Rats

Shewhomustbe...

I think there is a possibilty I have rats living/using my composter.

I live in the country with a large open field behind my house, (the composter is at the back) I noticed a couple of times when depositing new waste little holes in the corners of the contents but never saw or heard anything, I turn the contents every now and then.

If it is indeed rats does anybody have any nice suggestions to get rid of them. I'm a little worried to rush in with rat poison if it's another animal using it.

Astro1996

Some form of rat trap or one of those traps that shuts when the (rat) goes in, traps it rather than killing it.

Funny story with regards to rat poison, had a rat that used to get into my kitchen through a pipe in the extension, so went to the diy store and got some poison, a big bag of blue pellets. It says on the bag lay 1-2 pellets on the floor for 1 rat, so i though grand, came down the next morning pellets gone - sorted. NOPE. over the course of the next week this rat proceeded to eat the whole bag, 23 pellets. Began to think it was some type of super rat, but about a week later went to cut the grass and there was the rat with a huge hole in its stomach, sometime during that week the rat must have exploded. Resilient little feckers though..

Doper Than U

http://www.eradi-products.com/

Try that if you're looking for a "green" alternative. Says it's safe for other animals, children, plants etc etc... I haven't used it, but I probably will if I ever get rats. It's either that or an air gun.

fiacha

if the rats are coming in from the fields, then you will never get rid of them.
you will just have to try and stop them from getting into the composter. trouble is, if you take that foodsource away, they might take an interest in the house.
try trapping them and see how you get on.

I have mice in my compost heap, but none in the house. they're not causing any problems at them moment, so I leave them to it.


happy hunting !

fiacha

Doper Than U wrote:

http://www.eradi-products.com/
It's either that or an air gun.

FYI......if you're in the ROI, it's illegal to use an air rifle to shoot animals, even pests.

magpie

Set fire to your composter and then have some terriers standing by to take out the refugees.

Doper Than U

if you're in the ROI, it's illegal to use an air rifle to shoot animals, even pests.

Really?? Damn.. I don't have an airgun or anything like it, but it was definitely a plan for the future (moving to the country). Oh well, thanks man, eradirat it is. Probably for the best, although I'd have thought instant death from a gun would have been kinder than a slow death from dehydration or poison.

Acutally, the terrier thing is not a bad idea. I have two Jack Russells, and I get the feeling one in particular might take to hunting rats very well.. am I allowed to do this? Or is death as nature intended not to the taste of the bureaucrats in Dail Eireann...?

Shewhomustbe...

I went to B&Q and picked up some of this

http://www.natrocell.com/grat.html

as it says it's a 'humane' product?!

I honestly don't know if it's rats, friend of mine said it probably was. I have never seen any around so it could easily be mice, or could it be voles?
Shortly after we moved in last year we saw some close to the house but only twice.

Doper Than U

Yup, that's the same product as Eradirat, posted above. Looks like it should be fine for other animals, as it is not poison based, but rather works by dehydrating the animal... works on rats only as they digest food differently, in the caecum (from what I can gather on that site)

Stoner

we had plotts for years in finglas ( when it mainly consisted of fields) We had similar issues, regardless of what they can eat there, they love the heat so your better off em alone

Mothman

An issue with poison is trying to entice the rat(s) to eat it. Its likely that the humane poison requires multiple feeding, and that could be an issue. Also this poison may not be very weatherproof.

I use wax blocks with a hole in them. I nail them down so that the vermin can't just carry it away and stash them. They're fairly weatherproof as well.

One feed is enough, though like what astro said earlier, its takes a number of days, so the poison should only be replaced after 5 days have passed. This is with the wax blocks. The other poison, you keep dishing it out.

The issue with wax blocks is that the poison does stay in food chain, so if cat or owl etc eats the rat, it will build up in their systems.