How to get rid of rats in your home?

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Cats are the #1 form of rodent control. When I was a kid on the farm we always had 10-15 barn cats. Most were tame, to an extent, and they did get fed, but they still hunted. Distemper, or some other unknown feline disease, wiped out most of the cats on all the farms along the Tipton creek valley where I grew up. This was from 15 to 20 years ago. No one has large colonies of barn cats there any more, and rodents can get out of control. I had rats in the basement of a house I rented there. The landlord gave me live traps which got most of them, and Poison got the rest. I had one feral cat that adopted me there but she wasn't much bigger than those rats and she was scared of them. She was an effective mouser though. Currently my father has no cats or dogs, and his farm is being overrun by mice. D-Con or other rodent bait is the only really effective measure at present. One or two house cats would at least help keep the house mice under control.
 
Neb said:
I subscribe to Shawn Woods on Youtube.





He has many videos on mice rats etc. Check out his videos.

Ben
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Mousetrap Mondays! We love watching him test traps out.
 
I have never had pests for long with cats and dogs on the property.
 
Spikedriver said:
Cats are the #1 form of rodent control. When I was a kid on the farm we always had 10-15 barn cats. Most were tame, to an extent, and they did get fed, but they still hunted.
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I'll go after the #2 spot.
I didn't want to brag, but we have had ZERO rats in the 4+ years we have been down here.
We have an Airborne Defence Fleet constantly circling overhead, called hawks.
Anything smaller than 12" doesn't last long before getting snatched up :oops:.
Seeing more than 4 hawks up there at once verifies that there is a good source of food here.
The rats all gravitate to the cane fields and when they cut the cane, the hawks all have a 'field day' (pun intended) and then reproduce.
(Sorry this is absolutely no help on the original topic:()
 
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Supervisor42 said:
I'll go after the #2 spot.
I didn't want to brag, but we have had ZERO rats in the 4+ years we have been down here.
We have an Airborne Defence Fleet constantly circling overhead, called hawks.
Anything smaller than 12" doesn't last long before getting snatched up :oops:.
Seeing more than 4 hawks up there at once verifies that there is a good source of food here.
The rats all gravitate to the cane fields and when they cut the cane, the hawks all have a 'field day' (pun intended) and then reproduce.
(Sorry this is absolutely no help on the original topic:()
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Hawks and owls kill everything they can get their talons around. Squirrels, snakes, rats, mice, and even kittens all fall prey to them. I have watched them hover over CRP fields, then dive bomb into them, and come out with a hen pheasant. They have their place in nature, but as far as I'm concerned that place is away from me...
 
I've been seeing variations of these when I am driving around. I see them at gas stations, grocery stores, everywhere. I decided that when I was driving around today to take some photos of them. If we have rodents in our homes, you can bet that grocery stores have them, and any other place where there is food, including restaurants.
When I first was seeing these, I wondered what in the world they were. It finally dawned on me that they were for getting rid of rodents. I'm not sure how they work.

Rodent trap 1.jpg
rodent trap 2.jpg
rodent trap 3.jpg
 
Weedygarden said:
I've been seeing variations of these when I am driving around. I see them at gas stations, grocery stores, everywhere. I decided that when I was driving around today to take some photos of them. If we have rodents in our homes, you can bet that grocery stores have them, and any other place where there is food, including restaurants.
When I first was seeing these, I wondered what in the world they were. It finally dawned on me that they were for getting rid of rodents. I'm not sure how they work.

View attachment 113191View attachment 113192View attachment 113193
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We have ones similar to the last image. Bait stations for rodents.

Ben
 
A rotten, no good for nothing genius mouse is running around in broad daylight thumbing his nose at me.
= = = =
I have seen that... My approach was to be just a little more persistent than the rodent.. It may take a bit to catch some more so than others.. But you will prevail, again with persistence... With a rodent like this it is a good opportunity to try different baits, trap locations, and the like.. I have had 3-4 traps in the same area with different baits just to see what works better than the last bait.. Good hunting...
 
Tim Horton said:
.. But you will prevail, again with persistence... With a rodent like this it is a good opportunity to try different baits, trap locations, and the like.. I have had 3-4 traps in the same area with different baits just to see what works better than the last bait.. Good hunting...
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I learned to be a pro when we were in Bama.
After being down here for 3 years, we finally had some. :)
'Hunting season' only lasted for 2 weeks and then they went extinct:(.
In answer to your question, Pecan meat wins, hands down.:thumbs:
 
Supervisor42 said:
I learned to be a pro when we were in Bama.
After being down here for 3 years, we finally had some. :)
'Hunting season' only lasted for 2 weeks and then they went extinct:(.
In answer to your question, Pecan meat wins, hands down.:thumbs:
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Pecans? I have tried peanut butter, bacon grease, other things. It seems that once you catch a mouse in one area, it is difficult to catch another one in that same place again. I read that you have to keep moving your traps around. I will try pecans!
 
Weedygarden said:
Pecans? I have tried peanut butter, bacon grease, other things. It seems that once you catch a mouse in one area, it is difficult to catch another one in that same place again. I read that you have to keep moving your traps around. I will try pecans!
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You have to grind it down into the pocket of the bait bar.
I wasn't clear about that in the other thread.
Trying to get that last nibble is what gets them. :thumbs:
If you just put it on top of the bar, the next thing you see will be a perfectly clean un-tripped bait bar.:mad:
 
I guess killing rats is not allowed either. Now if we were just causing them to not alive themselves, that may be okay. I've notice on videos and shorts on FB and YouTube the term that get through is "un alive themselves" and for things that go pew pew are nugs.
 
Swing said:
I guess killing rats is not allowed either. Now if we were just causing them to not alive themselves, that may be okay. I've notice on videos and shorts on FB and YouTube the term that get through is "un alive themselves" and for things that go pew pew are nugs
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Somehere I have a video of the chickie girls going to town on a weasel, a mouse or rat is a gonner with them. Weasel was ok 1-1, but then ALL the girls came in. Then a ruckus, and a Teddy, and Dave brought a firearm, and .....

Party over.
 
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dademoss said:
OH OH OH, you terms of service violator :p


OOPS Necropost. The Zombies did it.

I did it, nothing to see here, move along :p:p:p
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It showed rats actually being killed, which we know today, is not allowed by the rabid 'animal-rights activists' :rolleyes:).
 
A number of years ago I watched a video where men were digging in a field, unearthing rats. Their terriers were going after them, and after catching them, give them a shake and they were dead. I can't find the older video and another one, but this is an example.

Terriers, like @LadyLocust's Jack Russel terrier, are rodent hunters.

I have continued to talk to neighbors about the rodent situation that came on after the golf course was completely tore up and rebuilt. "We all have them now." One guy lives in a 5 plex row house. One of the other people in that building found a hole in her yard, put a garden hose down the hole and let the water run in there for a while. He told me she is someone who no longer has mice.

 
Swing said:
I love that water hose in the hole in the ground. Maybe someone should rent out rat terriers for people that have rats, similar to renting out goats to clear under the trees in an overgrown area.
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There are people in Europe, probably the U.k., but maybe other places, who have terriers and ferrets that go to people's farms and fields and let them have their way. I would expect that they might get paid for that work.

Mice must live in the ground in the wild. I have always just thought about them living in buildings. The rebuild of that golf course really wreaked havoc with mice in my area. We may never be mouse free!

I have been visiting with people about the mice problem. People have said that their cats are not mousers. Some are, but having a cat is not necessarily going to solve the problem.
 
Weedygarden said:
A number of years ago I watched a video where men were digging in a field, unearthing rats. Their terriers were going after them, and after catching them, give them a shake and they were dead. I can't find the older video and another one, but this is an example.

Terriers, like @LadyLocust's Jack Russel terrier, are rodent hunters.

I have continued to talk to neighbors about the rodent situation that came on after the golf course was completely tore up and rebuilt. "We all have them now." One guy lives in a 5 plex row house. One of the other people in that building found a hole in her yard, put a garden hose down the hole and let the water run in there for a while. He told me she is someone who no longer has mice.

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I love that video!
@Neb beat me to it and posted it in our other rodent thread.
I guess it is still online because it only shows dogs killing rats, instead of 'evil mean humans' killing them :rolleyes:.
 
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Swing said:
I love that water hose in the hole in the ground. Maybe someone should rent out rat terriers for people that have rats, similar to renting out goats to clear under the trees in an overgrown area.
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They do that for rabbits in Britain (I think that’s where).
@Weedygarden we don’t have a jack Russell. He is a large breed mutt. Jack russels and skipperkies are rodent control though.
One thing if you use rat traps, if you get one in a trap, you need to wash it before setting it back out. The trapped rat will emit a scent indicating danger which is what you want to wash away.
 
Ekatarina said:
Best thing is to put rats in fire to burn if they were trapped with poison

Your pets can die from eating it
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A couple years ago our two dogs ate an entire box of Just One Bite mouse poison. I gave them both a shot of peroxide. They immediately puked up the poison. One dog suffered no effects, but the chocolate lab bit his tongue and started bleeding. The bleeding wouldn't stop so I took him to the vet the next day.
 
Trivia..
I never had rats to deal with, but many mice in the wood shed, rabbit barn and chicken house.. Like said I got real good at using live traps and kill traps.. Problem got to be I had to tie down my traps as the ermine (long tail weasel) would carry off my trap to hide the trap while they consume the mouse.. Then I had to trap a dozen or more ermine in the vestibule of the chicken house to protect the birds.. From there on up the predator size chain to fox, coyote, lynx, wolf, black bear... The only ..issues.. I had to ..take care of.. were with cougar or grizzly were around larger livestock... Again.. Vigilance and persistence were needed to prevail...
 
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