Rats

Dinzee Conlee

Hello folks,

Have rats in the shed and want to be rid of them...

Don’t want to use poison as we have buzzards and maybe an owl - and don’t want to poison them...

So - any suggestions?

Anyone recommend any good traps?

Thanks...

Dakota Dan

The plastic traps with peanut butter as bait a good cat or two would also help.

biko

Cats are good but will also go after other small animals like birds etc.

There are many ways to traps rats. This is one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACnaMY295JE

They are caught alive and you can decide yourself what to do with them.

Dakota Dan

biko wrote: »

Cats are good but will also go after other small animals like birds etc.

There are many ways to traps rats. This is one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACnaMY295JE

They are caught alive and you can decide yourself what to do with them.

You'd be advised to ditch the flip flops for boots and use gloved hands though.

Donald Trump

ruwithme

Go on donedeal there and search black cat rat traps,unable to link ad,but he has photos of more dead rats caught in these traps than you could wave a big stick at.

Anyone on here use them?

ABitofsense

I used an electric rat trap of Amazon. Caught a few with it last year with bit of Nutella in it. It was called Pest stop electronic rat killer. Father laughed at me when I got it but it worked.

Base price

ABitofsense wrote: »

I used an electric rat trap of Amazon. Caught a few with it last year with bit of Nutella in it. It was called Pest stop electronic rat killer. Father laughed at me when I got it but it worked.

I bought one a few years ago but it wasn't as successful as the mouse one. I still have the original mouse one that I bought about 8 years ago and it's killed several hundred mice. I reckon with rats you need to remove all other sources of food which is difficult on a farm.
Link to the rat one that we bought - https://www.screwfix.com/p/pest-stop-electronic-rodent-killer/76836
Link to the mouse one that they have now but it's different in shape to the one that I have - https://www.screwfix.com/p/pest-stop-electronic-mouse-killer/45407

Birdnuts

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Hello folks,

Have rats in the shed and want to be rid of them...

Don’t want to use poison as we have buzzards and maybe an owl - and don’t want to poison them...

So - any suggestions?

Anyone recommend any good traps?

Thanks...

I found the professional strength "Pest Free Zone" traps excellent for this problem. See www.pestfreezone.ie

Dunedin

Base price wrote: »

I bought one a few years ago but it wasn't as successful as the mouse one. I still have the original mouse one that I bought about 8 years ago and it's killed several hundred mice. I reckon with rats you need to remove all other sources of food which is difficult on a farm.
Link to the rat one that we bought - https://www.screwfix.com/p/pest-stop-electronic-rodent-killer/76836
Link to the mouse one that they have now but it's different in shape to the one that I have - https://www.screwfix.com/p/pest-stop-electronic-mouse-killer/45407

I’m glad someone has had the same experience. I’ve caught loads of mice with the mouse one and got the rat one last year and I haven’t got one yet with it.

furandfeather

I'll rent you this lad, he'd go trough concrete to get to a rat!

ruwithme

Do you put a food source in that base to encourage them into it?

John_Rambo

Donald Trump wrote: »

What a kill count! Those Patterdales are killing machines, and the lurchers to pick up the ones that get away!

kerryjack

Donald Trump wrote: »

What's going on here is this some kind of new pastime or what

Base price

ruwithme wrote: »

Do you put a food source in that base to encourage them into it?

Yes, I used peanut butter first but no joy then I used nutella. I only caught a couple of rats with it. Peanut butter works well for mice.

Markcheese

https://youtu.be/jjo8ot9umQ8
Non toxic rat poison ,
I have no idea where you'd get it from ,bar amazon in the uk .. but apparently it works ...
You might want to get numbers down with traps first ..
( The guy doing the video does reviews of traps ,and builds some too )

mallards

kerryjack wrote: »

What's going on here is this some kind of new pastime or what

The videos are addictive. There's a lot of ratting packs across the UK. I watching one where they were clearing a hay barn of rats, that was carnage. Another, they had gathered up half the village dogs and cleared a free range pig farm of rats. Washed the dogs and returned the little Feefees and Spots back to its owners after having the best day of their lap dog lives. Such a motley crew of dogs but they were loving it. Lol

Genghis Cant

I shot 2 in the last hour with the air rifle and lamp. The eyes light up like a cat, they don't mind the lamp much.
I miss as many as I hit though.
There are a couple of owls about here so I don't like to use poison.
I catch the odd one in the mink trap too.

_Brian

What sort of air rifle do you use?
What range would it have.

Genghis Cant

_Brian wrote: »

What sort of air rifle do you use?
What range would it have.

Norica Dragon .22 with a cheap scope on it.
I've killed them out to 30 yds but more regularly at 20 yds or so. Puts the pellet right through them.
Some lads stalk deer. I stalk rat 😆😀

kerryjack

Genghis Cant wrote: »

Norica Dragon .22 with a cheap scope on it.
I've killed them out to 30 yds but more regularly at 20 yds or so. Puts the pellet right through them.
Some lads stalk deer. I stalk rat ����

You must have a good shot the speed of them feckers

Genghis Cant

kerryjack wrote: »

You must have a good shot the speed of them feckers

No, they have to be sitting up before I'd hit them. You'd be surprised how they don't really mind the light. Most of the time they sit up and look at you. Sometimes they run but stop for a look back before they disappear, you'd get a shot then. Other times you see them and they run in and you don't get a shot.
I keep chipping away at them.

Bass Reeves

https://youtu.be/q09cJnH5NtQ


Infrared is the job even shows you how to make a home made one

keepalive213

A cat turned up here around May time, a scraggly lookin long limbed pisín with one bad eye. There's nothing wrong with the good eye.
A natural born killer shes killin rats flat out since the water table started rising.

Markcheese

keepalive213 wrote: »

A cat turned up here around May time, a scraggly lookin long limbed pisín with one bad eye. There's nothing wrong with the good eye.
A natural born killer shes killin rats flat out since the water table started rising.

Gotta love a good farm cat ...
( I know it's not so great when they take out every song bird in the parish )

_Brian

Markcheese wrote: »

Gotta love a good farm cat ...
( I know it's not so great when they take out every song bird in the parish )

We had no peace here until we got the cats.
Started with two, he is only ok at hinting but the female was a cracker, she never stopped. Sadly she developed mouth cancer at age two and died
Friend gave me another wee kitten and again she was great mouser but from wild stock and kept roaming until she got killed on the road.

I was on a job few weeks ago and some scumbag dropped kittens off roadside so I took one. She’s young but already catching mice so earning her keep.

All this time the big fluffy lad hangs about sleeping and catching the odd mouse, he will catch rats an odd time but the female cats are way ahead on hunting.

Cats will keep rat populations down by catching the young all the time, but I’ve seen our lad kill large rats, he needed a vets visit after one tussle as they rat bit and tore him badly in the tussle.

Dunedin

I got two kittens at the weekend. Sick of seeing rats scurrying out of the shed across the silage when I turn on the light for foddering in the evening.

Nekarsulm

Had a problem with them in the garage beside the house two years ago. They were in the insulation between the two leaves of the wall, getting in up at the wall plate.
Had the dogs mixer stored in a plastic dustbin, and they ate a hole through the plastic to get at it.
Shot 7 or 8 of them over a fortnight.
Walk out with the gun at night, snap on the light and wait.
After 10 or 15 seconds what ever one was out on the floor would "un-freeze" and make a run for the corner, and up the wall to the wall plate.
Time it right and you'd chop them in two
Used ordinary 12 bore cartridges, 7.5 clay pigeon shot, and emptied 2/3 rds of the shot out and repacked the space with a wad of paper, cause at ten yards you don't need an ounce of shot in a relatively confined space.
Wear good quality shooting glasses, just in case.

For some reason, they never re-appeared last year at all.

funkey_monkey

keepalive213 wrote: »

A cat turned up here around May time, a scraggly lookin long limbed pisín with one bad eye. There's nothing wrong with the good eye.
A natural born killer shes killin rats flat out since the water table started rising.

F*** cats.
Piss all over the hay and cause ewes to throw the lambs. Not much of an improvement on a rat imo.

Birdnuts

funkey_monkey wrote: »

F*** cats.
Piss all over the hay and cause ewes to throw the lambs. Not much of an improvement on a rat imo.

U can avoid alot of that behavour via neutering

funkey_monkey

Birdnuts wrote: »

U can avoid alot of that behavour via neutering

Well they are neighbours cats, so I might have to approach them if that prevents it.

keepalive213

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Well they are neighbours cats, so I might have to approach them if that prevents it.

If want bad neighbours buy sheep, an old chinese proverb

Dunedin

Dunedin wrote: »

I got two kittens at the weekend.

Great eventful hour here this evening. Young fella let the two out of the shed. Just after dark and some craic trying to get them back in. Young fella (6) out helping. Often cursed less at a couple of wild cattle that I couldn’t get in.

Got the hoors in eventually and the young lad was happy....... and by then Daddy was even happier!!!

toonarmy1

would anyone here know the best way to get rid of rat dropping in attic ? the droppings, the rats are gone !! its on the insulation there

gozunda

toonarmy1 wrote: »

would anyone here know the best way to get rid of rat dropping in attic ? the droppings, the rats are gone !! its on the insulation there

What type of insulation btw?

toonarmy1

gozunda wrote: »

What type of insulation btw?

its the rools of fiberglass, so its kinda stuck into it, was thinking a handheld vacum but not sure if there was a better way

Thepillowman

Using spring traps here for the last few years as we have buzzards, sparrow hawks a merlin and lately a barn owl, so poison isn't an option peanut butter and Nutella works well. Sometimes trap will be sprung and nothing in it. Going to make one of these and see how it works.
https://youtu.be/LrgiTI3pC7M

whisky_galore

Birdnuts wrote: »

U can avoid alot of that behavour via neutering

A lot of people too mean to do that. Cue cat population explosion.