Posted: 4/6/2013 11:17:40 AM EDT
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I have rats that started attacking my food preps. Poison doesn't seem to work, baited traps don't either.
What have you guys had success with? Those sticky ones seem cool....do they work? |
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You need to find out how they are getting in. A cat will help.
Bucket traps. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OijRH-lduq4 |
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Cats. Natures rat eaters.
Wolf/Dog Hybrids, natures big f-ing rat eaters. I own both. What's too big for the cat, the wolf-dog takes care of. In fact, my cat catches mice for my dog. I figure he's making sure my dog know which side of the food chain he's on. As in supplier rather then supply. |
| Use expanded trigger rat traps. Leave out a few days not set near food source. Then set and use stinky cat food for bait if they are Norway Rat or strawberries if a Roof Rat . Also as in post earlier determine where they are coming in a seal it up. Look for outside burrows as well. 27 years in pest control with thousands of kills. |
| Keep a milk/rat/corn snake in a terrarium in your prep room. Rats will avoid snake smell. We used to hear mice in the walls for years until we got snakes in the house as pets a few months ago. Alternatively, get some used bedding or substrate from someone local who keeps snakes and spread it around the outside of your house so the rordents go bother the neighbors. |
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Quoted:
How do you store your preps, maybe some Wallyworld RubberMaid storage would keep them from gnawing to the preps
I have rats that started attacking my food preps. Poison doesn't seem to work, baited traps don't either. What have you guys had success with? Those sticky ones seem cool....do they work? |
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I have been in the pest control industry for a long time.
Once you have rats you have a bigger problem. More rats. They can fit into openings as small as aquarter. With a breeding population you will jave dominate and submossive memebers of the group. Juvenile rats are easy to catch. The mature adults can be alot harder. Remember they may be traveling a far distance to feed or they could be in ypur attic or even living in the trees around your house. Best way is to trap them. Poisons do not make them seek water and they can die anywhere causing odor and other issues. They will feed on a variety of baits.. Peanut butter, snickers, bacon, bread, berries cam all be very effective. Trap placement is critical. Rats travel against objects whenever possible. They use thier whiskers to feel along edges and sides of objects. Find the main teavle areas amd set trap up against the edge of the object, wall, rafter, or other item. Face it in so the trigger plate side is touching the edge or wall. I have killed hundeeds of rats with no bait simply by setting the rraps in thier natural paths and they walk across them. I usually set 20+ traps for a residential rodent clean out. Fewer traps limits your effectiveness. And let the traps work. It can take weeks to catch all of a population.. Edit to apologize for the terrible typing. Im out camping and gold prospecting and im on my phone. Seal up all opeings with metal flashing, screen, or mesh. Good luck. |
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Is this in an area you can fumigate? Or is it in your house? When I worked at the feedmill, we used to use chloropicrin for everything from weevil to rats. We'd bomb the place at noon on Saturday when we closed. We'd have to come in an hour early on monday to let it air out and pick up all the dead rats. Those little bastards would be laying everywhere. You could get by using this in a barn or cellar, but no way would I get the stuff near my house. The stuff is evil in a bottle. |
| the preps were in mylar bags, admittedly just laying on top of some things, not secured in a 5 gal bucket. since yesterday all my mylar packaged things are in buckets. Its unfortunatly an old area of town that is being restored. there are still many vacant places around and the area has a known problem of pests. this is only a temporary place for ym food stuffs but I'd like to keep it as protected as possible while there. |
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You said the traps did not work, I think they might just need to be given a chance. And traps may have been used in the buildings being redone so the rats may have learned something as well. As far as sticky traps go, they work to a point. They don't do well when cold since the glue is not very sticky. And when you do catch a rat, it is just stuck to the glue. It is not dead. And if barely stuck it may escape if you won't hear it dragging the trap around. I see glue traps as being used when you have certain limitations on poison and snap traps. I would expect more rats to be coming so you have some options that are mostly listed above. A pet that eats them would be nice if you are around enough to deal with having a pet. If that won't work, the 5 gallon bucket trap along with some poison is what I would go with but I have to admit a bucket trap that does not get checked and emptied on a regular basis becomes one heck of a nasty mess. Plastic buckets will be chewed through eventually if the rat wants the food in there. Easier food is usually the first choice, but plastic is something that can be chewed through so keep that in mind. |
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Jack Russel Terrier. Killed 3 big rats I somehow ended up with some time ago. I took the dog to the vet just in case he ate rat posion along with it or something.
Forget about cats, he told me that JRT are hands down the best rat killer. Seems the used to make competitions to see how many rats a JRT could kill in a given period of time. FerFAL |
| If you dont have pets, hear me out on this. Mix Golden Malrin fly poison in a dish wish grape soda or any other sweet liquid. If its a high enough concentration, they wont go far. That is, if rats will even consume it. I have had raccons that have died with their heads still in the dish. |