Rat bait

nell

Well-Known Member
Anybody that takes part in the never ending war against rats using poison baits, do you stick with one bait or use several brands????? Ive been baiting the farm at least once a week all winter, have used several sacks of bait which is taken, but still see a fair amount of rat activity,boss has been advised by the supplier to stick with same brand,im not so sure.... any advice?????
 
Brand is not important - it is the active ingredient that matters. You can often find different active ingredients from the same manufacturer.
 
Wind up re the supplier right? Course he does ;)

Wont bother the rats unless u poison one brand and not the other.

Rats will build up a resistance to some poisons, and certain animal feeds contain natural antidotes, so in my experience its about a combination of methods, baits, & poisons.

On a chicken farm I shoot rabbit and fox on sometimes, he has a real rat problem - we poison, shoot, and use terriers.

Like you say though they always come back - too many hedgrows and hay barns to get rid of them forever
 
A bloke I know works for one of the pest control companies. They use treated wheat. I picked up a drum at the local co op and stuffed a dessert spoonful into the rat holes and stopped them up.

Repeat after 4 days if the holes open up again. Most efffective method I have used so far.
 
I alternate between bromadialone & difenacoum on an annual basis just in case the rats are getting resistant, I understand that some rats are now getting resistant to both of these but fortunately not yet around here. atb Tim
 
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We use a rat poison from the agri merchants spaldings, we mix it with wheat or barley and put it every where they go, obviously thinking of other wildlife! This stuff really is lethal we had rats and mice every where round our grain store and it wiped out the population in a few weeks including mice which no poison had done before!
 
We use different poisons to avoid immunity, the main thing is to prevent them getting at chicken food s it's the antidote to some rat poison.
 
as Taff said a lot of animal foods contain vitamin k which is the anti dote to anticoagulant poisons, try to prevent access to other food sources so they can only eat the bait or try a bait with calciferol as the active ingredient which is not a anticoagulent not done commercial pest control for a few years now but sorexa cd was a good bait when I did as it contains calciferol and difenicoum.
 
If you can get anything with Brodifacoum in it then use this, down side is it's indoor use only! Deadline (Bromadiolone) is great however both this and Sakarat (Difenacoum) are multi feed second gen rodenticides. The latter is ok but Deadline is far better. Alternatively liquid concentrate mixed with grain is also good.
 
Thanks folks,bait im using is dressed wheat (bromadialone) which is red,im seeing the dye in their droppings ,so im guessing its either a multi feed or not working,can only hope its the former.....
 
What bait you use makes little or no difference. It's the active ingredient, which has to be written on the container that makes the difference

1. Warfarin. Still works but you may find that you need larger quantities. Added benefit of using this bait is that is has no secondary baiting effects. Some areas do have warfarin resistance but certainly not all. It is usually down to baiting techniques. Outdoor use authorised
2. Bromadiolone. Good second gen bait. Once again some resistance but only in tiny pockets so your unlikely to hit it. Outdoor use authorised
3. Difenacoum. Good second gen bait. Outdoor use authorised
4. Caliciferol. Good second gen bait. Very expensive. Hence mainly used in mouse baits. Outdoor use authorised
5. Brodifacoum. Very effective bait. Illegal for use out doors and if used incorrectly can cause bait shyness. Pre-baiting is an essential technique used with this bait.
6. Alphachloralose. Magic bait that if taken in the right quantity has halucinogenic properties:D. It is only effective though in lower temperatures as it shuts down your ability to control your body temperature so you die of hypothermia. Antidote easy though, and nice warm room.
7. Eco friendly products. They are out there but I've had little experience of them and what I did wasn't great.

It mainly comes down to technique. Apply the bait in as secure way as possible as close to where they are living as is possible.
I used to bait first, then check after 5x days. If bait gone then re-apply at double quantity and then check after 3x days. If after 3x days bait gone then double quantity then check after 3x days. Keep doubling quantity of bait until you get some left and then maintain at that level until you start to get a drop off of bait taking. When bait taking ceases then you can drop off your number of visits.
The secret to any baiting is not to stop.
I used to use upto 150kgs a day when I worked for the council. And one year I worked out that we used 5 tonne on all our contracts.
 
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Thanks folks,bait im using is dressed wheat (bromadialone) which is red,im seeing the dye in their droppings ,so im guessing its either a multi feed or not working,can only hope its the former.....
Stained droppings are what you would expect to see, at least you know that they are eating the bait. It usually takes several feeds over a few days to start to kill them, and not all rats in the area will have taken the bait at the same time. It often takes me around 6 weeks to clear all of them, until the next lot arrive! atb Tim
 
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