Rats outside the house! Best way to take care of them? - Page 1

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Rats outside the house! Best way to take care of them?

Posted: 4/17/2021 7:59:36 PM EDT

So my land has a lot of rats on it and it does not help that people have not done anything about them for some time.

Two problems rats= rattlesnake that I also have a 6+ foot one on my property. So looking for ways to take care of the rats!

Yet there are some stipulations! One is that my dogs should not want to eat it or be caught in it. I'm talking real dogs lightest one is 40 lbs.

The rats tore up my prickly pear cactuses this winter because of the cold and I'm wanting to collect the fruit this year.

So looking for advice to help me out! You don't see them much only at night as your driving down the driveway and it's a flash or I'd just hunt them!

Though maybe someone here could help me out? Thanks!

Posted: 4/17/2021 8:39:54 PM EDT

[#1]

Suppressed 22. Best time ever. Unless you add nods and do it in the dark.

Posted: 4/17/2021 8:50:14 PM EDT

[#2]

Quote History

Quoted:
Suppressed 22. Best time ever. Unless you add nods and do it in the dark.

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Not gonna lie. I've done this, until I grew sick of it. My wife has a chicken coop and it became woodrat party central once the sun set.
I lost count of how many I would shoot from a third story window, with a suppressed AR with a PVS-30 on it. CCI quick shock segmented HP works really well.

I essentially grew bored of it because they never stopped coming. I dug the run out and covered it in hardware cloth and the wood rats moved on.

Posted: 4/17/2021 9:00:17 PM EDT

[#3]

Posted: 4/17/2021 9:38:55 PM EDT

[#4]

Mink are the answer you seek

INFESTATION of Rats vs Mob of Mink and Dogs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM4C3_nMN_g

Posted: 4/17/2021 9:59:41 PM EDT

[#5]

Get some poison bait stations. I use Tomcat reusable bait stations but use Just One Bite poison. Monitoring their normal runs with my security cameras, that seems to keep the population down.

Posted: 4/17/2021 10:19:23 PM EDT

[#6]

Attached File

Posted: 4/17/2021 10:35:54 PM EDT

[#7]

The answers you seek are here. This guy knows his stuff when it comes to rodent trapping.

Rats are VERY smart. He has caught rats on video bringing sticks into his barn to trip the traps so they can get the bait. Seriously, nobody here can type enough to teach you what is contained in his videos.

Posted: 4/18/2021 10:19:10 AM EDT

[#8]

Hire the professionals:

Posted: 4/18/2021 10:35:05 AM EDT

[#9]

What is it about your property that keeps the rats around?

Posted: 4/19/2021 8:49:02 AM EDT

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:
Hire the professionals:

https://i.imgur.com/SMBMnaY.jpg

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Never had a rat problem till I got a dog , The dog kept the two cats from the backyard. The rats moved into the back yard.
I ended up setting traps all over the place and finally took care of the problem. I kept traps out all the time after just in case. Peanut butter best
rat bait, I don't like to use rat poison just in case the cats get ahold of one. Also had a neighbor who used poison and rat died in the wall,

Posted: 4/19/2021 9:16:04 PM EDT

[#11]

I believe they call them field rats around here? Not sure. I'd like to knock them off with a weapon but ammo costs way to much to do that these days.

Also working 6 days a week 12 hour shifts most I'm guaranteed 3 days of 16 hour shifts. Get two days off kind of because your last day is a 16 hour shift.

Posted: 4/20/2021 7:21:12 AM EDT

[#12]

.22s are pretty cheap.

Just how many rats do you have?

And, don't feed them!

Posted: 4/20/2021 11:11:19 PM EDT

[#13]

Cats and a .22 rifle are the best options.

The most fun I ever had was shooting rats with a .22 at an old feed mill that was infested.

I seriously turned into Rambette, and uxb had to take the rifle from my hands.

Don't use poison.

Too many good things die.

Posted: 4/21/2021 4:36:52 AM EDT

[#14]

Rats are after the food. If you don't wanna be the predator cause of work hours then you need to find a predator.

Traps are fine but honestly when messing with some of this I find that after a while I either get tired or they figure out the traps and avoid em.

Solve food source and you will still probably need to kill em off but ending the food source will solve the attraction to new rats.

To some extent I halfway consider this a bit like making your neighbor's house more attractive to theives, but I am not saying you should start throwing out food in their yard to make the rats go there.

No. Not at all.

Posted: 4/21/2021 5:46:24 AM EDT

[#15]

Quote History

Quoted:
Mink are the answer you seek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM4C3_nMN_g

View Quote

The Mink Man!!!!

That’s exactly what I was going to suggest. Or rather, hiring him at least.

Posted: 4/21/2021 6:13:21 AM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
Get some poison bait stations. I use Tomcat reusable bait stations but use Just One Bite poison. Monitoring their normal runs with my security cameras, that seems to keep the population down.

View Quote

This is the answer. It works 24/7 and is low maintenance.

Posted: 4/21/2021 6:20:21 AM EDT

[#17]

Get This

and This

Posted: 4/21/2021 6:38:40 AM EDT

[#18]

Got any Hmong or Thai in your neck of the woods?

Posted: 4/21/2021 6:49:02 AM EDT

[#19]

Move. Rats breed so fast you'll be fighting them forever. Most disgusting creatures on earth

Posted: 4/26/2021 1:38:06 AM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:
.22s are pretty cheap.

Just how many rats do you have?

And, don't feed them!

View Quote

Just bought the home back in September and I did not see as much destruction on the prickly pear cactus as I have seen during the colder months and now. Problem is rattlesnakes! They love to eat these rats but like it bite my dogs!

I was luck with my first dog that was bitten! Don't want to go through that again!

Posted: 4/26/2021 1:39:32 AM EDT

[#21]

Quote History

Quoted:
Cats and a .22 rifle are the best options.

The most fun I ever had was shooting rats with a .22 at an old feed mill that was infested.

I seriously turned into Rambette, and uxb had to take the rifle from my hands.

Don't use poison.

Too many good things die.

View Quote

Please expand on the don't use poison!

Posted: 4/26/2021 2:02:23 AM EDT

[#22]

If you pack their holes with fine steel wool it will kill them. It's better than poison and your dogs won't likely eat it.

Posted: 4/26/2021 10:38:51 AM EDT

[#23]

Quote History

Quoted:

Please expand on the don't use poison!

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Rat eats poison, poisoned rat dies, scavengers (dog, hawk, buzzard, opossum, etc) eats rat and becomes poisoned from the poison still in rat's dead body.

Posted: 4/26/2021 7:17:49 PM EDT

[#24]

Quote History

Quoted:
What is it about your property that keeps the rats around?

View Quote

This bears repeating.^

Your property obviously appears attractive to the rats, so remove cover/shelter and any food sources you can identify. Poison should be the last resort, as that's going to get your predators, and their populations won't bounce back anywhere near as quick as the rats once the poison runs out. If you have a lot of brush, start cutting, and make it easier for the avian predators to get in there.

Regardless of the situation on your property, get your dogs snake avoidance training. It's a lot cheaper than the vet bill for a bite.

Posted: 4/27/2021 7:44:21 PM EDT

[#25]

Old fashioned Victor traps

Put a simple wire fence around them so the dogs can't get to the trap, or the dead rats

Disposal is a challenge, depending on where you live, but traps are simple and effective

Posted: 5/6/2021 4:50:22 AM EDT

[#26]

get a Terrier.

Posted: 5/7/2021 11:14:40 AM EDT

[#27]

Quote History

Quoted:
get a Terrier.

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This.

You either need to add cats, or a rat chasing dog like a Jack Russel terrier.

Posted: 5/7/2021 12:19:37 PM EDT

[#28]

Get a few wolves, I have no rats, bobcats, feral cats, tree rats, skunks, etc here with these guys. They even keep the bears away from the beehives

Attached File

Posted: 5/7/2021 12:26:25 PM EDT

[#29]

Failed To Load Title

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Pyu-Cj0gg

Terriers

Posted: 5/7/2021 1:19:57 PM EDT

[#30]

Got some Harris catch and release traps recently from Home Depot. Very pleased with them for areas where I don’t want to put a real rat trap (aka with the chickens) and it has worked very well! Drop in pond with the catch then retrieve later to reset. Also recently upgraded my kill traps to made2catch traps, my mouse catch rate easily quadrupled, you can set those things with a super hair trigger and so far they don’t fall apart after a few catches.

Posted: 5/7/2021 4:35:53 PM EDT

[#31]

Quote History

Quoted:

Please expand on the don't use poison!

View Quote

I leave poison as a last resort because the rat eats the poison, then something else eats the rat. A fox, a hawk, eagle or owl, a cat, a dog.....and that is a bad way to die.

Because rats are prey, I don't like killing the predators by poisoning the rats (or mice). I'm not saying I've never done it. I just try not to unless I have no other choice.

You have to do what you have to do, though.