War of the Rats

[fastwin]

My friend has a great Jack Russell. They actually found it (or the dog found them) on a camping trip. Maybe it was dumped by assholes but the dog is so good and smart who the hell would dump it? Anyway it now has a great loving home.

You can't say the word "squirrel" around it because it knows the word and goes ape shit running from window to window looking for something to kill. I was at their house once and the pup was outside going nuts barking. My friend and I went outside to see what the ruckus was. The dog was barking at a red tail hawk that was circling the neighborhood hundreds of feet in the air!! Really? You want a piece of that hawk while it's flying? Take no prisoners attitude.

[akmnstr]

You shouldn't do both chemical control and a terrier or cat.  You'll end up killing your animal.  Chemical control can be very effective.  Some of the Aleutian Island have been over run with rats for a century, have now been reclaimed by the Fish and Wildlife Service through the miracle of chemistry. 

[somegirl]

We've had recurrent rat issues at our house (guess it's a downside of living in the country).

We did catch one with a rat snap trap a couple of months ago, but have not had any other luck with snap traps.  We also put steel wool around the plumbing holes etc. in the kitchen but obviously we missed some.

We then bought a rat zapper and put it outside where we had seen one running around.  I did find later that it had gone off and the bait was gone, but there was no rat inside.  However, it had been set up with the batteries it came with, so they could have been pretty old.

Last night I saw a rat running around in our pantry.  I quickly closed the door and left the room, and then heard it having a party in there (until I couldn't take it any more and went to bed).
This morning my MIL and I found the aftermath, it had gotten into bags of flour and a sealed bag of a dog food supplement.

We cleaned everything and went and got large locking plastic containers for all the food.  The fruits are currently hidden in the china cabinet.
I put fresh batteries in the rat zapper and set it up with fresh bait (dog kibble).

Few minutes ago, I heard a couple of noises from the pantry.
Then a minute ago, I heard a much louder noise (like a rodent crashing around).
Now it's gone silent.

I am not going to look inside until the morning....

[ducpainter]

We've had recurrent rat issues at our house (guess it's a downside of living in the country).

We did catch one with a rat snap trap a couple of months ago, but have not had any other luck with snap traps.  We also put steel wool around the plumbing holes etc. in the kitchen but obviously we missed some.

We then bought a rat zapper and put it outside where we had seen one running around.  I did find later that it had gone off and the bait was gone, but there was no rat inside.  However, it had been set up with the batteries it came with, so they could have been pretty old.

Last night I saw a rat running around in our pantry.  I quickly closed the door and left the room, and then heard it having a party in there (until I couldn't take it any more and went to bed).
This morning my MIL and I found the aftermath, it had gotten into bags of flour and a sealed bag of a dog food supplement.

We cleaned everything and went and got large locking plastic containers for all the food.  The fruits are currently hidden in the china cabinet.
I put fresh batteries in the rat zapper and set it up with fresh bait (dog kibble).

Few minutes ago, I heard a couple of noises from the pantry.
Then a minute ago, I heard a much louder noise (like a rodent crashing around).
Now it's gone silent.

I am not going to look inside until the morning....

Years ago, when I lived in Allston, Ma, the rats would eat through the plastic dog food barrel. I suggest steel.

[The Architect]

I had a super. in the bronx request 1/4" steel lining on all the walls of an apartment.  Anything he put up, the rats would chew through.

And our presence didn't bother the rats.   

[Ddan]

I had a super. in the bronx request 1/4" steel lining on all the walls of an apartment.  Anything he put up, the rats would chew through.

And our presence didn't bother the rats.   

Isn't that a little overkill?   I'd think 3/16 would be sufficient.     

[The Architect]

Isn't that a little overkill?   I'd think 3/16 would be sufficient.     

I recommended wire mesh.  He tried it before with no luck.  Those bastards would chew through concrete like it was cheese.

HUD told him to get big traps, lots of them. 

[ItsaDuc]

Isn't that a little overkill?   I'd think 3/16 would be sufficient.     

[somegirl]

Years ago, when I lived in Allston, Ma, the rats would eat through the plastic dog food barrel. I suggest steel.

Good to know.  Most of our food is now double contained.  Might get wire mesh for the fruits.

Did not catch anything.  OTOH, rat did not get into anything besides knocking over Grover's pill bottle. 

[RAT900]

SG I had/have a rat zapper as well....the rats I am dealing with would probably get an energy boost from it....batteries?....maybe a fully charged Sears Diehard array for a semi-tractor would provide sufficient voltage

aggghhh I would go totally bugout if they were upstairs where we live...I can deal with mice in a house...sort-of but having the rats going to town in my pantry would have me indiscriminately shotgunning the house to ribbons


Well anyway I left A-ville yesterday afternoon at 4:30 after a week there...got back here to shitland at 3 a.m.

I did not see 1 live rat the entire time I was there....

walked the perimeter of the house with the exterminator while he checked and reloaded the poison bait stations....some were untouched some were completely cleaned out...they seem to be working well

The one by the shed was cleaned out completely

meanwhile had a 20 yard dumpster dropped in the yard on Tuesday and it is half-filled already with the American Picker junk that was scattered around the yard

we turned over a skid/pallet and found the bleached/cleaned bones of one that my SiL shot last spring....this thing was BIG judging from the skeleton

anyway we were told to leave the shed alone until winter then to tear it down...upsetting the balance in one area of Ratopia will have consequences in others

the exterminator showed me all the slip holes around the entire perimeter of the house where the rats can and do get in under the clapboard that runs along the ground line

so my next project is to bed-in those flat square concrete patio blocks/tiles around the house perimeter flush with the bottom edge of the clapboard planks

it will give me a well defined and visible 18 inch/2 foot wide area between the house and the ground where nothing can grow and any attempts to tunnel under the blocks or chew through the clapboard will be readily evident

The basement is one of those half-finished ones with a dirt cellar side and a finished side....

there are burrow holes on the dirt side...... I don't know if they are legacy holes from when the house was a Junkie/Crack house in the 1980's and earlier or if they are recent...probably both

one of the bait stations in the dirt side was depleted of half its bait so I do have/had some coming into the cellar

Rats are inside the perimeter Sarge!!!  I think they are dragging their dead away so we can't get a body count.....nothing stinks inside the house or basement so they must be going back out to die while looking for water

so far so good....(didn't General Westmoreland say that?)

[muskrat]

#6 confirmed kill at noon today.  This year has been the year of the rats.  I swear they eat the poison and shit it out without effect.

[ducpainter]

<snip>
so my next project is to bed-in those flat square concrete patio blocks/tiles around the house perimeter flush with the bottom edge of the clapboard planks

it will give me a well defined and visible 18 inch/2 foot wide area between the house and the ground where nothing can grow and any attempts to tunnel under the blocks or chew through the clapboard will be readily evident

The basement is one of those half-finished ones with a dirt cellar side and a finished side....

there are burrow holes on the dirt side...... I don't know if they are legacy holes from when the house was a Junkie/Crack house in the 1980's and earlier or if they are recent...probably both

one of the bait stations in the dirt side was depleted of half its bait so I do have/had some coming into the cellar

Rats are inside the perimeter Sarge!!!  I think they are dragging their dead away so we can't get a body count.....nothing stinks inside the house or basement so they must be going back out to die while looking for water

so far so good....(didn't General Westmoreland say that?)

Be careful with masonry too close to wood.

I'm building a house because someone decided it would be a good idea to pour concrete around the sills.

[cokey]

How come dp?

[ducpainter]

How come dp?

Wood needs to stay dry.

Concrete/masonry will trap water and rot the wood.

[cokey]

Ah true.