"Colin" wrote in message
news
If you are seeing rats in the day time, that suggests that;

1.THere are LOTS of rats - My advice is hire a professional - it can
be
expensive, but if you find a good one, the job will be done properly
and
you
should be left without any problems
as you would be if you bought bait boxes and poison yourself :-)


2.There are a few very hungry / thirsty rats - Feed them! If poss find
the
holes and pour loose bait poison down- this is the best way. If you
cant
find the holes, try and find a run( a polished area of ground that is
used
frequently by the rats) and find somewhere to hide some loose bait -
it
could be under a board or under a shed - somewhere that canat be
accessed
by
birds / dogs or similar. When you place loose bait the rats will
sometimes
dig it out or just spread it everywhere maliiously - keep an eye foe
this
and tidy it up ASAP -
much safer to use bait boxes and bait therefore, save poisoning other
animals and birds from spilled poison.

Maybe, but often, depending on the situation, rats will not always take
from
a bait station or they may not take aproper dose. As long as the poison is
placed carefully, it should have have little more chance of coming in to
contact with inncocent animals - in mot cases, bait boxes are better for a
permanent site or where there is no other option.

if you bait a hole and the rats seal it up with earth
and debris this normally means that the rat has eaten the bait and is
ill -
he will do this to keep warm untill he dies. If neither of the a\bove
is
possible, yo can get bait station (or you can make them yourself)
These
will
bait dry and away from birds etc, but they will have the disadvantage
of
being new, so it ay take the rats a time to get used to them and take
the
bait.
only a couple of weeks, then leave in position permanently and you will
never have another rat problem. Good long term solution .




The best sort to use is like a long peice of drain pipe and you put
the bait in the middle. With all methods of poisoning, rats prefer to
die
at
home in their burrows, so it is unlikely to find 15 dead rats with
paws
in
the air one morning. However, there is alwayws the odd one that
doesnt
make
it back to the burrow so keep an eye out for this. Also,when they are
ill,
it makes them a lot slower so keep an eye on dogs aand cats as it
will
make
it easy for them to catch a posinoned rat. (i was always told that a
dog
.
cat would have to eat a good 30/ 40 posined rats before it would be
killed,
but being a cat owner myself, i would notlike to teest this theory)
Most modern baits say on the tub that there is nom secondary poisoning.
I
have 12 cats so this was important. Pplus cats would not normally touch
carrion (dead rats) nor target something sick. They are sensible :0)

You hope. The baits today are mostly anticoagulant, which thins the blood
which leads to haemorraging (dont ask me about spelling) . They offer
reduced secondary poisoning / besides it takes a much higher lethal dose
to
kill a cat or dog than a rat.
.


3. Something / some one has ivicted them from somewhere near by. -
Hopefully
they are just passing through and maybe gone in a weeek. If they arnt
...see
above.
Unlikely. rats would soon colonise an unbaited territory if no other
rats
are in residence. It is a permanent battle.

They would also colonise a baited territory.....breifly ;-). I I was
suggsting that if some building work has been carried out locally and
recently then sometimes rats will suddenly pop up in places they have not
been to before untill they find somewhere to live.



apologises for the slight OT not sure if there is a pest control
newsgroup,
I think it is on topic. Rats can be found in gardens and cause problms so I
imagine getting rid of them would be of interest to most people. Some of us
who live in the countryside and/or keep livestock will be veterans in the
battle against them so any discussion, idea and opinion swapping is good.
I take your point about rats not using bait boxes. You are partially
correct. They won't use them at first but if they are left down within 2
weeks the rats will use them. Obviously with poultry I have to make sure I
have a permanent solution so have several bait stations which are checked
and topped up as required. I also have 12 cats but I won't allow them out at
night so they have no opportunity to catch rats for me.Bait boxes provide an
easy, safe and effective means of controlling the rat population.