Does anyone have an ingenious trapping and/or eradicating methods for
ridding our property of these varmints? Poisoning is not an option; too
much wildlife around. The hawks are not around when the rats are out at
night.

Rats are wrecking havoc with our bird feeders and chewing on our
avocados and other fruits.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond!

Alain...USDA 9B...Sunset # 19

On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 21:56:02 -0700, "J. Farnsworth Wallaby"
wrote:

Does anyone have an ingenious trapping and/or eradicating methods for
ridding our property of these varmints? Poisoning is not an option; too
much wildlife around. The hawks are not around when the rats are out at
night.

Rats are wrecking havoc with our bird feeders and chewing on our
avocados and other fruits.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond!

Alain...USDA 9B...Sunset # 19

Fox urine is the only thing i have found and i don't know if it would
flip out my cat or not, so i passed. I see rats at dusk.

Have-A-Hart live traps work, but I have to tell you, there will never ever be
rat free anything. They outnumber humans by 5 or more to 1. I have a lot of
room, so I put three compost bins are the corners of the property. They have
plenty to eat at those so don't bother my plants too much. We also grow
sunflowers and let the seeds drop away from the house.

I don't like trapping because I always worry they have babies somewhere which
can die a miserable death. Then again, I don't view rats as horrid varmints. I
appreciate them as being just another life and try to stay out of it. I also
grow strawberries which they can eat...and those plants are away from the house.

I also find if I stay out of it, a rat snake will show up, and has. Nature is
cruel at times, but if it happens naturally, without my intervention, it's the
way it goes. So, in essence, I tolerate rats and the like.

Victoria


On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 21:56:02 -0700, "J. Farnsworth Wallaby"
wrote:

Does anyone have an ingenious trapping and/or eradicating methods for
ridding our property of these varmints? Poisoning is not an option; too
much wildlife around. The hawks are not around when the rats are out at
night.

Rats are wrecking havoc with our bird feeders and chewing on our
avocados and other fruits.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond!

Alain...USDA 9B...Sunset # 19

"J. Farnsworth Wallaby" wrote:

Does anyone have an ingenious trapping and/or eradicating methods for
ridding our property of these varmints? Poisoning is not an option; too
much wildlife around. The hawks are not around when the rats are out at
night.

go to the hardware store and get a few traps. lay the traps where you
see the rats or their damage. when you hear the trap go off, go out
and make sure it's dead. if not, shoot it, or drown it, or something
quicker than the trap. WEAR GLOVES rats still carry the fleas that
carry the plague.

sometimes mousetraps work better than rat traps when the rats arent
very big. sometimes, though, the rat will run away with your trap...
and then creep under your chair while you're sunbathing and scare the
bejeezus out of you when you get back with your drink. (or maybe
that's just me..)



Rats are wrecking havoc with our bird feeders and chewing on our
avocados and other fruits.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond!

Alain...USDA 9B...Sunset # 19

cheers,
Lynda

"J. Farnsworth Wallaby" wrote in
:

Does anyone have an ingenious trapping and/or eradicating methods for
ridding our property of these varmints? Poisoning is not an option; too
much wildlife around. The hawks are not around when the rats are out at
night.

Rats are wrecking havoc with our bird feeders and chewing on our
avocados and other fruits.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond!

Alain...USDA 9B...Sunset # 19


Go to Target and buy a big "Hello Kitty!" poster. Place it near where
rats congregate. The rats will think the cat has encephalitis and run
away.

- Salty Nut

In the UK game keepers put down poison for rats the rat bait is put inside
pipes so that most wild life cant get at it, but the rats are happy to go
into the tubes for it.
Otherwise you should be able to get "Live traps" and just decide how you
kill any you catch.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"J. Farnsworth Wallaby" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have an ingenious trapping and/or eradicating methods for
ridding our property of these varmints? Poisoning is not an option; too
much wildlife around. The hawks are not around when the rats are out at
night.

Rats are wrecking havoc with our bird feeders and chewing on our
avocados and other fruits.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond!

Alain...USDA 9B...Sunset # 19


I don't exactly have an ingenious way to totally rid your property of rats, but
pure common sense is what I'd start with...get rid of all your bird feeders...

BT

Eaton bait block is a very good product, comes in apple or
peanutbutter/molasses, and you can also get the hard plastic rodent baiter
boxes at any good pest control supply house, these are great to use where
yoiu also have other animals present, they can be nailed to the walls of
barns etc, or even attached to cinder blocks.... commercially they are
required where you have people with access to the baited area, or pets.

Jim

"Lynda" wrote in message
...


"J. Farnsworth Wallaby" wrote:

Does anyone have an ingenious trapping and/or eradicating methods for
ridding our property of these varmints? Poisoning is not an option; too
much wildlife around. The hawks are not around when the rats are out at
night.

go to the hardware store and get a few traps. lay the traps where you
see the rats or their damage. when you hear the trap go off, go out
and make sure it's dead. if not, shoot it, or drown it, or something
quicker than the trap. WEAR GLOVES rats still carry the fleas that
carry the plague.

sometimes mousetraps work better than rat traps when the rats arent
very big. sometimes, though, the rat will run away with your trap...
and then creep under your chair while you're sunbathing and scare the
bejeezus out of you when you get back with your drink. (or maybe
that's just me..)



Rats are wrecking havoc with our bird feeders and chewing on our
avocados and other fruits.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond!

Alain...USDA 9B...Sunset # 19

cheers,
Lynda

The message
from "David Hill" contains these
words:

In the UK game keepers put down poison for rats the rat bait is put inside
pipes so that most wild life cant get at it, but the rats are happy to go
into the tubes for it.

If you use a rat (kill) trap, you can also place it in a pipe or
tunnel with two open ends alongs an outside wall; the kind of runway
rats seek out. The tunnel can be a row of bricks with a plank lid. This
also prevents your child/dog/cat hurting themselves with the trap.

Janet

I didn't see your post when it first came on rec.gardens, but I will say we have
rats out back. They love sunflower seeds and are the fattest rats I've seen!
They indeed are not just nocturnal. They are out there every day, all the time,
day or night. They don't run any more when they see me. I gave up. There are
far more rats on the planet in NYC, than every person or place.

We used to live trap them with Have A Heart traps, but what are we going to do,
trap a billion rats? Seems silly.

So, as long as they don't come in the house, I'm okay. I've discovered that by
having some brush piles large enough to support a community of wildlife, rats,
lizards, snakes, skink, some birds, etc...the rat and mice populations are
contained. It took some time, but finally we saw some rat snakes this year on
our property. If I poison the rat, the snake dies too, which you know. I would
never poison a rat. Never.

So, if you can put the feeders far from the house, make some type habitat to
support some reptiles, you will see a decrease in rat and mice populations on
the property.

V

On Mon, 4 Aug 2003 14:01:59 -0400, "BT" wrote:


"J. Farnsworth Wallaby" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have an ingenious trapping and/or eradicating methods for
ridding our property of these varmints? Poisoning is not an option; too
much wildlife around. The hawks are not around when the rats are out at
night.

Rats are wrecking havoc with our bird feeders and chewing on our
avocados and other fruits.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond!

Alain...USDA 9B...Sunset # 19


I don't exactly have an ingenious way to totally rid your property of rats, but
pure common sense is what I'd start with...get rid of all your bird feeders...

BT

Just remember, rats are people too.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

(paghat) wrote in newsaghat-
:

Just remember, rats are people too.

-paghat the ratgirl


Hahahahahahhahahahhahahahahahhahahahhahahhahahahha aha!

It would seem obvious that certain people are rats (or at least certain
antediluvian dieties), but now you're saying rats are people, too. People
(or rats) really are the same wherever you go!

Hahahahahahahhahahahhahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahah haha! :-)

On Tue, 05 Aug 2003 22:29:51 GMT, Salty Thumb
wrote:

(paghat) wrote in newsaghat-
:

Just remember, rats are people too.

-paghat the ratgirl


Hahahahahahhahahahhahahahahahhahahahhahahhahahahh aaha!

It would seem obvious that certain people are rats (or at least certain
antediluvian dieties), but now you're saying rats are people, too. People
(or rats) really are the same wherever you go!

Hahahahahahahhahahahhahahhahahahahhahahahhahahaha hhaha! :-)

I feel greatly complimented to be compared to any wildlife. So, thanks.

The message
from (paghat) contains these words:

Just remember, rats are people too.

Only some of them, same as only some people are rats.

Janet