In article , Katra wrote:
That is why I have to be SO careful with poison baits. I use the bar
bait and put it into suet cages so the rats cannot carry it off, and
make sure it stays under cover with crumb control.

Try a livetrap, baited with dog food (put the dog food into a glass
jar with a metal lid with holes punched in it, so the rats can smell
it real well but can't eat it), the kind that can catch several rats
per load. The smell of rats attracts more rats, especially if one dies
and the rest start eating it. (Same goes for mice.)

You can get livetraps made of sheet metal which removes temptation
from birds (since they can't see into it). Tomahawk Trap Co. might
make some, not sure. I have some of their wire traps that I use for
pest rabbits.

~REZ~

writes:
In article ,
Katra wrote:
Hmmmm... I wonder if I can get PVC pipes big enough to slide rat traps
into? That would protect my birds.

That sounds like a good idea. You might try the pinch traps for
gophers with a bait that take some work to get (to make sure the trap
is triggered), and put it inside a piece of 4" sewer pipe -- it's
cheap, durable, yet easy to cut (try a heavy old serrated knife, the
kind they advertise as being able to cut frozen stuff and tin cans).

A pruning saw works well also as does a saber saw with a medium blade
(drill a large hole first to start the blade).

Glenna

The mice kept getting into stuff in our garage. After
getting a couple with a regular trap they got too smart and
avoided them, so I tried a water trap and it worked very
well.

I used a 5 gallon bucket with a shallow pot saucer filled
with seeds floating on the top of the water. We made a way
for them to get to the top of the bucket and we kept the
water at a level that was just a bit to deep for them to
climb out. It worked very efficiently and a dead mouse in
the bottom of the water did not keep others from trying.
One day I found three of them dead in it. They just
couldn't resist trying for that seed. We got rid of the
whole family apparently, because I have not seen any for
quite a while now.

Linda

Rez wrote:

Can anyone tell me how to control rats without poisoning?
Traps dont' work. Rats are too smart.
Or get a Jack Russell terrier and don't feed it, so it has to hunt.
They're good rat dogs and have no qualms about eating rats.
I've considered that...
Will they eat chickens?
Most of the rats are in the henyard which is why they are here.
Plenty of food. :-(

Yeah, a dog will eat chickens too Cats generally leave chickens
alone (at least after their first good pecking but don't seem to be
much on killing rats.

Rats can survive on just manure for food, but they'll eat about
anything that doesn't eat them first.

That is why a water trap would not work unless I dumped water containers
every night. We do find them drowned in the emu's water buckets now and
then!

Rats are very curious and like to climb up into things, so even if
there is other water around, they still get into buckets and drown
(awww, so sad Also, dog food makes a great lure for rats and mice
-- see if you can rig something where they can smell it and will fall
into the water while trying to get to the dog food.

~REZ~

In article ,
"Loki" wrote:

il Thu, 13 May 2004 01:48:59 -0500, Katra ha scritto:


Central Texas, suburbs...

I have chickens, they are attracted to the grain feed.
There is nothing I can do about that. I just have to find more efficient
ways to kill the little SOB's. They are very prolific.

I wonder if they make the pill for rats. Biocontrol. :-)

That would be nice...

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In article . net,
(Rez) wrote:

In article , Katra
wrote:
Placement is important... :-)
I breed pigeons for meat, so I don't want to scare off my breeding
stock! G

g When I keep pigeons (for dog training), every day when I feed them
I sing "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" to remind them how lucky they
are to be cage pigeons, and not park pigeons I've had one reach 14
years old!!

~REZ~

That's mean! lol

I love my pigeons, and not just for lunch.
Mine are free-range.

K.

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In article k.net,
(Rez) wrote:

In article , Katra
wrote:
I usually just toss the trap into a bucket of water and walk away for 10
minutes or so. If I don't have to watch, I can handle it.

LOL! Not me, I've had enough stuff destroyed by rats, mice, and
rabbits, that it doesn't bother me one bit to watch 'em suffer

cringe I hate rats, but I can't stand to watch any animal suffer...


When I catch rats by hand, I grab them by the tail and hit them hard
against the nearest cinder block or tree, and that kills them.

Works for me

Quick too.


The other morning, I found two nests and managed to kill one adult
female and 16 young rats that way. I watch carefully for nesting sites
and clean them out about once every couple of weeks.

Probably as good a control method as any.

Keeping tabs on nesting areas is imperative!
They mature quickly too, but I let a nest be used before I clear it out,
so that way I can kill the babies rather than having them have them
someplace I'd not be able to access.


Fortunately where I am now, there don't seem to be any rats, tho there
are mice in droves (they demolished my cauliflower, and those were BIG
plants, almost 3 feet tall) and of course the Starving Attack Rabbits.
I encourage "safe" snakes (tho I've got 14 rattlers in my trophy box,
in just two years time!) and just picked up a couple feral cats who
both have litters, hopefully enough kittens will not get eaten by owls
to grow up and become good mousers. You can't grow cats fast enough
around here...

You are lucky!


Tho beware of snakes around chickens, I have personally SEEN gopher
snakes rob nests for eggs, and even fight the hen for the eggs! and
snakes can CLIMB!

~REZ~

Texas rat snakes do that too. ;-)

K.

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In article k.net,
(Rez) wrote:

In article , Katra
wrote:
Owl decoys work very well for pest birds, and pigeons!

We have two real live owls in residence, and they don't seem to
discourage the starlings much!

~REZ~

They sleep in the trees during the day. ;-)

Owl decoys are out in the open, and you are supposed to make sure that
they cast a shadow. That is how the local wildlife rescue folks told me
to use them.

K.

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In article .net,
(Rez) wrote:

In article , Katra
wrote:
Hmmmm... I wonder if I can get PVC pipes big enough to slide rat traps
into? That would protect my birds.

That sounds like a good idea. You might try the pinch traps for
gophers with a bait that take some work to get (to make sure the trap
is triggered), and put it inside a piece of 4" sewer pipe -- it's
cheap, durable, yet easy to cut (try a heavy old serrated knife, the
kind they advertise as being able to cut frozen stuff and tin cans).

~REZ~

I'm going to have to look in to gopher traps...
The rats have dug a series of tunnels under the rocks in the dog kennel.
:-( I can't really get to them without tearing out the rocks and they
will just all run away.

I could put gopher traps at the entrances of the burrows! eg I never
thought of that.

Thanks! :-)

Those are also less likely to catch pigeons if I choose to use them out
in the open.

K.

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In article . net,
(Rez) wrote:

In article , Katra
wrote:
That is why I have to be SO careful with poison baits. I use the bar
bait and put it into suet cages so the rats cannot carry it off, and
make sure it stays under cover with crumb control.

Try a livetrap, baited with dog food (put the dog food into a glass
jar with a metal lid with holes punched in it, so the rats can smell
it real well but can't eat it), the kind that can catch several rats
per load. The smell of rats attracts more rats, especially if one dies
and the rest start eating it. (Same goes for mice.)

You can get livetraps made of sheet metal which removes temptation
from birds (since they can't see into it). Tomahawk Trap Co. might
make some, not sure. I have some of their wire traps that I use for
pest rabbits.

~REZ~


Live traps don't work well for Norway rats...

They are too smart. Been there, done that, caught a few youngsters but
no adults. :-(

K.

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Yet another excellent idea... :-)

K.


In article ,
Linda Barsalou wrote:

The mice kept getting into stuff in our garage. After
getting a couple with a regular trap they got too smart and
avoided them, so I tried a water trap and it worked very
well.

I used a 5 gallon bucket with a shallow pot saucer filled
with seeds floating on the top of the water. We made a way
for them to get to the top of the bucket and we kept the
water at a level that was just a bit to deep for them to
climb out. It worked very efficiently and a dead mouse in
the bottom of the water did not keep others from trying.
One day I found three of them dead in it. They just
couldn't resist trying for that seed. We got rid of the
whole family apparently, because I have not seen any for
quite a while now.

Linda

Rez wrote:

Can anyone tell me how to control rats without poisoning?
Traps dont' work. Rats are too smart.
Or get a Jack Russell terrier and don't feed it, so it has to hunt.
They're good rat dogs and have no qualms about eating rats.
I've considered that...
Will they eat chickens?
Most of the rats are in the henyard which is why they are here.
Plenty of food. :-(

Yeah, a dog will eat chickens too Cats generally leave chickens
alone (at least after their first good pecking but don't seem to be
much on killing rats.

Rats can survive on just manure for food, but they'll eat about
anything that doesn't eat them first.

That is why a water trap would not work unless I dumped water containers
every night. We do find them drowned in the emu's water buckets now and
then!

Rats are very curious and like to climb up into things, so even if
there is other water around, they still get into buckets and drown
(awww, so sad Also, dog food makes a great lure for rats and mice
-- see if you can rig something where they can smell it and will fall
into the water while trying to get to the dog food.

~REZ~

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In article , Linda Barsalou wrote:
The mice kept getting into stuff in our garage. After
getting a couple with a regular trap they got too smart and
avoided them, so I tried a water trap and it worked very
well.

Another method I forgot about that works and will absolutely prevent
escapes, is to take a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, fill it half to
2/3rds full of water, put a rat-sized hole in the lid, then smear
peanut butter or molasses on the inside of the lid near the edge, so
they have to really reach for it and lose their grip on the edge of
the hole, thus fall in and drown.

I probably drowned a couple hundred rats just in an open bucket one
year, and it wasn't even the only water around, just somewhere
curious rats liked to snoop in. Evidently they never get wise to it.

~REZ~

In article , Katra wrote:
In article . net,
(Rez) wrote:
g When I keep pigeons (for dog training), every day when I feed them
I sing "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" to remind them how lucky they
are to be cage pigeons, and not park pigeons I've had one reach 14
years old!!
That's mean! lol

Thank you

I love my pigeons, and not just for lunch.
Mine are free-range.

I like pigeons, they're cool birds. We have a few dove here but no
pigeons. I've thought about starting a colony, at least once I get the
shop building closed off enough that they don't decide to live in
there!

Being lazy, I usually feed my pigeons and chickens (when I have 'em,
none right now) dog food, same as the dogs eat. Aside from really good
eggshells (yes, even tho they are thick, the chicks have no trouble
getting out) the birds get so they won't eat regular bird food unless
they're starving. In fact when I toss 'em grain, they'll get all
excited the way birds do, rush over to the feed -- stop short and look
at me like "What's this crap? What are you trying to push on us??!"

~REZ~

In article , Katra wrote:
Live traps don't work well for Norway rats...
They are too smart. Been there, done that, caught a few youngsters but
no adults. :-(

Norway rats are probably smarter than roof rats, which is what we had
where I used to live. Roof rats are so bold they run around in packs
in broad daylight. They're not very big tho, a little smaller than
typical "pet rats".

~REZ~

In article . net,
(Rez) wrote:

In article , Linda Barsalou
wrote:
The mice kept getting into stuff in our garage. After
getting a couple with a regular trap they got too smart and
avoided them, so I tried a water trap and it worked very
well.

Another method I forgot about that works and will absolutely prevent
escapes, is to take a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, fill it half to
2/3rds full of water, put a rat-sized hole in the lid, then smear
peanut butter or molasses on the inside of the lid near the edge, so
they have to really reach for it and lose their grip on the edge of
the hole, thus fall in and drown.

I probably drowned a couple hundred rats just in an open bucket one
year, and it wasn't even the only water around, just somewhere
curious rats liked to snoop in. Evidently they never get wise to it.

~REZ~


Oh, I LIKE this! :-)

I need to go and get some buckets with lids!!!!!!

Thanks!
K. (who is really going to try this one right away!)

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In article . net,
(Rez) wrote:

In article , Katra
wrote:
In article . net,
(Rez) wrote:
g When I keep pigeons (for dog training), every day when I feed them
I sing "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" to remind them how lucky they
are to be cage pigeons, and not park pigeons I've had one reach 14
years old!!
That's mean! lol

Thank you

snicker


I love my pigeons, and not just for lunch.
Mine are free-range.

I like pigeons, they're cool birds. We have a few dove here but no
pigeons. I've thought about starting a colony, at least once I get the
shop building closed off enough that they don't decide to live in
there!

Yeah, they will nest anywhere that provides convenient shelving, and it
can get rather poopy.


Being lazy, I usually feed my pigeons and chickens (when I have 'em,
none right now) dog food, same as the dogs eat.

That sounds expensive!
Sure won't hurt them tho'.
Chicken and pigeon feed is about $7.00 for 50 lbs.
Dog food is twice that...

Most of my pigeons eat pretty much for free since they fly free, but
they do gather around for the morning scratch feedings in the henyard.


Aside from really good
eggshells (yes, even tho they are thick, the chicks have no trouble
getting out) the birds get so they won't eat regular bird food unless
they're starving. In fact when I toss 'em grain, they'll get all
excited the way birds do, rush over to the feed -- stop short and look
at me like "What's this crap? What are you trying to push on us??!"

Hee! ;-)
I don't blame them. Dog food is higher in protien!

K.


~REZ~


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