Rats

[Sprogladite01]

We have at least one rat regularly invading our tack room (where the hay is stored) and leaving droppings etc all over it. Finally last night we saw the actual critter, who tried to run into our tack room while 3 of us were in there (!!). We have got snap traps down for both rats and mice but so far have only caught mice. All our feed is stored in bins, no rubbish left around, we sweep out from under the pallets the hay is on every time we have a new delivery.

Any tips on how to deter / catch / trap these little ****s?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Cat/terrier/ferret should all put rats off visiting you for a while. The alternative is poison

 

[Barton Bounty]

I used a rat block when I had one, It was brazen as anything! ?

 

[Peglo]

Last year my work employed a man to get rid of rodents. For months Basil the rat casually evaded his “efforts” to catch him. Work took on a 16 yr old boy who took his size 12 boot to poor Basil and that was the end of him.

Brian, this years rat, leaves the buildings through the day when we come in and comes back in before we shut the doors. Now 17yr old boy hasn’t gotten him yet.

could you get a yard cat? I never see rats at mine and I have hens and horses. I have 3 cats and neighbours have 5 so they just stay away

I’m sure there is good pest controllers out there but I certainly wouldn’t recommend the one that comes to work.

 

[QuantockHills]

I've got an old plastic chocolate celebration round container with a hole cut either side... i put poison in it and put it inside the pallets... so no cat's etc can accidently get to it... i top it up each time I sweep when i hay new hay...

 

[Sprogladite01]

We've thought about getting a yard cat but I have a geriatric (18 year old) indoor cat who considers the garden hers, who would not take the addition of a new cat well. She also has pancreatitis which is severely triggered by stress, and could be fatal to her so it's not something I'm willing to risk. Next door also has a yard cat who comes over here sometimes but he doesn't seem to be doing much to deter the rodents (even though I know he catches plenty on his owner's side! He probably comes to mine when he wants a rest lol)

I'm reluctant to use poison as it's not an instant kill - I wouldn't want a rat to be poisoned, go off to die somewhere and then be eaten by neighbours cat or other wildlife.

Can you hire people with ferrets/terriers etc to come out?

I'm just wondering if I should just call in a professional immediately before they start nesting somewhere :/

 

[Abacus]

I never use poison - scared of one of the dogs (or even a wild animal) eating a poisoned dead rat. Apart from which it's a horrid way to die. Our yard cat seems to deter the rats, I expect we still have a couple but much less than we used to.

 

[Barton Bounty]

This was ralph! He kept keeping bb up at night , he had no sleep for days, needless to say ralph and his family went by ?????by ?

 

[meleeka]

I have an electric trap. It’s rat sized and we’ve caught a few with it. I won’t use poison after one dragged part of a bait block out and my terrier ate it. At £80 for an emergency vet visit, the rat certainly had the last laugh.

Do you know where the rat is getting in? The easiest thing is to block his entrance with wire wool and dry cement.

 

[Sprogladite01]

I have an electric trap. It’s rat sized and we’ve caught a few with it. I won’t use poison after one dragged part of a bait block out and my terrier ate it. At £80 for an emergency vet visit, the rat certainly had the last laugh.

Do you know where the rat is getting in? The easiest thing is to block his entrance with wire wool and dry cement.

No unfortunately not, it tried to walk into the tack room last night but both doors were wide open so doubt it usually gets in that way! The tack room used to be a stable and it's linked to our third stable so it's all open at the top - plenty of access via rafters and over the gaps between the two rooms. It always, always leaves droppings (and I'm sure urine) on the hay at the back of the room, multiple times a day (4 or 5 yesterday), but has ignored traps there and in the other stable - too smart for them clearly. I just can't afford for my hay to be contaminated - especially as the cost has just gone up!

 

[meleeka]

What do you use in traps? We found Nutella and High fibre nuts the best.

 

[Sprogladite01]

What do you use in traps? We found Nutella and High fibre nuts the best.

We've been using peanut butter so I'll swap to nutella and see how that goes. Thanks!

 

[paddy555]

can you move your indoor cat onto a permanent living inside regime. We have 2 that are quite happy doing this because we had an outside ratter and he would have killed them.
Then go to a cat charity and explain exactly what you want. Once you've killed this rat it won't be the end of it. His relatives will be waiting. Don't just go for an outdoor cat or any stable cat. Our best one was nasty. He wasn't there to be nice. He enjoyed killing. We were overun at the time having tried to do without a ratting cat. He got 3 or 4 rats a night all beautifully laid out for us to admire. The rats with brains left, the others departed this life. You need a cat there all the time as a preventative. Feed the cat very well, lots of food. Killing is hard work and the best ratters kill for pleasure not to eat. They need to be strong as the rat population seem to be increasing considerably in size physically.

I won't use poison, no idea who could pick it up.

 

[Abacus]

I got a feral cat from a rehoming place and he was meant to be untouchable and vicious. No idea why they thought that, he's the softest and cuddliest lump I have ever met (and has actually turned me into a cat person. Or at at least, this cat). Doesn't stop him being a great rat killer though, he leaves us piles of fluff every night.

 

[Sprogladite01]

How do you deal with vet treatment etc for feral/outdoor cats? For things like their jabs etc if they're not keen on being handled?

 

[Abacus]

When I got mine, the rehoming people said that if they really are feral you can probably trap them once for treatment, but they probably won't ever let you again... so choose carefully when they really need it. Mine is soft enough to handle and thankfully has never needed the vet anyway. Unfortunately I think the general advice is that mostly you can't, unless the poor thing is too ill/hurt to get away from you.

 

[SEL]

My feral cat doesn't think rat hunting is part of his duties. To be fair the local rats are huge because the neighbours have chickens.....

 

[Tarragon]

I was once first person into a local and reasonably smart feed store and garden centre and was standing by a stand when a huge fat rat came out from under one of the stands just by my feet, walked around rather unsteadily and rather robotically and then went back under. I went to the person at the check-out and told him I had seen a rat, and he thanked me, and said that they had been trying to poison it for days! I bet they were glad it was a hardened horsey person that saw the rat and not just someone who had come in to buy some gardening gloves! It did look like a very well-fed rat.

 

[Esmae]

I'm just about to put a trap down to get a rat in my chicken run. Can't use poison in case the chickens get at it. I have a cunning plan that I hope will mean that ratty is got pdq!

 

[meleeka]

We've been using peanut butter so I'll swap to nutella and see how that goes. Thanks

Don’t forget the nuts (or any feed you have). I think they are less suspicious if they already know the smell).

 

[Sprogladite01]

I've been brainstorming with the family and so far our plan is:

• Sweep out from under pallets this weekend before new hay delivery arrives and then wrap pallets in fine mesh so rats and mice can't move around freely under there without inhibiting airflow. Also will stop hay and too much rubbish dropping through the slats, so hopefully less appealing all-round
• Change plastic feed bins to galvanised steel ones
• There's a hole in the wall that covers a hollow cavity which we KNOW mice live in - that hole is going to be blocked off with wire wool
• Traps will be re-baited. We have multiple traps so will try a variety of baits across them and see which ones are most appealing
• Clutter is going to be packed away so there are less places to hide. Rugs will be washed, reproofed and stored until needed (frankly don't expect to use until it snows, I have a fat welshie and a norwegian Fjord at home, neither of whom need a rug!)
• Hay nets are currently hung up on hooks when not being used - we are going to take these down as the mice have been seen using these as convenient ladders up to the hole in the wall
• Any water not being used will be chucked. We used to store tub trugs of water in the tack room to save waiting around ages for hay soaking, but - apparently this is a no no with rats around

I think that's all we've got at the moment but I feel a little better now we have a sort of plan. Any further advice anyone can think of to add to the plan appreciated!

Turns out our rat problem has evolved into an all out war against all rodents lol

 

[Ratface]

Last year my work employed a man to get rid of rodents. For months Basil the rat casually evaded his “efforts” to catch him. Work took on a 16 yr old boy who took his size 12 boot to poor Basil and that was the end of him.

Brian, this years rat, leaves the buildings through the day when we come in and comes back in before we shut the doors. Now 17yr old boy hasn’t gotten him yet.

could you get a yard cat? I never see rats at mine and I have hens and horses. I have 3 cats and neighbours have 5 so they just stay away

I’m sure there is good pest controllers out there but I certainly wouldn’t recommend the one that comes to work.

I would support the "get a cat" route. I have always had cats on the barge, and never a rodent has come aboard. If they have, they have not left any of their "calling cards".
I think that you can get feral cats from the Celia Hammond Trust if you prefer the rat attack to be repelled mob-handed.

 

[asmp]

Only one? I wish……….

We have loads at our yard. I’ve even had them run across my feet. Poison does get put down and sometimes people come with air rifles. They live in the straw stack and chew through the baling twine so at the end of the season there is just a huge pile of straw!

 

[Sprogladite01]

Only one? I wish……….

We have loads at our yard. I’ve even had them run across my feet. Poison does get put down and sometimes people come with air rifles. They live in the straw stack and chew through the baling twine so at the end of the season there is just a huge pile of straw!

Lol, well - only one I've SEEN but there are likely more and the number of droppings have been increasing lately so...that's why I'm worried!

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I regularly have rats running around above my head in the attic. No idea why they find the place so appealing other than taking the loft insulation and as they are vermin, destructive and carry disease I put a constant supply of poison blocks up there. Funnily enough I rarely get them in the chicken run, only once in the last three years whereas they get into my roof all the me.

 

[Parrotperson]

If you’ve got (or seen) one rat you e got a lot more.

I’d get a ferret man (or terrier man if you can find one) out every 3 months.

And I talk as someone who owns a JRT who thinks the rats and mice are ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with him and what do I mean by ‘gone on! Kill it!!!’

?

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Any water not being used will be chucked. We used to store tub trugs of water in the tack room to save waiting around ages for hay soaking, but - apparently this is a no no with rats around

I would leave a bucket with water in for the rats. We had several drown themselves during lambing.

 

[asmp]

Had one chew a hole in a plastic dustbin that was full of dry sugar beet. One dead rat with a swollen belly ?

 

[Poppy2003]

We had a really awful rat problem, to the point the insurance company refused to insure the farm anymore as chemicals were potentially at risk (old farmer, got away from him). He had tried cats before but he never fed them etc and they left. Few years ago a mum cat randomly turned up with 4 feral kittens so I fed them every day, always on their terms and eventually trapped and neutered them etc with help of a local charity and now years down the line we have a lovely family of not so feral cats, honestly never seen a rat or a mouse since. Nothing lives lol ? they let me worm/flea they and we all chip in for cat food. Honestly the best thing that ever happened. We don’t even see mice anymore

 

[Esmae]

Had one chew a hole in a plastic dustbin that was full of dry sugar beet. One dead rat with a swollen belly ?

Had one once that chewed through the rat bait bucket to eat the contents. Not his best idea. I was pleased though.