Rat Problems (IDEAS)

[HoLeChit]

1: get rid of the food and the rats will leave. Might as well pull the wires out of your tractor and starve them out.

2: Jack russel terriers. They’ll kill every single rodent within a 10 mile radius. Once their done with that, they’ll provide for some great entertainment, and likely kill other things. I’ve seen Jack Russell’s pull down lived in wasp nests in barns (I wasn’t excited to be there), all kinds of crazy stuff.

3: go full British and snag up a magazine fed air gun and a thermal setup.

4: park your tractor somewhere else. When I was working on construction equipment, I would always run across guys who would park their equipment in the middle of a field with tall grass 11 months out of the year, and mow around it. The tall grass and lack of activity turns it into a rat hotel. Go drive it once a week, even if it’s for 5 minutes; yeah, you’re burning fuel, but it’s way cheaper than replacing wiring, or dealing with dried out seals and such due to not running it. Park it on gravel, dirt, or move it and mow the grass real short under it and all around it. Keep the grass mowed real low.

 

[ForsakenConservative]

I’ve got a couple old cars in my metal barn. I used traps & poison for several years, killed a bunch but didn’t stop them. Then my father-in-law suggested leaving a radio on in the building-the more talking, the better. I have not had problems with mice in years….now that I’ve said it, they’re probably going to overrun the building!

 

[turkeyrun]

Agri-3 is good stuff
The spin can / bucket works with a heavy infestation.
Loud radio will deter them for a while
Get a cheap extention cord, plug it in and let them chew.

Good luck

 

[Aku]

Is there better poison to use?

Don't know about better. But I've used "Just One Bite". Kinda expensive, but I've had success getting rid of mice and rats around the house.

 

[Ready_fire_aim]

We had rat and mice problems for a few years out here. We now keep 4-6 outdoor cats at a time. They do fantastic on the rodents! The cats we fall in love with get more access into the shop/garage etc, lol they live longer that way.

I messed with traps and poisons for awhile but cats work best for us

 

[dennishoddy]

Bucket / barrel trap for rats!

Peanut butter on a can that rotates on a rod of some sort, ramp up to, but far enough away from the can.

Water in the bottom of the bucket / barrel to drown potential jumpers!

Detailed ideas on youtube!

I used a heavy can from something like pb blaster (liquid wrench).
My problem was mice in a building!

Mouse traps was not working!

The bucket trap cleaned house in short order!View attachment 420411

I was skeptical first, but am a believer now!

Build a larger model for rats!

My dad buried gallon glass jars, ground level with the mouth using peanut butter on popsicle sticks balanced over the mouth. It cured our mouse problem and made great bait to catch bass at the lake around the lily pad areas. No water in the bottom. He wanted them live.

 

[dennishoddy]

An old plastic news paper holder that is used in rural areas for papers works great as a backer for rats with a #110 Conibear trap and dry dog food for bait in the back of the new paper holder. Use boards to guide the rat into the mouth of the trap.
We had a rat get into our shop building last year. Big enough that he could pull out of the commercial snap type rat traps.
He couldn't evade the conibear and my set up.

 

[THAT Gurl]

Our neighborhood is covered up with feral, half-feral and indoor/outdoor house cats. The last time I saw any evidence of mice and/or rats around here was about 2, 3 years ago when somebody poisoned all the outside cats. It took a while for the cats to come back up from the lake again. (Stupid people NEVER stop dumping animals -- God don't get me started. ) Once the cats filled back in the mice and rats disappeared again.

 

[SoonerP226]

About 25 years ago, the neighbor knocked down a bunch of outbuildings that his late father had built, but had fallen into disrepair as he got old and his health failed. Those things were lousy with rats and mice, and when their habitat disappeared, they sought new homes.

This happened about the time my last outdoor cat disappeared, and the little *******s moved to my place, which prompted my dad to say, "well, I guess that cat wasn't as worthless as I thought."

I trapped, shot, stomped on, and poisoned the little *******s, but what really got them back under control was getting more cats. As I've said many times, I've had too many cats and I've had too many rats, and I'll take the cats any day because the cats don't eat freaking $300 wiring harnesses.

 

[kcatto]

On the farm growing up we always had problems with squirrels eating harnesses in our grain trucks... we built a removable harness. we used cannon plugs like in aircraft and removed the harness after harvest and parked the trucks.. put the harness in the shop away from hungry vermin... and lots of barn cats... I got a rat the other day in my RV.. used a commercial trap bought on amazon.. little peanut butter I found the rat dead in about 4hrs..