Rat Problem

[cwillour]

Well great, now the poison is out again. I tried the bucket thing, baited it with dog food no luck

We always mix our bait w/ peanut butter (the peanut-butter makes it stick and adds smell) and have had good luck mixing apple chunks and small chunks of meat. The trick to the bucket seems to be making certain it is stable enough for them to reach the food, but spins quickly when they position themselves to eat or jump off (and that the bucket is wide enough that they cannot jump from the can to the edge with the can turning.)

For squirrels and chipmunks, I switch to a 2-litter (to make certain it spins when they move to eat) over a larger tube and have had my best luck w/ peanut shells and berries. I don't want to draw in critters not in my yard, but I get tired of picking up the body parts my dog leaves all summer long.

 

[cwillour]

BTW, I don't know if you need to rule out all poisons as I understand the ones that kill over days would be safer for medium to large dogs in the quantities they are likely to ingest. We happened to be using an older kind (I forget what it was) that was supposed to kill w/in something like 5 minutes. For our purposes, we just don't want to risk any additional exposure after the major episode.

 

[ATOMonkey]

If you want a fun way to dispose of rodents, check this out.

Rodent Blaster Hot Shot Propane Remote Organically Safe Pest Control for damaging ground squirrels, gophers and other problem rodents.

BOOOM!!!!! lolz...

If nothing else you can suffocate them with the propane, since it's heavier than air.

 

[ghitch75]

get a large Victor rat trap and put lightly chewed bubble gum on it and you'll get him.....

 

[wild willy]

If you want a fun way to dispose of rodents, check this out.

Rodent Blaster Hot Shot Propane Remote Organically Safe Pest Control for damaging ground squirrels, gophers and other problem rodents.

BOOOM!!!!! lolz...

If nothing else you can suffocate them with the propane, since it's heavier than air.

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet.............Bill Murry could have used that sucker!

 

[cwillour]

Rodent Blaster Hot Shot Propane Remote Organically Safe Pest Control for damaging ground squirrels, gophers and other problem rodents.

Gotta love it

Just thinking SBPD may not be as excited (no sense of humor with those guys)

 

[cbseniour]

This will sound weird but give it a try. Get your hands on a15 or 55 gallon drum cut out the top and lay an air hose or large diameter rope or wire across the top wth one end on the floor. Put the trap in the corner of the garage and throw a big mac or similar bait in the barrel.

When you come back tomorrow there will be at least one large rat in the barrel wondering why he jumped down there without having an escape route planned.

then of course you have to dispose of the rat humainly, I suggest it be relocated to the dog house or rail road track.

 

[Diesel Dan]

Bait station is the way to fly. First seal up all pet food...was told the vitamin B-12 that is in a lot of pet food will make them immune to the poison. May have to wait a few weeks for the B-12 to weaken in there system so the poison can take effect.

 

[1$Chuck]

You're doing the right thing about keeping after the little bastard. Don't give up, once they get established you'll have a hell of a time getting rid of them.

No chance you can't just start feeding the dog outside or somewhere else? So long as the rat is alive and there is food in the barn your going to have problems.

 

[movevio]

poison is the best and quickest way. buy some "golden rod" fly killer you can get it at most farm stores. sprinkle some in a pie tin or something and dump some coke in it the rat will not make it 20 feet. it is amazing how well it works. just keep the dogs out for one night and i bet it will be over. most large animals like racoons and opossums dont make it 10 feet.

 

[bobbittle]

two words: rat hockey

Seriously, our dog is only about 45lbs, but we stopped poisoning after she starting foaming w/in minutes of getting to one of the rodents. I think it has to do w/ whether the rat has time to absorb the poison or if it there is additional poison on the body from walking through it and in the stomach from a last meal (at least that's what I understood from the vet.)

$700+ over the next 2-3 days and she still gets seizures from periodically (she is on daily meds for the seizures, but they still happen when she gets too nervous) and it just is not worth a repeat.

At the farm, we have good luck w/ a baiting a soda can on a dowel sitting on a 5-gal bucket half-filled w/ water (they drown in the water, so the bait can be non-toxic.) I have used my kid's old sandbox in the yard as a larger variant of this for squirrels w/ some success, so I think it would work for rats.

$700!! Holy crap....my dog ate a whole box of mouse poison and my vet bill was only $150. Wow.

 

[bobbittle]

As suggested, try peanut butter. Or nutella. Mice love nutella. I bet rats do too. Put out traps everywhere, all along the ways, anywhere he's running. Seal up any other food sources available.

 

[Dead Duck]

The rats here up north love Pasta (shells & cheese) and hard boiled eggs. (especially the yolks) The pasta I never understood because it doesn't smell much, but they eat it. They never touch the peanut butter but elsewhere they have.

Rat Unions?