Rats from hell. Need advice.

[Cedar]

Just like humans, rats require food, shelter and water. You need to clean up the sources they are utilizing. Rats breed quickly, so there is probably a lot of them in the colony and growing.

You will have to use steel to block their entrances, they can eat through anything else. And keep virgilant if they are starting to make new holes. Block those too.

Some rats are immune to poison. I hate poison being placed out. Being a former vet tech for 22 yrs, I have seen the consequences of non-target animals (usually dogs, although had one pygmy goat who kept getting into rat poison) getting into it. IF you use it, get the block kind which is pressed into cubes and make PVC pipes which are large enough for the rats to get into. The pipe has a end cap on it and the front end has a 45 degree angle on it to keep the poison block from falling out. I used these when I worked at the zoo for mouse control. It is safter for the non-target animals.

If you use more sticky traps (which was getting non-target animals like the birds).. force the rats to take that path and prevent the birds from getting into them by making a tunnel such as out of boards to create a 'cattle chute' and place it flush to the entrance hole/s with the sticky traps on the 'floor' of the chute.

The corn was last years food source and when they moved in. What is this years food source? What is their water source? Remove these. If you have livestock, keep feed covered. Only feed out enough feed that the livestock will clean it up with no leftovers. Feed chickens in hanging feeders.

Do you have drippy pipes anywhere? Standing water in tires, barrels? The rats do not need vast amounts of water to live, but they do need it. Empty their source/s.

Drowning rats will not easily work as they can hold their breath an incredibly long time. They do swim in sewer pipes and have been known to invade homes by coming up toilets.

Good luck..

Cedar

[BadgerAngel]

I second rat snake and black snake environments...If that's not an option, perhaps you should get a dachsund.  Dachsunds will kill rats, and were originally bred to kill badgers, so they have the kill instinct. 

[ThePlainsman]

Get a terrier, they were bred for the task. Another option is to run a hose from your car exhaust with a tube into their burrow. Might want to leave the house for a bit until it airs out. CO2 fire extinguisher also works because CO2 is heavier than air and will fill up the burrows. They can't smell it so they will not leave the burrow until it is too late. Both methods will suffocate them. I have a friend who got rid of a family of skunks that way.

[Possenti2264]

The Final Solution

The last of the rats met his final destiny on Saturday.  I used poison a few months ago, but the dog managed to get a hold of some and went through 8 weeks of Vit K treatment.  She's fine now.  Both dogs are good at catching rats, but the rats only come out at night and the dogs sleep inside. 

The final solution was to take the shovel and patrol the garden and compost areas looking for holes, collapsing or digging up all the holes as far as I could find.  When I found the main rat den, I used cinder blocks to cover all but one escape hole, in which I put the water hose on full blast.  Once the hole was full of water, I turned off the hose and noticed a little rippling from below the surface.  The rat stuck his nose and whiskers out to make sure the coast was clear.  He made a break for it, right into the jaws of my rott/lab mix where he was shaken to death, then severely pummeled with the shovel for good measure.  The body sans tail was approximately 10 inches long. 

The holes will be refilled this weekend.

[LvsChant]

vid??? That had to be interesting with a rat that large!

[MyBookie]

I've had great success with rats with these traps http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005MW8XQ4 and for gophers and squirrels, this one:  http://www.amazon.com/Woodstream-Black-Hole-Rodent-Trap/dp/B0007O24US.

[Possenti2264]

Sorry, no more vids on rat killing.

The most effective for a mass killing was the water hose and shovel. 

1.  Fill all but one of the holes with dirt.
2.  Put hose down one remaining hole.
3.  Gather family dogs around hole, arm self with large shovel.
4.  Turn on water and wait for rats.
5.  Smash rats heads with shovel as they escape hole.
6.  Any rats missed will be caught by dogs. 
7.  Dig up all rat holes for any rats hiding in underground air pockets.  Finish them with a swift chop.
8.  Fill all holes with dirt.

I found a nest of babies the day after the "last rat" was killed.  I pitchforked all the babies, their mother, and what appeared to be a slightly older litter.  They looked like beanie-weanies on a spit.  Haven't seen anymore since.

[reefmarker]

<<SNIP SNIP>>
I found a nest of babies the day after the "last rat" was killed.  I pitchforked all the babies, their mother, and what appeared to be a slightly older litter.  They looked like beanie-weanies on a spit.  Haven't seen anymore since.

Cody Lundin would have put some seasoning on those and made them into tasty little beanie-weanies!

[Possenti2264]

Cody Lundin would have cried at the use of water to flush the rats out.

[nkawtg]

Underground rats? Sheesh.
Anyways this should do the trick.
Caution, don't do this near your septic tank.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es27P11PDxc&feature=player_embedded

[Possenti2264]

The rats nested underneath the a/c unit right next to my daughter's bedroom.  I wasn't sure if the car exhaust could somehow get inside the house, so I didn't try to smoke them out. 

Also, the blast thing is cool, but again, the nest was under the a/c, so I wouldn't want to damage it.

[Cadfael]

The one thing that I haven't seen anyone mention regarding poison is that it can backfire on you if you put it out in the basement or cellar of your living space: the rats sometimes eat the bait, go back to their (often inaccessible) nest or other abode, and then die there.  Then they decompose and stink up the place something awful.  When you add in the fact that the rat may die in a place where your dog can get at it, and possibly chew on it, the negatives of poison have always outweighed the positives for me. YMMV.

[devildoc]

Uhmmm , its under a slab , gas and a match btw stand to the side when u light it.

second option i used to do as a kid. get the real traps for animal trapping. slather the trigger with peanut butter if u have cereal add some it makes them push the trigger down to get the cereal. you can also go without bait just dig the area out a bit so u can place the traps.

[RPZ]

Get a couple of ferrets. They will kill all your rats, and if you keep them outside and fed andn watered they will keep the rats away as long as you have them there.

[mngardener]

So I have a known rat issue. if the rule if you see one you know you have 12 applies, well i saw 20. son of a _____

So my desires are use DeCon last. i have about 30 days before i do that. (that is when i can kick the chickens out of the coop for a week or so and not worry much about them, and clean out all the straw in the coop. this will isolate the problem area and starve them out and add poison. )

So while the last thing i want to add is Cyanide to my living space. Do any of you know of any more organic versions of rat deurrants of versions of killing them.

I am currently trying baking soda mixed with sugar and flour, also with chicken grain. The ratios are 1 part soda 2 parts other. The idea is the rats can't pass gas very well and their stomachs expand/explode. all done with them.

 Word has it it works well with gulls too.

Any further ideas?

Other then a shotgun....

[LvsChant]

@mngardener... thought you might find help in this older thread about a similar problem... enjoy!

Topics merged.

[ShannonB]

We have had a run in with Texas Roof Rats here.  In my garage, which is attached to my house. I can hear them in the walls and attic now.  My dog was kind enough to bring one to me and laid it on my feet.... I screamed and she danced around all proud.

Every year my city makes updates to the park behind my house or in the last two years we have had a lot of new construction around here, sheds, detached garages, new shopping centers.

Its a pain and really gross. We keep our non-food preps in out garage. They ate a case of toliet paper.

We have traps out everywhere and have only caught 2 counting the one the dog caught. No poisons, i cant take the chance of my dogs getting sick, they are like my babies.

[devildoc]

told yah, gas would have been better

[Flboy]

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).

         As long as you put the bait in a proper "baiting station" as the above posters suggested there will be no residual poison.  Make sure you use a rodenticide such as this http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/contrac-blox-rodenticide-p-80.html in a block form.  It will attach with a bar inside the bait station so the rodents can't "trans-locate" the bait. They can only eat it in the box.
          Secondary poisoning isn't as much of a issue as people think, after most of the commonly used baits are ingested and um uhh expelled it is no longer dangerous to our pets. Also your dogs would get sick of eating "contaminated rat bodies" before they would get sick from eating them. 
          And please if you get your hands on zinc phosphate or tracking powder don't use it, they both work well but not worth the risk. If you need any pointers please email or pm me, this is what i do for a living. Well i guess that's a lie, this is what I pay my tech to do now.

[D.Zaster]

My parents had rats in their garage a few years back.  My dad enlisted the help of a friend with an aggressive Jack Russell Terrier to come over, and left it in the garage for a few hours. It killed a rat every time.  Apparently that's what the Jack Russell Terriers were bred for back in the day.  This went on for several weeks, until his friends' wife found out what they were using the family dog for!

Then he used borax missed in peanut butter for the rest of them. Good luck!

DZ

[Oil Lady]

And here we have yet another banner thread at TSP. Just 80 posts and over 5,000 views. That kind of a disparity between the two numbers tells me that this thread is being picked up in Google searches being executed by non-TSP folks looking for answers on how to combat rats. And so they unknowingly click their way into this forum and thus get introduced to the world of Prepping.

[LibertyBelle]

That kind of a disparity between the two numbers tells me that this thread is being picked up in Google searches being executed by non-TSP folks looking for answers on how to combat rats. And so they unknowingly click their way into this forum and thus get introduced to the world of Prepping.

Whatever works.   But those numbers also serves as a reminder that many who reads our messages are not part of the TSP family and we need to be careful about including personal info when it comes to some of our replies.

[Roundabouts]

Great thread.  Just sorry I really need the info.  Dang it!!  We have a rat problem.  They have dug under the slab foundation of the barn.  When I say dug I mean they have made a huge condo under there.  Now I know why the cement floor is cracking.  After further inspection we have found that the barn has sunk about a 1/2 inch on the west side.  There was nothing left to hold up the building.  The sill plate is about 6" off the ground.  So we have dug new footings for support under the sill plate.   Yesterday was doing some remodeling moved a bunch of stuff saw a couple big holes thought no problem just fill with cement.  While digging to set some forms.  2/3 of the foundation gave way! There was a huge housing tunnel and dens the rats made.  I had hubby come home with a friend so we could get things taken care of.  Hated to do that but 2 of the 4 sides of the barn no support.  I don't even want to know about the west side.  At least the north side is fine. 

During this process our boston terrier Goblin has turned into a very good rat hunter.  Getting better with all the experience he is getting.  He has only been able to catch and kill young ones about 40 so far.  40 little rats.  Crap almighty this must mean we have tons of rats.      Goblin has even found them in the green house and now he is alerting on the back porch.  Crap!!!

Needless to say once all the new foundations are in and holes plugged we are going rat hunting every day!
 So according to this thread I will try

A trash can with bait string and a board to try and catch them
Rat traps
shooting them
gassing them
wack with a shovel (got only one that way the second got away)
poison if we can get the summer home made for our pigs and birds. (pigs love baby rats know I know why they were digging in the barn)
Borax and peanut butter

Cats ferrets snakes ( we live in SW WA) more dogs water hose under slab options not really doable.

Did I miss any thing?  besides call an exterminator?  We keep all feed in metal garbage cans. Have never had a rat chew through the bags of extra feed (never really saw that much poo either).  Will also try and make some kind of nipple watering system so we don't have to have buckets of water around.  That won't work for all the animals so will still have to have some open water source. 

THIS IS WAR!!!

[LvsChant]

Wow! That's amazing, Roundabout... keep us posted on how the rat war goes. It sounds like they are running from the condo, so maybe the biggest part will be done before long.

[Roundabouts]

Goblin our boston terrier found and destroyed another nest this one had 15 babies!   Sunny and Luna 2 of our pigs were right there to munch out.  I think they are even getting the idea to dig them up.  Funny to watch Goblin goes into the hole under the foundation the pigs stand behind him waiting for a snack. We have team work here!  
We now have all the support footings and posts under the barn.  Today we were going to finish up stuffing cement under everything.  Didn't pan out for today maybe tomorrow.   At least last night we didn't forget to cover all the holes with wood and rocks.  Forgot the night before poor Bella our youngest pig curled up in the hole to sleep and got stuck.  Poor girl was squealing up a storm in the morning when she couldn't get out for breakfast.  Man was she jammed in there good.  She is fine and was very happy I came to help.  She even took the time to give me a nudge before she ran for her food.   Then we will tackle the 3rd side of the barn.  It does not look to bad so hoping that we can just block the holes.  Well will leave one open so we can gas the suckers.

The green house is still rat free! Goblin and the pigs got every thing taken care of.  Now Goblin is alerting under the house and back porch!    It seems the frigen rats have moved.  Now I understand why the pigs are rooting making pig holes to sleep in  next to the deck steps.  They are waiting for a midnight snack.   

Seems pigs can be added to the how to kill rats. The hen turkeys do their share too.  One of then saw a rat in their house and chased it out.  She was out for blood.  The other 2 hens came running over to her and they all paced around the rat hole pecking at it and making really strange sounds.  That may be why the don't all want to sleep in their house lately.  Well all at the same time. Two sleep inside and one sleeps out side on the fence rail.  They take turns.  The tom well he has taken to sleeping on the roof of their house or the barn roof.  Cracks me up like when you see some one jump up on a chair when they see a mouse.  Our tom flys up on the roof when he sees a rat.   Guess he can't be bothered  with stuff like that he is to busy being a pretty boy.  Mr. Jiggles is always puffing up turning blue and doing his stomping jiggle dance for the ladies.  So funny to watch him deflate when they turn him down.  Maybe if he spent more time in protection mode vs horney mode it would work better for him?   Always a show around here.   

Still blows my mind how we had so many rats and never knew it.

[Richard_Steel]

Anyone tried sealing all but one of the rat holes and giving it a good blast with a co2 fire extinguisher.