What is it and how do I flush it out to eradicate it?

[Mgderf]

Wait for the hole to be "refreshed" then put 4-5 moth balls in as far as you can get them. Cover both ends & the critter will be gone soon.

^This is a proven method for me. Moth balls will make the environment undesirable and most all pests will leave the area.

Special note to 88GT- Do NOT use moth balls inside your house if ANY occupant has respiratory problems.

 

[inlineman]

How about poison and it works better if you set a bowl of water close by.

 

[Mgderf]

How about poison and it works better if you set a bowl of water close by.

Better hope there are no pets, or beneficial animals, or god-forbid small children around when you do this.
You could be looking at an extended stay at the "Grey-Bar Hotel".

 

[88GT]

^This is a proven method for me. Moth balls will make the environment undesirable and most all pests will leave the area.

Special note to 88GT- Do NOT use moth balls inside your house if ANY occupant has respiratory problems.

Naw, we're good.

But I do have a question: many of the tunnels are in the chicken run. What, if any, negative effects would the moth balls have on the chickens? Also, I know some tunnels that are in the garden beds. My dog has access to the garden, though he rarely, if ever, digs in the beds themselves. Would he be drawn to the moth balls? Would finding them hurt him in anyway? Would the moth balls in the garden have a negative effect on the garden productivity next year?

Okay, that was more than just one question.

 

[buckstopshere]

Upon further research I'm confident I have a rat burrow... ugh... hate rats & mice... suggestions?



Gassing in what way? I have a tiller that pumps out CO by the pounds... never been worth getting a tune-up because I use it once in the spring and put it back in the shed... I'll leave that thing running all day if I have to...

Any other methods of gassing that might work? I don't want to try drowing if I can avoid it because this it right next to my basement wall...

I know this sounds too simple but in the last couple of weeks, I've killed a chipmunk and a squirrel with rat traps. I put one right outside the hole baited with all natural peanut butter (I am convinced these suckers can tell the difference) and hide the majority of the trap in mulch so just the bait is really visible. Be careful though, rat traps are not really designed to be mucked with when hiding it.

 

[printcraft]

That, or a STD thread.

Please leave the miley cyrus thread out of this.

....... I've used acetylene and gasoline on separate occasions to blow up tunnels, but that's not something you want to do right next to the house (dirt EVERYWHERE, and a complete map of the tunnels excavated all over...). The faster you can flood the tunnel with the gas the more likely it is to work.

My vote. /\
Use plenty of gas, Get Picts.

 

[CountryBoy19]

I know this sounds too simple but in the last couple of weeks, I've killed a chipmunk and a squirrel with rat traps. I put one right outside the hole baited with all natural peanut butter (I am convinced these suckers can tell the difference) and hide the majority of the trap in mulch so just the bait is really visible. Be careful though, rat traps are not really designed to be mucked with when hiding it.

Easy enough to overlook in my previous responses, but the rat tunnel is in the same location of my chickens. Rat-trap plus chickens doesn't go well together... Looking to take a more active approach that I can supervise to ensure the chicken don't become collateral damage...

My vote. /\
Use plenty of gas, Get Picts.

Only problem is that this is under my porch, too close to the house... otherwise I wouldn't be asking here because I would have already done that...

 

[shawnba67]

3 Minute smoke bomb. Used to use them as a boy to flush stuff out of holes hollow trees and any thing else we thought there was something to be flushed out of.

 

[buckstopshere]

Easy enough to overlook in my previous responses, but the rat tunnel is in the same location of my chickens. Rat-trap plus chickens doesn't go well together... Looking to take a more active approach that I can supervise to ensure the chicken don't become collateral damage...

Hmmm...yeah that would end badly for one of your chickens.

 

[mrjarrell]

Get a mole/vole gas bomb. Light it and toss it in the hole. I've used them for moles and they seem to work pretty good. The gas is heavy so it seeps into the burrow and suffocates them. I think I got my last set down at Lowe's or some other hardware store.

Underground Exterminator- solve underground mole problems.

 

[jath08]

If your worried about other pets/animals getting caught in a rat trap try fishing for the rat. It sounds crazy but has worked for me in the past. Take a small bluegill hook attached to a small diameter steel leader about 18 inches long. Bait the hook with peanutbutter, bacon or anything else a rat might like and stick the hook down in hole as far as you can get it. Attach the other end of the leader to a small stake and put it right next to the hole. The rat will wind up eating the bait and the hook and choking to death or you wll have to pull him out of the hole and dispose of him properly. Like I said sounds crazy but ive had to do it several times around the barn cause i have small pets and chickens that would get hurt if I left traps lying around.

 

[CountryBoy19]

If your worried about other pets/animals getting caught in a rat trap try fishing for the rat. It sounds crazy but has worked for me in the past. Take a small bluegill hook attached to a small diameter steel leader about 18 inches long. Bait the hook with peanutbutter, bacon or anything else a rat might like and stick the hook down in hole as far as you can get it. Attach the other end of the leader to a small stake and put it right next to the hole. The rat will wind up eating the bait and the hook and choking to death or you wll have to pull him out of the hole and dispose of him properly. Like I said sounds crazy but ive had to do it several times around the barn cause i have small pets and chickens that would get hurt if I left traps lying around.

Interesting idea... I might just have to try that tonight... not sure I have a steel leader though... will wire work or is it like fish, if they see it they won't touch it?

 

[jath08]

As long as you can get the hook attached to it, it will work. I dont think rats would be scared of the wire if there not afraid of a big wooden trap. There main focus is the food.

 

[CountryBoy19]

As long as you can get the hook attached to it, it will work. I dont think rats would be scared of the wire if there not afraid of a big wooden trap. There main focus is the food.

Count me in... I don't have anything to lose... I'll try it and if it comes to Saturday (game-time for gassing) and I haven't caught them I'll go with the mole-gas stuff...

FWIW, I also caught 2 mice on the same glue-trap in my shed... one mouse partially ate the other... yuck...

 

[shibumiseeker]

Count me in... I don't have anything to lose... I'll try it and if it comes to Saturday (game-time for gassing) and I haven't caught them I'll go with the mole-gas stuff...

FWIW, I also caught 2 mice on the same glue-trap in my shed... one mouse partially ate the other... yuck...

The hook idea is a new one to me, I like it!

I've had plenty of cannibal mice in traps and the like.

A friend managed the Nature Center at Spring Mill and they had copperheads in one display. She said she fed them mice and the exciting part of her job was catching the mice if the snakes didn't eat them in an hour or so because the mice would start to eat the snakes. I also had one instance of mice eating hibernating bats (up on a high shelf) in a cave I manage.

 

[LtScott14]

With a cornfield behind my house, we get them all. Mice, moles, raccoons, opossums, chipmunks. After the fields are tilled, it's like a smorgasborg to critters. We have used snap traps, sticky boards, DCon, filled holes with everything(water, mothballs, gasoline, fuel oil), it's a PIA. They usually go away, but you can't beat nature. We have had gardner snakes, which I won't kill. They help control the vermin. I seal all the holes in my house, and deal with it as needed.

Good luck with your hunt.

 

[Birds Away]

It's called the gubmint and no amount of flushing, baiting, trapping etc. will rid you of it. Oh, and the stench never goes away.

Ooops, wrong thread.

 

[CountryBoy19]

I've had plenty of cannibal mice in traps and the like.

I also found that if you set the glue trap outside and get distracted and forget about it, they make a great fly-trap as well. I went out to check on the rest of my glue traps last night and found 2 more mice caught on the same glue trap in the same spot as before (that must be a good spot for a glue-trap). That triggered my memory that I didn't do anything with the first glue-trap so I went outside to get it and it was a caked mat of flies... I think I'll leave them out for a few days to trap some flies after they've trapped mice...

So far I've caught 4 mice on 2 glue-traps... these have turned out to be well worth the money for my mouse problems... Menards had them on sale $2 for a 6-pack of traps...

Regarding the rat hole, it looked abandoned when I went to set the fish-hook trap last night so I obstructed the entrance to verify if it is still active.

 

[Expat]

I had shrews take up residence in my garden and compost pile for a few years. I tried snap traps... Bad idea. I caught birds, no shrews.

 

[patience0830]

shrews eat mice. Why you wanna kill shrews?