Smartass Rat!

[Mickeydredd]

Due to having chickens and breeding quail, I usually get a rat or two coming in around the sheds for the winter. I can usually sort them out using live traps, snap traps and the air rifle with the green light. I cannot use poison.

I have one this year however that is evading all the usual methods. It can see the green light, it avoids the live trap, and when I set the snappy ones it actually kicks dirt and stuff on to the trap to spring it then it takes the bait!!!!

It also killed the few quail I had planned to over-winter.

I have never seen this before and am at a loss as to how to get the bugger.

Any tips/advice gratefully received!

Mike

 

[Dallascorban]

Get a farm cat.

 

[private fraser]

Soak some dog biscuits liberally with alcohol, get the bu**er ****ed then use the air rifle.
Never tried it but it's a plan.
Don't use the best whisky.

 

[Mickeydredd]

I have ferrets but dont want them in under the big shed where i assume it lays up in daytime. It only heads under the small quail shed at some point during the night.

Gonna set the trail cam again to get an idea of what its up to.

Get a farm cat.

 

[howy308]

Is there any way you can smoke it out and have a couple of terriers ready in case there are more

 

[Mickeydredd]

not from under the main sheds they seem to be living under, not enough room around them. My dogs would certainly have a go I'm sure if I had the room.

I killed 9 the first year and only saw and killed one last year. no signs of a colony as such this year yet, but keen to sort this mutha out before any breeding!

Is there any way you can smoke it out and have a couple of terriers ready in case there are more

 

[Gunner223]

Ive just started using baited glue pads, its a pad around 6"x10" thats been inpregnated with a flavour and the rat/mouse goes onto the pad to eat or cross it and it sticks to the glue, and believe me they cant get off.

 

[Mickeydredd]

used them with success before, but a robin got on one recently so not prepared to risk non-target stuff getting on them again. I cant totally secure the shed as the rat has chewed holes thru floor and walls!!!!

Ive just started using baited glue pads, its a pad around 6"x10" thats been inpregnated with a flavour and the rat/mouse goes onto the pad to eat or cross it and it sticks to the glue, and believe me they cant get off.

 

[User00025]

Try a baited block end tunnel under shed with Fenn. If it's getting through a hole in floor make it more attractive with tunnel & trap leading to it. if you have a cage trap with separate back compartment put a quail in it under the shed but make sure the rat can only see it from the entrance and can't reach it.

 

[6pointer]

I would set a few snap traps and a cage trap and leave set with hook on for a week then slip the hooks and door springs they will get caught.

 

[Fursty Ferret]

Night vision

 

[teyhan1]

Rats and mice can be very wary.
When I worked at the council it was referred to as 'new object reaction'. They can also suffer from 'bait shyness' and I once had a case of 'container shyness'. I jest not, i tried everything, every trick, and this bloody mouse would only take bait in a house that I had to scatter on the floor behind a freezer.
They can be very very wary of cages. Once had a cage trap in an infested pig farm. Lucky if it caught a couple in a week.
I think you will need to drastic measures.
Feed your animals only in the morning and only as much as they will clear in 15mins.
You will need to proof the bottom of your cages with sheet metal.
Then put a light outside and leave on at night. Then put some food outside near the pens. Create a safe area near the food where ratty can sit out of the light and shoot it. The light is just there to let you know when it's about. When you decide to go to bed take up the food.

Why can't you use poison?

 

[Mickeydredd]

Thanks for the input.

Response to some of the points raised:

I have snap traps set. As I said in the OP, it actually kicks dirt and stuff on to the trap to spring it then takes the food - I kid you not!!

I cannot use poison due to the risk of primary poisoning to my chickens, and secondary poisoning to my goshawk/dogs if a woozy poisoned rats wanders into their aviary/kennel.

Too many holes made into the quail shed to target them all with cage traps

Cant justify the cost of NV for a rat!

I agree with Teyhan re the wariness to new things so a bit of patience required. I plan to sit with the air rifle over the festive period too.

Cheers
Mike

 

[simonl]

Post again... WANTED night vision for problem rat, Perthshire.
Or declare war on it, and accept losing the shed as collateral damage

 

[teyhan1]

I think your thinking this rat has far too much intelligence.
Rats do not deliberately set off traps to get the food. It is probably trying to get rid of your trap by burying it and in the process is setting it off. That is then launching the food away from the trap.
Have you tried not baiting the trap? Have you tried using it as a blunder trap?
Try this.
Fenn trap MK4
Powerwash your trap. No soap nothing just a really good wash.
Don't wash your hands and don't touch anything smelly for a couple of hours.
Go outside and locate an obvious run. Don't touch your trap yet.
Wash your hands now with dirt, just dirt.
Now dig a hole exactly the same size as the set trap on the run. Try to disturb as little of the run as possible. Make sure it is down deep enough that the tread plate is level with the ground. Gently put earth on the plate and jaws making sure that you do not interfere with the treadplate action, maybe even a couple of leaves. Also makes sure that trap closes across the rat rather than catapulting him away from the trap.
Set your trap last thing and take it up first in the morning or cover during the day with something heavy or you'll lose livestock.
Good luck

 

[landkeeper]

a friend had this problem in his mews /quail breeding shed but with mice ,simple solution was to make it impossible for the mice to get access to food but we put a poultry feeder in the flight where his barn owl pair live lol

on a more serious note i keep poultry and have an ongoing battle with rats and to some degree mice , for the rats properly set and used fenn mk4s are the solution trick is to keep them in situ and use them as a barrier defence rather than a firefight method tunnels made from exterior grade ply and well weathered work for me , i try to keep the traps out permanently

 

[Mickeydredd]

The quail shed is going

The quail and chicken feed is kept in a metal dustbin due the the rat chewing through a plastic bin.

There are no obvious runs due to being gravelled paths between the sheds, but I have targeted the snap traps at the holes and in the quail cages, no joy

I dont mind the mice too much, they are easier to caqtch if I try

I live next to a school. They saw the rat on Thursday and called out pest control. He came into my garden and laid a poison box and sprinkled loose poison at a hole under the big shed.....without consulting me! I wonder what his risk assessment was and whether he considered primary poisoning of my hens and secondary poisoning of my goshawk and dogs. Last night the rat tunnelled into the gos aviary, thankfully she didnt catch it. Tonight I spotted poison-coloured rat **** in the aviary next to the gos beside attempted tunnelling into the gos aviary next door.

Not happy....sitting up with air rifle tonight.

 

[teyhan1]

The quail shed is going

The quail and chicken feed is kept in a metal dustbin due the the rat chewing through a plastic bin.

There are no obvious runs due to being gravelled paths between the sheds, but I have targeted the snap traps at the holes and in the quail cages, no joy

I dont mind the mice too much, they are easier to caqtch if I try

I live next to a school. They saw the rat on Thursday and called out pest control. He came into my garden and laid a poison box and sprinkled loose poison at a hole under the big shed.....without consulting me! I wonder what his risk assessment was and whether he considered primary poisoning of my hens and secondary poisoning of my goshawk and dogs. Last night the rat tunnelled into the gos aviary, thankfully she didnt catch it. Tonight I spotted poison-coloured rat **** in the aviary next to the gos beside attempted tunnelling into the gos aviary next door.

Not happy....sitting up with air rifle tonight.

Loose poison is illegal as is not being able to retrieve poison after a job has finished.
I personally would phone the company liable and tell them if someone isn't round in 1/2 an hour to remove the bait your phoning HSE and you have photographic evidence. They will $hit their pants.
The rat will be on his way out if he is already showing signs of bait ingestion.
You need to look into Warfarin baiting if your worried about poisoning non target species or secondary poisoning.

 

[pj1]

I might be wrong but I think warfarin is now only approved for use on squirrel. I would also question the point on loose bait. It can be used appropriately and you cant ever recover all bait weather loose or blocks. But I certainly would be onto the company that baited on your property without permission

Did you get him last night

 

[Disco Stu]

Snare the blighter outside the runs / shed, there is a good guide to snaring rats on THL.