Rats from hell. Need advice.

[Possenti2264]

Last summer's corn crop brought a colony of rats from hell to my garden area, under the slab foundation of my house. 

I used the wooden snap traps and caught three rats, but only after a dozen attempts.  These guys are tricky. I even wired the bait to the traps, and they still managed to strip them clean.

So in addition to the snap traps, I bought sticky traps.  After a couple of days of no success, I went out to check again about 20 minutes ago.  Three of the traps are missing, one has two dead or mostly dead sparrows attached, and one was dragged halfway into one of the holes.  After carefully fishing the trap out, I noticed the trap had a bunch of feathers and one bloody wing attached, but the rest of the bird is gone.  My only thought is that the third sparrow became dinner.  I bet the same will come of the other two sparrows.

So, how does one defeat a band of demon rats?  I haven't tried poison.  I have three dogs, but they're fenced out of the garden area where the rats live.  Since the rats have made their home in a separate portion of the garden, I actually thought opening that portion up to the dogs may be a remedy, but I'm not sure.  They've caught rats in the past, but they had access to them.

Any advice would be great.  I'd prefer not to call an exterminator because this is a skill or trick I'd like to learn.

[Roknrandy]

Lots of large baited traps in strategic locations and nail them one at a time. We had little field mice here a couple years ago that were everywhere, several small traps with peanut butter and a couple weeks later no more mice.

[TexDaddy]

I would suggest you let the dogs have a shot at them first. Since they have killed rats before, at least they know what to do.

I have used d-con to eliminate mice. It was very effective. You can get their rat poison in pre loaded trays to minimize contact with the product yourself. Something like this:

http://www.d-conproducts.com/baits/bait-pellet-trays.html

[Rishmoca]

The dog would be a good option but it would take a long, long time to correct you problem.  Remember you never have just one rat/mouse, you have dozens.

My dogs will also catch the occasional rat, mouse,mole, bird, rabbit, squirle.

I use rat pellets most resently this fall as the little suckers invaded the house looking for warmth.  I put a box out and in two days all the bait was gone and so were they.  The new bait has not been touched.

Since your problem is outside you could also consider a Giant Destroyer.  Its a gas bomb that will kill them. Just google it. 

BB guns are also fun. Lol

[amanadoo]

I'd turn to a not-so-friendly neighborhood cat before anything else. Definitely before I tried poison. I know some people don't like to have cats around their dogs because it irritates the dogs, but I think better that than accidentally poisoning the dog or one of them getting bitten or sick from the rats. Once the rats are gone, you could always start a patch of catnip far away from your house, and only set out cat food there to keep the cat out of your hair if it's a problem.

[monkeyboyf]

Every year after the first cold spell I get rats under the house.  They tell me they have arrived by gnawing on the wood under the floor. Talk about nightmares!  Each year I take the service panel to get to the shower/tub pipes loose and put in a box of rat pellets under the bathtub.  Bye.  They are gone in a day or so.  When my DH was alive he had great fun with his 22  shooting them as they came from the barn at night.  They get really big out here, but the poison does the trick for me.

[Possenti2264]

How do i get a neighborhood cat into my backyard?

[monkeyboyf]

Call DEV and let him sweet talk it.lol

[fratermus]

I have seen the sharpshooter approach used to good effect:  droplight + peanut butter + pellet gun + airgun scope.  Will try this when I get a scope. I've dispatched a few with open sights but I'd like to improve my bullet placement. 

Our neighborhood had many rats a few years ago.  I have just been using rat traps and catch a couple a week.  Dunno if they are going elsewhere or are below critical mass, but there appear to be far fewer than before.  Maybe I've just culled the dumb/obvious ones.

[Morning Sunshine]

Call DEV and let him sweet talk it.lol

 

Hi, DEV 

[Possenti2264]

The other two sparrows have been eaten by the demon rats.

[TexDaddy]

The other two sparrows have been eaten by the demon rats.

That is a big part of what rats do. They are scavengers. Dead sparrows=dinner time in the world of rats.

On the cat front, do you know anyone who has a farm/ranch? We have a friend who has 40 acres in rural Wise County. She keeps many cats on her place to keep the rodents down. She feeds them a little, but not so much they don't have to hunt. If she starts seeing mice or rats, she cuts down on the cat food until the problem clears up. In the past, my wife got a kitten from her for a pet. If you do know someone, maybe they could let you have one or two.

[DeltaEchoVictor]

Call DEV and let him sweet talk it.lol

I heard that....

Hi, DEV 

One of the first things you need to do (if possible) is figure out where they're getting in under your house.  Cut off their entrance & exit points.  I'd also go with poison if there's no fear of your animals getting in to it.  Winter's bring the mice indoors here, as soon as I see the first signs of the vermin, down goes the poison.  It doesn't take long before they're history.

I hate using poison, & for everything else it's a last resort (gardening, etc.) but when it comes to rodents...it's a sure bet & the fastest way to eliminate the little bastards.

I wouldn't even bother with traps & glue traps...the country rats we've dealt with just throw them back at us as they run on by. 

[Possenti2264]

Would there be any danger in attaching a bare electrical wire to a rat trap? That way the rat would think he's just going to steal the bait, then he gets zapped.  Would it kill him?

[KYdoomer]

Conibear traps.  I had chicken eating rats when I was younger.  It was the only thing that worked.

J

[Possenti2264]

I remembered a webpage called RatKill.com which showcased a guy's shooting abilities with a pellet gun.  Since then, the site has added live rat kill cams as well as various methods for killing rats.  One contributor suggested a simple bucket trap where a bucket of water has a ramp up to some bait strung over the water.  Rate reaches for bait and falls in the water.  The contributor claimed 57 rats n one week.  I pray I don't have that many in my yard.

I have several buckets, so I think I'll give the bucket trap a try tomorrow night.

[LvsChant]

i like the bucket trap idea...

[4bull]

If you can ,the old foot hold traps nailed to somthing and baited with dry dog food under the pan. wire them to a post.
the little # 1 long spring will hold them .Good luck and enjoy the fun

[thezoo]

i would really urge you not to put a bare wire anywhere btw saturday i got hit with 240 volts while cutting out a bad section of floor in my home i didnt even hit the wire, the insulation was abraded and touching wood the floor was damaged due to a broken pipe, 240 volts hurts like he@#

[mamabear]

You need to watch the movie "The Secret of Nyhm" and get yourself a smart mouse and a crow that likes sparklies to take them down.

Call DEV and let him sweet talk it.lol

hahahaha. I like this idea. Although I think the idea of finding a farm that has cats that may let you have one might be a better one. Or, check out your local animal shelter. They will always have cats that need a home. And that cat will be happy to be out of the cage they get stuck in. The two of my cats that are killers are the shelter kitties. The other one was not a shelter kitty, and he won't hunt anything.

Hi, DEV.

[GreyWolf]

Every winter I get a lot of field mice. I go to WalMart, buy the mice poison in the yellow box. In it are poison pellets in yellow bags. Just put the bags where you think the rats hide and the rats will eat through the bag to get to the poison. Kills em. keep puttin out the bags until they are all dead. Takes awhile but it is low energy and very effective.Worth the money.

[antsyaunt]

I remembered a webpage called RatKill.com which showcased a guy's shooting abilities with a pellet gun.  Since then, the site has added live rat kill cams as well as various methods for killing rats.  One contributor suggested a simple bucket trap where a bucket of water has a ramp up to some bait strung over the water.  Rate reaches for bait and falls in the water.  The contributor claimed 57 rats n one week.  I pray I don't have that many in my yard.

I have several buckets, so I think I'll give the bucket trap a try tomorrow night.

The bucket trap worked this summer for me; it killed mice and chipmunks.  I used unshelled peanuts for bait.  I put some on the ramp, and then I floated a few on a small piece of styrofoam in the bucket. 

[Nicodemus]

I'll second or third the vote of confidence in bucket traps. They work really well if the rats aren't too big. Of course if the rats are too big I guess you could always use a bigger bucket. Make sure the buckets are as easy if not easier to get to to your garden.

[Possenti2264]

Yesterday I was working in the garden and decided to get the hose.  I stuffed it about a foot down one of the holes and turned it on full blast.  Two minutes after, the action began.  Rats were shooting out of the holes every which way.  I watched their pattern and put the snap traps in their paths, which had no effect.  Some of the rats even jumped directly onto the trigger and the traps didn't snap.  Even after the holes filled with water, rats kept shooting out.  It was amazing.  Sadly all I had was a shovel, and couldn't move it quick enough to bang them on the head.  Next time I'll bring the dogs in with me and we'll have a hell of a time. 

[fritz_monroe]

At least you know what you are up against.

Do the hose thing again and this time when they are out, plug up the holes with steel wool or broken glass.  The rats won't go over those unless they have no choice.  It could encourage them to find another home.

I don't know what is in them, but if you look near grocery stores, they often have rat traps outside of them.

I also saw this trap when I was at Lowes one day.  It claims to kill 50 rats on 4 C batteries.

[LvsChant]

Yesterday I was working in the garden and decided to get the hose.  I stuffed it about a foot down one of the holes and turned it on full blast.  Two minutes after, the action began.  Rats were shooting out of the holes every which way.  I watched their pattern and put the snap traps in their paths, which had no effect.  Some of the rats even jumped directly onto the trigger and the traps didn't snap.  Even after the holes filled with water, rats kept shooting out.  It was amazing.  Sadly all I had was a shovel, and couldn't move it quick enough to bang them on the head.  Next time I'll bring the dogs in with me and we'll have a hell of a time. 

+1 Possenti! We both had a good time (at your expense) hearing about this. I was envisioning it and guessing your lovely wife was not out there enjoying the fun with you (LOL). We want to hear about part two. I think this is great... now you know how to "flush" them out... all you need now is something to either whack them or shoot them with for next time! Might be fun for the dogs, but maybe not the little one...

the husband ways "#8 birdshot... lead them a little"  LOL You missed your chance... could have probably gotten away with this on New Year's Eve...

[theremart]

I was an exterminator for 5 years.   Had access to some very nasty chemicals to do these critters in.

The main problem with rats can be the type of feed they get.   If they get the feed from a grainery they sometimes add vitamins to the feed.    It turns out that vitamin K is the antidote to some rat poison so it does not work.

The first instinct of the rat is to nest over food so if you put a cardboard box with holes cut of the side next to a wall with some poison in the wax blocks it increases the chance of them taking the bait.    Coating the bait in a bit of peanut oil / beacon grease on regular intervals also helps the process.   Be sure to not just dump the rat poison out as you might kill a dog / cat.

Regular replacing the poison on a regular basis and removing food sources if possible, and blocking their entrances with steel wool is good practices to helping thin the population.

[Possenti2264]

I'm, pretty sure I'm not going to use poison.  The dogs sometimes get into the garden, and I don't want there to be some residual poison in the future which would kill them.

I'm thinking next time I'm going to get some friends, a case of beer, and a bbq, and we'll all play a big game of "whack-a-mole" with rats (if they don't drown in the bucket traps first).

[theremart]

I'm, pretty sure I'm not going to use poison.  The dogs sometimes get into the garden, and I don't want there to be some residual poison in the future which would kill them.

I'm thinking next time I'm going to get some friends, a case of beer, and a bbq, and we'll all play a big game of "whack-a-mole" with rats (if they don't drown in the bucket traps first).

Plan B.

If they are in ground, cover all holes and run a pipe from the exhaust of your car to the hole and then cover or lawnmowers work as well.

[reefmarker]

They sell those black boxes at tractor supply company for about $10.  Inside the box is a couple of baffles so the rats have to make it through a little maze to get to the poison.  The poison is the little wax blocks with holes in them.  The poison sits down on metal pegs.  This keeps everything inside even if you pick it up and shake it.  My two cats can't get to the poison, so I think it is very secure.  My cats can open drawers, doors, cabinets, toilet lids, dog and cat food bags, so I feel if they can't open the bait stations, nobody can.  Whole cost for 1 setup with poison and all is about $20 I've included the URL below.  I went through an infestation of these tiny little mice two years ago, and the snap traps, box traps, sticky traps, and electric traps did nothing but drain my wallet.   Once I got one bag of the rat bait for these stations, all my sticky traps were immediately full of almost dead mice pooping out little bluish green poisoned poop!  I got the two Savannah cats to try and catch the mice, but they never had a chance since the poison got the critters first.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/rodent-bait-traps/tomcat-reg-rat-bait-station-4203294