rats!

I seem to have a family of rats living under my shed, and this is freaking out my dearest wife!

Is it legal to buy and use rat poison, or do you have to call in a pest control expert?

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

Steve J

Reply to
Steve J
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Legal in US. Go to store. If they sell rat poison, buy it.

Reply to
Frank

The rats took up residense there because there is a source of food nearby. Are you storing animal food in that shed, feeding birds nearby, your trash in uncovered cans... critters do not hang around unless there is a source of food available... check your neighbor's yards for pig pen habits.

Reply to
brooklyn1

snap traps work well too, with peanut butter smeared under and on top of the trip pan (so they have to work to get it all).

songbird

Reply to
songbird

He's not in the US. Your advice is good otherwise.

The rat poison in the little plastic bags (rats eat through the bag) is not only very cheap, it's highly effective. Rats never seem to learn that trick. Funny, as they seem intelligent otherwise.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Thies

I use peanut butter in mouse traps. On a "dirty jobs" show featuring exterminators, they were placing unbaited rat traps in the rats runways along walls as they said rats have poor eyesite and feel along the walls stumbling into the traps. Poison is fine outdoors but indoors you may have to deal with a decaying body and its odor. Glue boards, I don't like, as the animal dies slowly and may chew at it's leg to free itself.

Reply to
Frank

Killing a few rats won't help, other than giving you a purpose in life. So long as the food supply remains more will come.

Reply to
brooklyn1

It's not just food; it's shelter, water and food, any one of those can be the attractant, one more than the others depending upon the season.

Rats love to live under wood piles, brush piles, rock piles, etc.

Tossing poison around without one of those boxes to limit squirrels, dogs, cats, kids from accidentally getting into it is just wrong, as are indiscriminate snap traps out of doors.

Get rid of all sources of water, bird baths, puddles, etc... rats need to drink a lot and a source of water is equally as attractive as food.

Find a way to keep them out of the space they're in and to clear up any other potential shelters for them.

I've got the bait boxes around my property (wooded, near town, had rats near the house, never in it) for 5 years, and we haven't seen a rat since, though they're eating the baits pretty solidly.

We rat proofed our house top to bottom with wire mesh (hardware cloth), dryer vent cage, copper mesh and mortar where all the pipes and wires (gas, electric, water, cable) enter our house, attic vents, chimney cap.

Susan

Reply to
Susan

Rodents will find water themselves, there are always puddles about (they can survive nicely by lapping dew/condensate all night, even from sweaty water pipes/terlit tanks, there's hardly a house that doesn't have a dripping water pipe/tap somewhere) and they can make their own shelter by burrowing... but they must have a steady and adaquate food supply or they'll move on. By all your machinations to rid yourself of rodents it's obvious that you are feeding them.

NYC rats are much smarter than country rats... they'll burrow into a commuter beemer so they can ride from the burbs into the city to have great chow from the dumpsters behind the planet's best eateries and to meet with their homies... then they ride back to the burbs for peace and quiet. But those rats gotta be wary, NYC cockroaches are tough, why they'll pull a switchblade on a rat and steal its cheese. heheh

Reply to
brooklyn1

It depends on the situation. Given a head start in good conditions rodents can breed faster than you can trap.

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

In asking that question here you have clearly demonstrated that you are not afraid to think outside the box. There could well be psychics who read rec.gardens who know where you live, and who know what the law is there regarding the use of rat poison and freaking wives. Before you start looking up "wet work" in the yellow pages there is a solution that will save you from jail and bad karma.

Instead of buying poison or paying for professional control, try comfort your wife instead. You have to begin by getting yourself into the right head space. If you can manage it not thinking of her as a pest will help. This can all be done using natural ingredients and avoiding products (or members) of the military-industrial complex.

Start with dolphin-friendly chocolates and flowers. Then move on to biodynamic champagne, followed by scented green candles and a full body organic massage. Depending on how organic your massage is she may want treatment several times a week.

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

How does that box work? I've only killed them off indoors or in the basement and I haven't noticed *any* curiosity toward the bagged bait from either dogs or cats, not that you should leave it where it is accessible. Can't speak for squirrels and kids.

The Norway rats we have here are about the size of cats. Scary.

I had them in the walls after the house next door burned down. Bait and traps took them out, but mostly bait. The walls are now stuffed with boric acid treated cellulose insulation which is inhospitable to most vermin (the rats were gone long before). There is always the possibility of a dead rat in the wall but I had no problem and neither do I know of anyone using bait having that issue. I think they prefer to get some fresh air and water when they are dying.

My observations are that bait is scary effective for a quick kill off (traps much less so), but you'll want to address the root cause.

Ultimately you want rats to find someplace else more hospitable. All suggestions toward that end sound good.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Thies

Sounds as if you've ploughed this furrow before ;O)

Reply to
Billy

A rat should be able to find food in any area where a human lives regardless of cleanliness, water or (visible to humans) food. Rats are great survivors and anyone who thinks they don't have rats is probably just not seeing them.

Reply to
FarmI

and just what proof are you using to make such a statement? I've known many of very intelligent rants; all from the country.

Donna in WA

Reply to
Lelandite

The boxes are anchored into the ground so raccoons can't carry them away, have spindles inside where bait blocks are threaded on to them, and holes big enough for rats to get in, but too small for dogs, squirrels, etc. A man comes and opens them with a special key and replacing the missing bait monthly. I have several on my property. Rats are still around, we just never see them.

I think we probably mostly have eastern wood rats, but wouldn't be shocked if there were some Norway rats. They can squeeze into a very small space, though.

You'd smell a dead rat a looooong time, I'd bet.

Yes, the first thing we did was to rat proof our home, there's no space anywhere large enough for them to enter.

Remove access to food, shelter and water to make yours the least hospitable place. I spent a lot of time researching rat control, and that's what I came up with.

Susan

Reply to
Susan

Go with the snap traps! Poison works well but with one problem. That rat can crawl and die in a spot where you can't retrieve him. The smell is not very pleasant. At least with the trap, you can dispose of him properly.

Rich

Reply to
EVP MAN

EVP MAN wrote:

Snap traps are cruel... how you like being pegged to the ground to be eaten alive/starved to death... use live traps, and check them every day. Too many people exonerate themselves because they use live traps, but by the time the sicko morons check them all that's left is a skeleton.

The odor of dead animals occurs anyway (animals die all the time) but the poisoned animal incurs collateral damage by poisoning raptors, scavengers, and pets. I'm always amazed at how many of those who rail loudest about insecticides/chemferts, etc. are the biggest proponents of animal poisons.

In most cases if people practiced better sanitation habits they'd never have rodents making their homes in and around private residenses... it's difficult in cities because of population density and farmers with livestock will naturally attract rodents and folks living on large rural properties will have all manner of critters because that's the critter's natural habitat but folks who live in the typical detached private residence in a subdivision will attract rodents because one way or another they are feeding them. If there's a bird feeder it will attract rodents, if one is feeding a pet they will also be feeding rodents. It's pretty easy to block entry of large rodents like squirrels and rats but it's nearly impossible to bar mice. Anyone who feeds birds will also be feeding squirrels. Rats can't subsist long on seeds alone, they need meat, rats eat people food. I feed birds right outside my window, naturally I'm feeding squirrels too, but I've never seen a rat eating my bird food (mostly corn and sunflower seed). I've blocked all the places where squirrels can gain entry but occasionally a field mouse will be brazen enough to sneak in, it won't last long, I have six cats. The last time I knew there was a mouse was because I saw six cats surrounding the fridge... wasn't long before the mouse made a break for it, didn't get six inches before in one quick motion Mooch scooped it up and practically decapitated it, the mouse didn't suffer.

Here squirrels are entertainment:

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Reply to
brooklyn1

...

that could also be the resident mouse population...

we have three bait stations here, and recently after re-reading and thinking about them, i moved two of them away from where they have been (near the foundation line in front and back).

what i do not like about them is that the poison they are feeding to the mice (and chipmunks -- i've never seen a rat here yet) is getting spread via feces and dead critters around the property and perhaps being ingested by the crows and snakes.

we like our resident population of snakes (we have a lot of rock piles around and they love it) so i don't want to poison them. but i'm also in a quandary about the bait stations because without them we'd be overrun with mice. and we cannot have cats, dogs or other critters besides what is already outside.

we have a prime owl and hawk hunting perimeter (white crushed limestone for 20-30ft around the house), but there are few owls around. hmm, perhaps i should look into owl home creation. :)

i think the hawks don't hunt here because it's too congested for them to swoop in (decorations, fences, arbors, trellises and trees) even if the limestone is fairly open.

the owls i've heard hunt here a few times. in the winter they would probably run into a deer.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

free fertilizer or raccoon food!

songbird

Reply to
songbird

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