
Got mine through https://www.lodi-farmsolutions.com


As for masses of rats a few thoughts:
1) I second the view that if you've got cats/other animals hunting then its best to avoid poison approaches if at all possible.

2) Rats will become immune/tolerant of poisons over time. If you keep putting down the same kind over and over you steadily kill off the non-tolerant and keep breeding more rats from the tolerant strain. So you quickly end up just feeding them with the non-effective poison.
That could well have happened if the poison your YO is using hasn't changed.

If you've got a larger population you might well find a short term use of a new type of poison could help cut down the population so that you can then use traps/cats to keep on top.

You might also want to see if there's an area where they are gaining entry, we've had trouble as there's a small brook that the rats will travel up and down so we can flush out one group only to get a fresh batch swim on down and move in.

Also keeping the yard area active might help, if you're putting food down for livestock rats might well be simply going in and raiding that food after you've put it down and once you're gone.

Rats also dislike a lot of environmental change; whilst they adapt very readily they are also very fearful of new things. So keeping things clean and tidy but also changed around can disrupt them.

 

[cremedemonthe]

Get an old 2 stroke chainsaw or other 2 stroke power tool, can use a diesel 4x4 too if you can get it close enough to the holes.
Remove any blade,guides or other from the tool that could make it dangerous. Attach a heat resistant flexible pipe to the exhaust using a jubilee clip and shove the other end of the pipe down a rat hole. IF you can block up most of the other holes it helps. Mix the petroil mix slightly richer than normal, fire up the engine and wait. Any rats that don't get gassed quickly will fly out any hole left open and that's when you need a good terrier and lurcher team waiting for them to catch them or have nets ready and do what you want with them. Quick, reliable, kills most of them. No poisons needed or time setting traps.
Oz

 

[Ceriann]

We have mice at our yard, no rats yet (I think) but it's only a matter of time with chickens at 2 of the houses nearby. All feed/supplements in a metal feeder and rugs and pads boxed away but I'm still finding droppings. I won't poison as we have so many birds of prey and there is plenty of evidence of secondary poisoning so the little westie is making a few visits to the yard until we get a couple of cats to move in.

 

[Annagain]

Our YO got a Jack Russell, specifically for keeping rats away. She goes looking for them all the time but whenever she finds one she yelps like she's been shot and runs away

 

[tatty_v]

We supposedly have feral yard cats for the job but I think some of the liveries have been feeding them and turning them into lazy pets! Some excellent suggestions here, thank you. Have used Little Nipper traps for mice in the house before - the chap at the garden centre advised me to "sew" a peanut on with a bit of elastic and it works like charm for mice so could try the same, just hate setting them in case I catch my fingers! Has anyone tried the electronic traps?

 

[starandgarfy51]

I have a feral cat from cats protection.
We had a real rat problem last year, the rats were sharing my horses dinner straight from the bowl!
When we first got him he had to stay in a stable for two weeks and in this time he used a litter tray. The rats were living in the muck heap, so i dumped the litter tray on top. They moved out pronto!
Hes awesome but deadly! We dont stroke or handle him and in return he brings us dead presents!

 

[horseydebbie]

Get a cat. We had problem with rats. Firstly got rid of muck heap and bought a muck trailer. Then got 2 feral cats from SNIPS (society for neutering Islington pussies) Not seen a rat since.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Anyone got any tips on how to get rid of them?! YO has put down sachets and granules and that normally works, but this year they seem really persistent and I’m fed up! All feed is stored away in metal bins, we’re really good about sweeping every day and leaving nothing out, no spillages etc.

Grannuals are crap

Either a cat or these - we have both but cat never touches the rat so the blocks do work. they are like chocolate to them https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rat-Mous...619884&hash=item461b1adb23:g:XZIAAOSw2xRYPZav

My cat wont touch a live rat let alone the dead one - we just bury in muck hill.

 

[tatty_v]

This morning I found a dead one at the front of his bed. Torn between being pleased that’s one less and grossed out at having to scoop it up and bury it in the muck heap at 5am!

 

[Crugeran Celt]

Can't beat a good cat. I have just taken on two rescue 'house' cats both of which I have let out and one is proving to be an amazing mouser. Every morning since they were first let out 4 months ago I have a present in the mornings.

 

[Rec23]

I use a dog to get them. My springer is a great ratter, my old jrt was good too.

[SUP][/SUP] Yes i agree although i always keep terriers for ratting