# Help! Big rat problem in barn



## soapmakermom (May 11, 2002)

I've searched the archives for help on erradicating rats from the barn, but there just doesn't seem to be very many innovative ideas. We've been fighting this battle for months now. We put poison in the holes. My son or husband goes out every night and shoots or machetes rats. Our coonhound goes rat hunting every night, and often catches one. The only animals we have in the barn now are one useless cat and chickens, so we are considering moving the chickens out of the barn and doing something drastic. What do you all think about blocking exit holes, piping gasoline in the holes that are left and lighting them? We want to do something to kill them all at once. This little by little is not working, they are multiplying faster than we can kill them. 
Another concern I have is that if we remove their source of food and water without erradicating them, they might move into our house. There is no way I can chance that happening. 
Anyone have a good idea on how to kill them all at once? We are open to serious suggestions.
Thanks!
Mary


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## Wendy (May 10, 2002)

We did this once. Remove their food source & sit out poison. We put out about 50 packs of rat bait. Also sit a small pan of water. It will make them thirsty & the water makes it work faster. Anyway, the next morning I picked up over 50 dead rats!! The following night I repeated the process. Next day picked up less than 10 & that was it. Kept poison out for about a week with no further dead rats found. Have not had a problem with them since, but if we got them that bad again, I would do the same thing. Before the posion my brothers would come over & shoot them. Killed over 30 one night. It was like the movie Willard!


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## Wendy (May 10, 2002)

Forgot to add that you have to remove any other food source or they will not eat the poison.


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

be sure to get the best poison. All I will use is called "just one bite" 
Picked some up today... It really kills them in one bite. I usually put my package up high, after I put out bait, and found it later,, eaten to peices.
So, they actually LIKE the stuff to boot. Havent seen rats in the barn since.
Good luck, I absolutely HATE rats, they make me freak out!!! (and run and scream and do stupid stuff.... lol! ) :haha:


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## Patty0315 (Feb 1, 2004)

I HATE rats. They must be getting alot of food some were else. We also use bait and it takes care of them. Having a few extra cats also help.I had a ton 2 years ago , none last year and I just started getting a few so I put out bait and no more problem. We lost a few cats this winter , so I think we will get a few more to keep rats away.


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## Conni (Apr 29, 2005)

We havent moved to our property yet... but boy do we have rats out there. There are junk piles that they live in, and old nasty house they live in, and some in old shed, etc... So, a few months ago we sat out poison like the ladies above mentioned and when we went back to the property we found several dead rats. This weekend we are taking some stray cats out there (that are hanging out at my dads house), we are going to set them up in the barn with an automatic waterer... They shoudl take care of some of the rats I hope.  

Good luck! You really should try the poison! I think it'll work for ya.


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

My dad always gets a 5 gal bucket half full of water...... puts something next to it that they could get to the top of the bucket easily (like a board walking up to it or a bale of hay) and the rats go there to drink and fall in and drown. That always works for him!


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## brosil (Dec 15, 2003)

Cats won't do it. They like smaller game. If poison doesn't work, find a Jack Russel breeder in your area and see if he'd like to run his dogs in your barn. One of our locals does that and it might cut your numbers down to managable levels where other methods might be effective.


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

Loose poison is not as effective as pinned poison. Remember, to them the poison is feed. They take loose feed and hoard it, storing it for winter when there isn't as much feed around. So they pile it up, and eat other things, failing to die.

Pinned poison, as in those large pellets that are pinned inside feeding station boxes cannot be hoarded. The rats gnaw on it as a result of being unable to transport it, and die. That's why this sort of poison is so much more effective.

Cheap poisons like Tomcat are not as good as expensive ones like Jaguar. You get what you pay for with poisons.

Move the stations around. You've got to have it in the right location for the rats, which may not make any sense to you, a mere human. If you open a station and the poison is gnawed away, great! Refill and leave it in place until it's not being gnawed any longer. Then start moving it again.

Don't just stick with one type of poison. Rotate a few types through. Between taste (not all rats will like a given flavor) and poison resistance, you need to use several types.

And of course eliminate the other feed sources. Most especially, no more pans of feed laying out at night and no wooden feed bins.


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## soapmakermom (May 11, 2002)

I guess poison is the way we are going to go. We are going to empty the barn tonight - take out all the animals and feed, and then put out poison. I like the idea that the poison must be pinned down. Thanks for the suggestions. Mary


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## Snakeoil (Mar 13, 2005)

Quit feeding the useless cat.


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## kabri (May 14, 2002)

I read this thread with interest but was dissappointed there were no alternatives besides poison. We are very concerned that our cat and dogs would find dead/dying rats from poison and eat them. Our cat DOES kill rats, about 1 a week and she eats part of what she kills. The dogs will eat her kill if they can get it away from her. (this is a 10year old cat, only about 10lbs, and blind in one eye!!!)


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## Helena (May 10, 2002)

At this time of year we are doing the same thing. We get the bags and open them up and put them in a "for poison only" dish and smear peanut butter all over it. They will eat it that night and within a few days you will find the dead rats. We have done it twice so far this past week but know for sure there are plenty more. Actually last year we dug up the chicken coop floor and hubby shot about 20 big and small as they came running out of the ground. My job was to stand and scream !!!!!!  We will continue with the poison until we have it under control because no matter how clean you are with the grain or food for your animals the rats will still be there. Of course our neighbor across the raod with his barn isn't concerned about his rat problem so it certainly doesn't help us any but..what can you do there. I have heard that there are more rats in the country than the city...just don't see them because they have more places to hide. Good Luck and Ah...Isn't Country Life Grand !!!


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## soapmakermom (May 11, 2002)

Yes, Helena, my job is to stand and scream too! Today I purchased the metal trash cans for feed and I bought some "just one bite" poison. We will secure it down so the rats can't take it away to hoard it. Kabri, what alternatives do you have other than poison? I hate to use it too, but hey, we have to do something fast here. 
We had no rats for 9 years here, until a neighbor cleaned out his barn and killed over 400 rats. The rest came running our way, I think. Yuck.
We are on a rat hunt!
Mary


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## Tracy (May 2, 2002)

I remember reading this before but never tried it, if you put down some type of cola [pepsi, coke] they will drink it and the carbination from the pop will kill them becaus eit will release gas in the stomach and they cant burb or something like that.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Where in the barn are the rats living? Is there any concrete floor area? Are they digging under a concrete slab? When you remove the food and the area where they reside (if no concrete) they will leave. If there is concrete then I will tell you how to stop their living under the slab.


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## MaKettle (Oct 2, 2003)

Hate rats. Have fortunately never had a problem community. Read that they are smart, so you have to put an overkill of poison all at one time to get as many as possible the first time you set it out. An above post described this. Then repeat for any who may have missed out on the feast.

I save small plastic containers, like Cool Whip or oleo tubs, cut a rodent sized hole in side, and place the bait inside. That way there is less chance one of the chickens will eat it.


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## TimandPatti (May 29, 2003)

Tracy said:


> I remember reading this before but never tried it, if you put down some type of cola [pepsi, coke] they will drink it and the carbination from the pop will kill them becaus eit will release gas in the stomach and they cant burb or something like that.


I did a search online and found this, so I might have to try it.
Pasted it here for ya'll. 

"On my grandfathers farm in central Oklahoma, he had a corn crib where he had the usual problem keeping out rats. He used to purchase one case of Coca Cola every week for the exclusive use in pie pans in his grainery to kill rats! No, Grandpa didn't think the ingredients of Coca Cola were toxic. He explained to us that rats cannot belch. They were attracted to the taste of the Coca Cola and would drink large quantities of it only to be unable to belch the carbonated drink and they would actually explode. He would find their carcasses lying about with their stomaches burst open. Other animals and birds were apparently not attracted to the drink and he considered it safe. He replaced the cola daily to keep the carbonation fresh enough to do the trick."


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## Laura Workman (May 10, 2002)

In two different houses my mom has taken care of rat problems by mixing cement 50/50 with flour and putting it out. The rats eat it and get REALLY constipated, then die. If a passing animal eats the rat, it's OK, because they just have little rocks in them, not poison.

For myself, I just put the cat food out in the barn. Presto, no more rat problem. Haven't seen any bodies, though. I think the rats just moved on to easier pickins. I still have a rat or two in the goat shed, but they're wood rats, and I kind of hate to kill them, so haven't gotten serious about it yet. When they really start to bug me, I'll get rid of them one way or another.


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## Deb&Al (Aug 21, 2002)

we have a problem with rats by our chicken house. we're very careful with feeding the chickens and dont leave excess feed for nighttime raids by rats, but around the yard run there are holes in the ground going from the yard and up again into the chicken run. we know it's rats because one time my daughter left the lid off the metal garbage can, in the coop, where we have the feed, and the next day there was a rat in there that couldn't get back out.

we have cats, too, and they kill quite a bit of small game, and usually every day there is a "tidbit" left on the patio for us  but, never a rat.

my concern, too, would be the chickens and the cats, not wanting to accidently poisen them. i'm going to try the water bucket and cola ideas, and see if we get anything.

debbie


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## Jenn (Nov 9, 2004)

I never had too much spare feed around- all my feed in bags was in my wellhouse so all the rats I ever saw were there. I would mix feed to serve in a galvanized trash can and realized as the level got lower, with lid off, there would be mice or rats trapped in the bottom. So that was our method: take the dog (terrier mix) and drop her into the can every morning for mice, shoot rats in the can (too big for the dog!). Doubt we had over a dozen or two though.


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## nicholascovey (May 17, 2005)

Back in the days before the meth issue got really big, my dad would go to the local feed/fertilizer store and fill an old propane tank with anhydrous ammonia. Then we would shut the barn up, move out any livestock if necessary, crack the valve open, and leave. Since anhydrous ammonia is heavier than air, it flows down into the rat holes and asphyxiates the rats (it's also so noxious, it kills the pidgeons and barn swallows too). Those of you who have ever been around it know that just a little makes it hard to breathe. The best part is that unlike a poison gas, it totally dissipates and leaves behind nothing dangerous to you or livestock. Now, this is where this idea takes a wrong turn.

Ever since meth became a problem, the sale of anhydrous ammonia has been very limited since it's a major component in the manufacturing of meth (at least in MO). Going in with a propane tank and asking for some pretty well guarantees a visit from the sheriff and possibly some surveilance from the DEA,FBI, etc. While it isn't technically illegal to buy the stuff for non-fertilizer use, be prepared to be on someone's watch list. If you're friends with the sheriff, you might be able to get around this, especially if you demonstrate the idea to him, but I wouldn't do it just because of the overall bad attention that it's likely to attract.

So if anyone knows of a heavier than air (non-combustible) chemical that will asphyxiate and then completely dissipate, (without leaving any poisonous residue) then we need to know.


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## Hermit (Nov 23, 2004)

If poisoning pets and livestock is a possibility, then the flour/cement or peanut butter/cement option sounds like a good bet. 

There was another post about this awhile back that contained a suggestion of a trap-door-type trap.

The idea was to put a few inches of water in a bucket or large trash can. 

Then put a dowel or round stick in end brackets across the top so that it can turn easily. 

Attach a light plank to the dowel (drill a hole through the width of the plank or use "U" shaped brackets on the underside of the plank. The plank must balance on the dowel directly in its middle, and not touch either side of the bucket or trash can. 

Then put a tasty treat like peanut butter in the center of the board directly over the dowel. 

Place a cinder block next to the edge of the bucket so rats can get up on it. When they step on the board to go get the peanut butter, the board pivots on the dowel and they get dropped in the water and drown. 

If the above description was hard to visualize, imagine looking down at the face of a clock. Imagine the minute hand pointing to 12 and the hour hand pointing to 6. The hands represent the plank. The 9 to 3 axis represents the dowel. The edges of the clock face represent the rim of the bucket. Notice that the hands don't touch the rim of the clock. 

The bigger the gap between the edge of the plank and the edge of the bucket, the less opportunity the rats will have to âtestâ the plank by only placing one paw on it. Leave a 3 inch gap, and theyâll jump, falling to their doom (insert evil laugh here).

Hope this helps - it's a non-toxic option, anyway.


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## soapmakermom (May 11, 2002)

Wow,some really good ideas were posted!
Here is an update on our situation: Yesterday my husband put all the feed into the metal cans and put bricks on top of the lids. We took the food and water containers for the chickens out of the barn at night (during the day the doors are open and the dog runs in an out so the rats stay in their holes). My husband screwed some "just one bite" poison on 2x4 boards all around the barn. He put out two whole packages of the poison this way. He took quite a long time individually screwing each piece in intervals down the boards. He must have had at least 30 pieces of the poison put out. Well, this morning we went out there and ALL the poison is gone. Every piece. Hopefully they ate it and didn't just chew it all off and take it away to hoard it. It was incredible to see all that poison gone. We will of course repeat this until we are satisfied they are gone. 
Yes, we do have a cement slab in the barn, not covering the whole floor though. We know they are under there, the dog goes crazy around the edges. Agmantoo, please let me know your idea about getting them out from under there. 
I sure like the anhydrous ammonia idea. I know what you mean about the problem with the sheriff, we have people out here with their meth labs too. 
Mary


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## Maria (Apr 24, 2003)

I absolutely hate the thought of poison. We had a huge rat problem about 5 years ago, and tried everything but poison. My husband would sit out there with his pellet gun and shoot them during the evening when they'd go into the chicken house. We tried big snap traps, but that didn't work after first couple of times, rats are smart.

We bought a live trap, and that worked well. We'd catch one a day or so, and take it out into the middle of the yard and dump it for the dogs to kill. They loved that, but it was tedious setting the trap all the time.

Then I looked into dogs specialized for killing rats. I read up on Jack Russell Terriers, and decided they probably NOT the best solution. They sound like psychotic little buggers! But Rat Terriers had a good reputation, so we decided to visit the Humane society and see if they had any Rat terriers. They did. We played with the dog a little, decided she would do, and adopted her.

Our little Rat Terrier is the BEST dog I've ever had. Intelligent, loving and absolutely OBSESSED with hunting down rodents of every size and description. Since we got her as an adult, she immediately started hunting rats as soon as she got over her spay. Within a year she'd cleaned them ALL out. We never find rat corpses any more. Then she started in on mice and moles. We don't have many of those now either.  Her current hobby is trying for rabbits. She actually caught a full grown one the other day! She was so proud. She came trotting through the front yard with it held high, and I made the bigger dogs leave her alone until she ate it at least half of it.

It is so cool to see that little dog springing through the grass and patrolling the woodlines looking for rodents. She is SO athletic. She sometimes springs 2-3 feet straight into the air trying to see over the grass when she's hunting.

Now there is a down side to being small and obsessed with killing rodents. A few years ago she tried to take out a muskrat, and it tore her throat and nicked her jugular. She almost died from that. You should have seen her after she got back from the vet, though. The bigger dogs had dragged the carcass into the yard, and you could just see it in her eyes, "Look at the MONSTER rat I killed!" :haha: 

Anyway, having a rat terrier is the BEST way to control rats on a farm. They are excellent little dogs. When this one gets old and slow, we'll have to get another one. They are the best: good company _and _ good ratters.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

soapmakermom,
The method to eliminate the rats from using the concrete slab is rather simple but does entail some effort and some minor expense but the method does work and lasts forever. Rats are rather smart but still limited to basic thinking. To prevent the rats from digging under the slab here is the treatment. You must excavate the earth abutting the slab for a depth of 6 to 8 inches and back from the slab for approximately 18 inches. This trench is then to be filled with washed stone (about the size of a golf ball) from the quarry. The rat will attempt to dig under the slab at the slab edge where the stone now exists. Rats cannot dig through the stone as they will collapse even if therat gets one moved. The rat is not smart enough to back up to the soil where the stone starts. I had a commercial hog operation and it took me a long time and a lot of research to figure out this technique. This technique completely corrected my problem and it never resurfaced. I know it works because I tried it and saw for myself.


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

Hmmm, reminds me of the time last year when the local feed mill caught on fire. Talk about rats!!!! I heard that they would run from the fire, see the firemen, and run back towards the fire. The smell of roasted rat was evident for some days afterward!!

I know I have rats as when I dumped the horses water bucket to put in fresh, there were 4 rats in the bottom that had drowned. I know I have a rat problem in the chicken coop and need to turn my attention there.

Good luck everybody!!


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## bgak47 (Sep 4, 2003)

I don't think that you can get rid of rats without using poison. Cats,dogs or snakes Might control them, but if you have more than a few, you need to bring the pets in & Poison those varmits. If you have domestic animals it makes it harder. I'm not at all fond of the idea of poison, but it does work.


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## Hovey Hollow (Apr 25, 2005)

I would be afraid of going the Rat Terrier or Jack Russell route. A dog with that strong of a prey drive will most likely go after the chickens as well, and perhaps other livestock.


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## busy homestead (Apr 20, 2005)

We have used the coca cola method with great success. We have also
done the water or grain in the bottom of a barrel or metal garbage can. It
works just like was mentioned.

Christina
athome in South Dakota


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## donsgal (May 2, 2005)

Snakeoil said:


> Quit feeding the useless cat.


LOL scientifically it has been proven that hunting behavior in cats is not directly related to food/diet/hunger. In other words if this was a cat who killed rats she/he would be doing it for sport whether or not she was fed.

Suprisingly, many cats - even cats who are excellent mousers will not touch a rat. Apparently, from what I have read hunting rat is a whole different bag of worms as rats are so very much larger and often FIGHT BACK with pretty nasty teeth too!. It takes a special technique and an extra special cat to be a rat hunter.

I am with the poster who recommended a rat terrier, Jack Russell terrier or also a Cairn Terrior as a potentially great ratter. Seems I read someplace (Guinnes book of world records, I think), that the champion ratter in the world (England?) was some kind of terrior who brought in some UNGODLY amount of rats (like 600+) in a 24 hour period to win the record. Seems the terrior was in one of those ancient cathedrals they have over there.

Holy smoke (no pun intended), I wouldn't be caught dead going to church in a place with over 600 rats in it.

Anyway, I vote for animal control rather than the use of poison. MHO.

donsgal


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## soapmakermom (May 11, 2002)

Well, another night of putting out a lot of poison, and it's all gone again today. I guess we will just keep putting it out until it's not taken anymore. We also set up a trap where they fall into the barrel of water, but they are not going up there.
Mary


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

I believe I read that you are using the Just one bite poison. Certainly the name is a misnomer. I have fed the product to the point that the rat excrement was the color of the poison and I still had rats. You absolutely must eliminiate the source of the food and the source of the dens to get relief.


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## 65284 (Sep 17, 2003)

We had rats under a feed shed that sat on concrete slab. The rats that had tunneled under it were trap shy and wouldn't touch poison. After fighting them for several months I plugged up all of the holes put boards down all around the slab weighted them down with concrfete blocks covering up every rat hole but one. I then ran a garden hose down the open one covered it up with small mesh wire put a block on it and turned the water on. An amazing amount of water went down that hole, before it backed up and started running back out the hole where the hose was. I turned the water off and unhooked the hose at the hydrant but left it untill next morning, when I moved the block and wire and took the hose out there was a drown rat floating in the hole. It took several weeks for it to dry out and the stink ot go away, but it got rid of the rats. I keep a close watch and at the first sign of rat activity I put out the one bite bars and haven't had any more problems.


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## soapmakermom (May 11, 2002)

I like the idea about running a hose in the hole - we had thought of that, but discounted it because the rats may run (we can't find ALL the exit holes) and then they may go to the house. We want to be sure to kill them all. We have used up all our 'just one bite' poison, so I'm going to buy some different kind tomorrow. They are still eating it all. We are starting to smell dead rat, and some tunnels are not being used anymore (my husband put dirt in the holes to watch their activity). 
Agmantoo, what do you mean eliminate the source of the dens? I'm pretty sure we have eliminated their source of food, other than poison! 
Mary


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Since you are starting to smell some dead rats the others will leave for now but they will be back. You need to put the washed stone around the complete perimeter of the slab floor in the barn to prevent the rats from making dens there forever. No food , no home, no rats!


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## Natureschild (Oct 15, 2003)

I havnt read the replies yet, so forgive me if Iam repeating- I have two easy ideas.

!. Get a guinea pig, rats hate the sound, although it wont kill them, it will just drive them away. 

2. dangle a tasty morsel over a buchet half filled with water, they will fall in trying to reach it, and they will drown.
Or if the bucket is really deep, dont so the water and just drop in an ether soaked rag once you've caught some and cover bucket. Thats an easier death than drowing.


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## soapmakermom (May 11, 2002)

Well, it's been 4 nights now since we began the major assault, and each night they eat all the poison. We must have a lot of rats! Anyway, it is smelling like death in there and my husband saw blood trails today. He has been looking at the scat, too, but it has not changed color, so the rats that are eating the poison are dying. I'm going to buy another kind of poison today, just in case there are some that are resistant to the just one bite.
Mary


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

Got some D-con on Friday night and put out 3 boxes. Next morning, all was eaten out of 2 of them. I forgot to put any out Saturday night or lastnight, so will restart tonight.

Good luck everyone on rat patrol!


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## Maria (Apr 24, 2003)

hovey1716 said:


> I would be afraid of going the Rat Terrier or Jack Russell route. A dog with that strong of a prey drive will most likely go after the chickens as well, and perhaps other livestock.


Our rat terrier seems to only be obsessed with rodents. Preferably rats, but any sort of rodent will do. Our chickens free range, and she's never bothered them, not even when we butcher one.

I WISH she'd chase the fox that took one of our hens last week.  This weekend the chickens up up an alarm scare, and there was a fox in the woodline checking them out (we'd just brush hogged all his hiding places the day before.) I took the dogs down there and showed them the spot where he was and our rat terrier sniffed the spot excitedly, but she didn't take off trailing him or anything. She just bounced around me, and worried about the gun my husband had- she's terribly gun shy. Wouldn't chase after the fox scent at all.

I guess I need a fox hound now! 

Edit: She's only about 25 lbs. Just a little thing. I doubt if she COULD hurt larger livestock. She did bark at our horses the first time she saw them, but one scolding and she left them alone.


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## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

Cats won't do it. They like smaller game.


> Someone didn't tell that to Bo, my cat. He loves to leave half eaten rats lying around. My border collies love getting them too. They had fun when dad was bush hogging the field.


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## soapmakermom (May 11, 2002)

Just wanted to let you all know that I think we've won the war. No activity for the past three days. My husband found several dead rats per day over the last week or so, but none recently. We put out $110 worth of poison over the past two weeks, and they ate most of it. For the last three days, no poison is being eaten. My husband plugged up the rat holes and they are not digging them out or making new ones. So in a few days we will begin cleaning the barn out. I want to make sure all the poison is gone before we bring in some animals again (pigs, steers for beef). One sad note, a banty chicken we owned died from poison ingestion, we think. She would not be contained with the other more domesticated chickens, and she often 'pecked around' the barn,so we think she picked up some poison. It was our last banty hen, so it's sad. But the dumb cat is still in there, unharmed. The smell in the barn is still nasty, but I'm sure in time that will go away. A lot of the rats must have died underground. I guess that means there is poison underground, too, which is not good, but what could we do? Hopefully we got them all, and there isn't a breeding pair still alive. I hope we never have to go through this again. We've been here over 10 years and never had rats before. 
Thanks for all the advice!


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

I'll give an update as well. Put out 2 boxes another night and they were both gone. The next night I put out another 2 boxes and they were gone. I then put out 1 box, and only part of it was eaten.

It's smelling pretty bad now. I'll have to put out the 1/2 eaten box to get any lingering ones around. 

Soapmakermom, to keep up with the problem, from time to time, put out more poison. If it disappears keep feeding it until the problem goes away. If it isn't eaten, put it in ziplock bag to keep fresh, and put out some time later.

It seems that any animals you have, the rats take up residence. You don't notice a few, but when you start seeing them is when you know you have an infestation. I think poison is about the only way to go. Traps & such (unless you use the water bucket method) they get too smart around. Poison does the job for sure, with the drawback of the darn smell of decomposing bodies!!!


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## sidepasser (May 10, 2002)

hovey1716 said:


> I would be afraid of going the Rat Terrier or Jack Russell route. A dog with that strong of a prey drive will most likely go after the chickens as well, and perhaps other livestock.


 Well I have Lucy the rat terror and she goes into the chicken yard with me, never bothers a thing except the mice. I also have three huge tom turkeys that roam the yard, she will run them away from her food dish, but that is as far as it goes. 

Just like any other dog, you have to train a terrier, but man are they good ratters - hence the name. Lucy can catch a rat in a New York minute and she's about the proudest little thing, she also catches moles when she can dig them up and will spend time digging in rabbit burrows, but she can't catch the rabbits yet. She did get a chipmunk yesterday though.

Now if she could just get these bats..

anybody know how I can deal with bats? It's against the law to kill them, I called two different orgs about removing them and they refused (said it was the wrong time of the year..give me a break, these things are ruining my barn wall where it connects to my house...)

I gotta get something done fast...they don't multiply very fast thank goodness - but already I found one baby on the aisleway floor..very dead..

nothing that moves lasts long in the barn except the bats..the cat can't get to them and neither can the dog and I don't think any decent snake would bother..

Help me...

Sidepasser
did not mean to steal the thread...


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## Thumbbuddy (Oct 13, 2004)

I am glad you were able to rid your place of the rats, very hard to do. The worst thing to have is rats. Someone once told me he live traped rats and set them free on a farmers property because he would not let him hunt on his property, my opinion. it was a nasty thing to do, hope nobody ever does that to my place.


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

agmantoo said:


> I believe I read that you are using the Just one bite poison. Certainly the name is a misnomer. I have fed the product to the point that the rat excrement was the color of the poison and I still had rats. You absolutely must eliminiate the source of the food and the source of the dens to get relief.


I wonder about rats getting intolerant to stuff.... I mean, I feed the just one bite stuff and they are instant history, but if I use the dcon green stuff, I have scat that looks the color of the poison forever.... and no dead rats.
I just dont bother with the decon anymore. I think our infestation is up in the barn/feed area. I just got rid of all the ones that come in last winter... yuck...
Does anyone have problems with rats taking new chicks/eggs? or is this just a snake problem?? I killed a 5' snake in the coop not long ago, it was feasting on eggs, but still having chicks/eggs disappear...... cant figure this one out.


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## dalilies (Mar 23, 2005)

I knew I shouldn't have read this thread! I'm sitting her with the creepy willies. I'm freaked out because 4 mice have taken up residence in my chicken coop. I got to have hubby take out the chicken crate so that our terrier or calico cat can take care of them.

I don't think I could deal with rats. I grew up on a dairy farm and lost a dalmation dog to a pack of rats. He would hunt rats with his father. The father died of old age and the rats ganged up on poor Winston. As a pair, they kept the farm pretty clean.

I have a Toy Fox Terrier. Very similar to the Rat Terriers. She is only about 14 pounds and loves to hunt rodent. She hasn't bothered my birds but I don't let her out of the backyard fence without me. She was adopted from a shelter at 14 months and wasn't socialized around animals as a puppy. She doesn't bark except if there is trouble and is great with the kids. She is calm and love to cuddle. 

We have had Great Danes for years but she is much more econimical and does such a good job that I think we will always keep around either a Toy Fox or Rat terrier. 

Jennifer


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## Cat (Jun 19, 2004)

My border collie is a hunting MACHINE! Last winter we moved a feeder pig feeder into my duck pen so that I could feed without it getting wet and unfortunately it wasn't long before the rats started moving in. I've been putting out a small amount of poison as well as a live trap and it's working but I need to be more diligent with the poison. I like the butter tub idea. Some also use 2" PVC pipe to form a poision center. Anyway, back to Belle the BC, she will go out day and night and dig at the rats holes, she has killed quite a few rats, then Kali the goofy great dane takes the dead rat from her and runs around with it in her mouth so very proud of all of her hard work. Belle will even use her teeth when digging for rats, Kali's best effort is to stick her nose in the hole. lol At any rate, that's one reason I don't get too serious about poison because I don't want the dogs getting into it when the happen upon a rat. We have a feedyard nearby so we'll always be 1/2 step away from a rat problem if we're not pretty diligent.


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