Rat poison

[Shox Dr]

Bought some Big Cheese on @brightspark recommendation. So far something is eating it big time. At one station I removed the easy access blocks to inside a fen trap, on day 2 so far either Ive scared them off or the first to nibbles got them. Last night I baited under a shed, wired to a bit of stick poked in the ground. The lot's gone this morning. Bait wire and stick.

 

[Hotstuff]

We had rats in the loft of our bungalow and the noise was a proper invasion.

I wasn’t sure what was causing the noise at first so put up a camera trap. This confirmed that we had large rats in the loft so mouse traps would be useless.

I’m very conscious of the dangers to wildlife from secondary poisoning so tried a cage type trap with a 100% success.

Outdoors the best is always a decent air riffle and a clean kill.
I found a cage trap also works well here too.

I’ve tried spring traps for the loft rats with zero success but they are very effective for mice but you do need to “be the mouse” and set the traps in likely runs or create pinch points.

 

[Welderpaul]

I’ve tried spring traps for the loft rats with zero success but they are very effective for mice but you do need to “be the mouse” and set the traps in likely runs or create pinch points.

Seems to be the case here too. Spring traps, glue traps and bait trays all seemingly untouched for 3 weeks.

Its hard to know whether it/they have gone though, the house is vacant so difficult to be sure, hence the cameras to be more sure.

You think a cage type trap might be worth a go?

 

[Shox Dr]

Thanks. Yep, no pets about.

I'm told (by a farmer, who uses this brand) that its pretty much one hit, but keep topping up as you say. I'm also told the way the posion works they mumify/dry out rather than sit in a stinking mess. Not sure how much truth there is in that.

The problem seems to be that rats are so suspicious of anything new they won't even go near it for a good while, unlike mice which are more inquisitive

As you say they dont like the smell of humans. If you buy traps leave them outside to weather, and dont touch them with bare hands.

 

[Hotstuff]

For me I found the cage traps to be very effective, especially outdoors.
After setting I cover the cage to make its seem like a tunnel…..Be the rat.

I try to avoid touching the trap with bare hands to avoid leaving scent.

With baiting the trap I’ve found peanut butter to be very effective as it sticks to the trigger plate and can’t be just picked up in one piece.

The only problem with these traps is that you have to check them regularly as the rat is trapped alive. Then you have to kill the rat which is the bit I struggle with as it’s only crime is being a rat.

In all honesty my air riffle is extremely accurate and I can get an instant humane kill every time if they are outdoors.

I had two dead foxes in my garden last year and I would be surprised if that wasn’t down to secondary poisoning.

Killing animals is a very emotive subject and I’m not sure I would choose to kill vermin with sticky mats.

Find out how they are getting into the property and where they are nesting. I found that a camera trap is ideal but try to get one with LED illumination that does not glow red when the camera is triggered as it spooks the subject.

Please note that my views are only based on being a householder and not a professional pest control chap.

Good luck

 

[Welderpaul]

Thanks, good info. I'll see whats what when the cameras are up and running. With a bit of luck they have gone.

 

[brightspark]

As you say they dont like the smell of humans. If you buy traps leave them outside to weather, and dont touch them with bare hands.

moles are the same leave the trap out to rust for a week then use muddy gloves to set it .as for rats it takes at least 4 or 5 days for them to get used to things . mk 4 fentraps the best . never fails

 

[mark roberts]

I had rats under my shed and baited the holes for 2 weeks untill it stopped being taken. A week later my workshop was full of thousands of blue bottles.
I prefer to use traps now because of the risk of killing a wild animal that might eat the dead/dying rats.
I've got a funny video somewhere of a rat doing belly flops into my koi pond to retrieve pellets. My daughter keeps rats as pets, they make excellent pets much better than rabbits or hamsters.

 

[Hotstuff]

Total coincidence; guess what was in my loft last night?

I saw a couple of small rats, bold as brass wondering around…..their days are numbered.

 

[Kram]

Here you go

View attachment 388087

 

[Hotstuff]

I can imagine the street lights dimming as the rat sizzles.

 

[Cobbler]

I can imagine the street lights dimming as the rat sizzles.

I felt that I could smell the burning!

 

[Aerohead]

I grew up on a farm, and there and some years back in suburban UK, have had huge infestations of rats. Best cure is one or more nearly ferral cats, ideally not yours so nothing gets brought to you.

Poison is too costly for big infestations, plus the dead rodents randomly distributed and collaeral damage to other animals means I've used it as a last resort. If you have to use poison, this works perfect on mice, and pretty well on rats: mix 1/3 sugar, 1/3 flour or cornmeal, 1/3 plaster of Paris, and add some cooking oil or even honey and make into balls. Costs a tiny fraction of poisins bought and the plaster of Paris never fails.

Farm yard or back garder being over run? Hot lead works well, but takes time and can be illegal.

In the UK I picked up a big plastic water butt but that was heading to the tip by a neighbor, for free. First used it for electrolysis of an engine block, and then in a moment of madness nearly got rid of it. Rat trouble happened, so I got to work.
First cut two tiny slots on opposite side of the barrel, then move into position along a rat run. Fill 1/3 with water, tiny bit of used crank oil is optional.
Add a long piece of scrap free timber for a ramp.
Take a scrap bit of say 1" water pipe, and rough it up a bit with a file.
Use some strong string, run it through the pipe, suspend the pipe using the two tiny slots you have cut in the water butt by attaching each end to a scap brick.
Align the ramp with the pipe, add peanut butter in late afternoon or evening, and check the next day. Swimmers indicates success!

This, and this alone, has worked for me to catch the huge Boss Rats that are normally immune to anything but gunfire. I killed over 100 during one horrible summer in the UK when there were rats visible running about even at noon. Cost so far is only nut butter in my setup.
One additional cost is periodic additions of a bag of soda ash, to keep the smell down and turns everything to a slurry.

After the invasion ended, I just tipped the barrel over where it was next to the fence with lots of trees and plants, and placed a hose spraying on it for some hours. Still smelled a bit, but passed after a week or two and the wife never goes back that far in the garden so no management problems, trees even seemed to like this unconventional fertilizer. Only downside to this outdoors approach is you need to have the space, and from time to time the odd squirrel would end up in the tank, some would consider that a feature not a bug though.

We did this on a multiple tanks scale on a farm where we were burying livestock guts and bodies, and it worked to perfection with just a daily one minute visit to each tank.

 

[Shox Dr]

They are taking the pish out of these Big Cheese Blocks, or we have far more than I thought. So far they have taken 2 blocks wired to the shed, for the last 4 nights. No bodies to be found

 

[brightspark]

They are taking the pish out of these Big Cheese Blocks, or we have far more than I thought. So far they have taken 2 blocks wired to the shed, for the last 4 nights. No bodies to be found

i never find dead bodies after them, eating the blocks but after baiting twice there never seen again

 

[outofthefire]

I use fenn traps and have used airguns in the past, but terriers take some beating.

 

[brightspark]

had a beddy whippet lucher that was mustard catching rats and anything that moved stopped her catching rats because a mate lost his terrier that had pups and all died from catching disease of the rats

 

[ukracer]

I use fenn traps and have used airguns in the past, but terriers take some beating.

we used 9mm garden guns as it was cheaper but faster than air rifles. and did not damage the corrugated steel sides etc.

 

[James1979]

I use fenn traps and have used airguns in the past, but terriers take some beating.

That’s what I used when I moved the chicken shed the other week.

Couple feral cats and a terrier.

No more rats

 

[Welderpaul]

I don't know ours was just a generic one from Amazon, looks like they've dropped a few quid in price - link

I still have the box

View attachment 390859

Results aren't too bad

View attachment 390860

View attachment 390861

These trail cams are fantastic for the money. Set a couple up and caught footage of the little tinker dandering round, as well as his access and egress point, the total opposite end of the loft to where all the clues made it look like he was getting in. Well worth the money.

Will get the holes blocked up and cameras set back up to see if that fixes it.