Rats in wattle & daub wall

[Penners]

Upate on the bait sachets: it's now 48 hours since I laid the last two and they still haven't been taken. Previously they've always disappeared within an hour or two.

Fingers crossed that I've wiped out that particular community of the little b***ers. But of course these are rats - so there are always more...

 

[worms]

Those rats that don't have a genetic desire to taste new things live long enough to pass those genes to the next generation of rats and those rats breed until the population is composed entirely of individuals that do not readily taste new things they find.

My understanding of the research, though, is that one of the tricks that makes rats so successful is that the genetic advantage of neophobia is balanced by the fact that the less neophobic individuals have an advantage in being able to rapidly expand into new habitats and exploit new food sources, so the population continues to show a mix in levels of neophobia. The adventurous ones will take the bait, but there are always others too scared to try and others only too willing to expand into the niche left by the ones you've killed.

 

[CliffordPope]

Ours became immune to the usual anorexia stuff, which I think is warfarin, so I tried a tub of big blocks from the farmer's coop, I can't remember what it is called. Apparently they lick it, and one lick is fatal, so they don't get a chance to get used to it.

I put out one block, and that night it disappeared, presumably dragged home for the whole family to enjoy. It worked instantly.
No more rats, no smell.

As an alternative, as yours are in a confined space inside a wall, you could squirt in cuprinol wood preservative or let off one of those smoke bomb things for killing woodworm. It might drive them away even if it doesn't kill them.

 

[Penners]

I don't think warfarin is anything to do with anorexia - more exsanguination, isn't it? It's an anti-clotting agent.

 

[Me!]

so I tried a tub of big blocks from the farmer's coop,

Hi, thanks for the suggestion. Do you mean something like these? - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/B0024LSNSE/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=11052671&s=outdoors

 

[worms]

Do you mean something like these? - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/B0024LSNSE/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=11052671&s=outdoors

Good grief! Is there nothing that you can't get from Amazon?!

 

[andrew gayton]

As above - remove any available food sources. I had a massive rat problem when I kept chickens, but an expanding shed saw the end of keeping them........... no more rats. in a previous house, rats chewed up through a concrete floor in a stable; a local farmer advised repairing the hole with concrete and broken glass - 'they moight chew thru that bor, but not for long' - worked a treat. Not that I am advocating daub and broken glass :twisted:

 

[Feltwell]

I saw a programme recently where a pest controller gave some useful tips when using spring loaded type traps:-

- Superglue chocolate to the traps - he reckoned chocolate was the best bait, superglue it in place as he's known rats to be able to flick the chocolate off the traps with their tails otherwise.

- Always place the traps in pairs right next to each other - as again if they try to flick the food off one trap as they jump over them, they land on the other trap.

It certainly worked in the derelict house they showed, he got quite a few of the little blighters.

 

[Feltwell]

I don't think warfarin is anything to do with anorexia - more exsanguination, isn't it? It's an anti-clotting agent.

That was my understanding, it "thins the blood". My grandfather used to joke that he was on rat poison, as he was prescribed Warfarin for years to help stop any new blood clots forming after he had a heart attack.

 

[Matt Green]

Apparently they lick it, and one lick is fatal, so they don't get a chance to get used to it.

That's wishful thinking. It takes more than a a couple of licks of a wax block to kill a rat.

As an alternative, as yours are in a confined space inside a wall, you could squirt in cuprinol wood preservative or let off one of those smoke bomb things for killing woodworm. It might drive them away even if it doesn't kill them.

-and there was me thinking that permethrin bombs were useless as a form of pest control. Always read the label folks, don't do anything stupid.

M.

 

[Penners]

permethrin bombs ... Always read the label folks, don't do anything stupid.

That's certainly good advice. I've always avoided using bombs on rats - it's so bl@@dy hard to hit the little b***ers.

 

[Me!]

daub and broken glass

Now that certainly has possibilities Just as long as the purists don't insist on me smashing up old hand-blown glass and using that just to keep with the period :!:

 

[CliffordPope]

so I tried a tub of big blocks from the farmer's coop,

Hi, thanks for the suggestion. Do you mean something like these? - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/B0024LSNSE/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=11052671&s=outdoors

That's the stuff.

"Anorexia" was my feeble joke. The proper name which I can't recall is something vaguely like that.
My rats loved it. I used to put down several trays in the barn and outhouses and every night the rats had their friends in and scoffed it all. One block of the waxy stuff killed the lot. There is now a deathly quiet, no scuffling noises.

 

[worms]

There is always the Period option for rat control:

From Bradley (1726) "The country gentleman and farmer's monthly director". Bradley was talking about water rats but I am fure the principle applies!

 

[Me!]

Ah yes, the pre health and safety approach to life!
I'd better just check the smallprint of my house insurace first to see if it covers me for damage caused by sticking explosives in the walls and lighting them
My Townex arrived yesterday, so I put that out in the sheds last night. I'll check it later today to see if any has been taken yet.
I haven't caught anything in the traps yet inside the house, but it has all been quiet for a few nights now. Is it too much to hope that it has just decided to move out?

 

[Penners]

Huh! I'd like to see our dog deftroy a rat. She's a wimp.

 

[worms]

Huh! I'd like to see our dog deftroy a rat. She's a wimp.

The gunpowder crackers would probably have already driven most dogs to seek other quarters!

 

[Me!]

Yippee! I've got the B@5t@rd!

 

[MdB]

Faster than we did. Well done.

 

[Flyfisher]

Yippee! I've got the B@5t@rd!

. . . And was it a rat or a mouse?