Rats :(

[BrideXIII]

Rat poison is not fast acting. Warfarin acts by making the rats bleed to death internally and eradibait dehydrates. Both would take several days.

Dagnabbit i knew that didn't explain myself very well.
frankly the basball bat is a better option as far as i am concerned, if you have to kill something, anything, make it as fast as possible.

[chicken slave]

I have bait boxes all over but I still find the garden spade the best method if they are stupid enough to show themselves when I'm out in the garden. The blighters stole more than enough tomatoes over the summer so I have no tolerence for them at all.

A message for all vermin 'Stay clear of the strange women weilding the garden spade'

[di]

You see,I know the spade/baseball bat option is by far the quickest & possibly kindest option...but when they're just ickle baby ones?!!I know it's hypocritical,but I'd rather "accidently"leave a bit of poison lying around & then try not to think about it!!
I can remember when I was little we had a major problem with rabbits in the garden,most of which were mixy.My mum continually nagged my dad to get his brother round to rid the problem,but 1st my dad felt he had to prove he could do it....He killed one with a brick to the head & spent the next week having nightmares & waking up physically sick!!!Think some of us can & some of us can't!!

[frias]

I don't like using rat bait because both rats and mice will move it back to the nest and possibly to somewhere the chickens will pick it up. For this reason I have been trying traps. Little blighters are too clever to spring the traps though. Most poisons are very quick working now it's best to put a little down for a couple of days then leave it for a week before putting more down to se if there is still activity. The blue wax blocks should be nailed to a large piece of wood so they can't be carried back to the nest. Otherwise the rat might drop them and then they might be picked up by another animal.

[kirsty b]

I had some of those mousetrap things only bigger (think Tom and Jerry spring loaded doodahs) Tended to kill instantly, but when one killed a plot robin I junked them.
Once, it just stunned the rat and I had to finish it off with a lump of wood. Not nice, but I couldn't leave it as it was.

[frias]

I couldn't bear to kill a robin. The traps are covered over so only rodents should find them and also tied down. I have heard of a rat catching it's leg in one and dragging it away. I don't like the thought of anything suffering but I don't want vermin in with my girls either.

[Hilary B]

I have resorted to a traditional iron poker, more than once. Really quick poisons are only available to licenced pest controllers. The ones you can buy to use in your own home are slower, because that sort are less dangerous to have around (and not as handy for murders, which the other sort were...). Traps, guns, terriers, blunt instruments, or any combination are the best approach. The other 'not-exactly-a-poison' is sugar beet pulp. You can't buy it in small quantities, but may be able to get some from a horse owner or goat keeper. For horses it is soaked before feeding (goats can manage it soaked or dry). For rat control it is offered dry. You DON'T want to know why it works, but if they take it, it will be fairly quick, and non toxic to the barn owl who catches the rat on its way home. My main reason for not wanting to use poison has always been the risk of harming an owl or raptor.

[muckman]

A nice lead pellet works best of all.

[Glutton4...]

We used to have them at the stables - they'd just amble away across the yard without a care, if they saw you. Some were huge, but they were all well-fed, sleek and shiny. My Goldie, Ted, in his younger days would catch them, and one quick bite would finish them off. Very quick and effective - hardly cruel, apart from the fact he would then bring them to me coz he was so proud of himself

I used to scrape 'em up with a shovel and chuck 'em on the muck heap!

Strangely, you DO get used to them being around, if it wasn't for the distruction and disease...

I used to keep Gerbils, maybe that's why I don't go mental when I see one.

[Wren]

The best man for the job is a dog. Terriers are particularly excellent at vermin control
It's a lightning fast snap o the dogs bite, that is clean, efficient, humane and the most enviromently friendly way to dispatch a rat. No worries about poisons an other such nasties .
Our dog deals very swiftly and cleanly with such things . There is no suffering involved.
Best move the hens out the way though because flappy hens, and rats is a very exciting combination to a dog that has all it's preydrive triggers going off in it's head. If it's small, furry and runs then it's prey to a dog. Even if your dog is reared with chooks always remember that to an excited prey driven dog that a hen flapping about on the ground squarking does a very good impression of injoured prey .

Wren

[Nicos]

I know of someone whose house was inundated with rats over here...and had 'pest control' out...within a few days the rats were gone..but the family had to move out so the attic space and walls could be ripped apart to remove the carcasses as the smell of nearly 100 rats rotting was appalling!!

Catch them early is the message I think!

[Hilary B]

I know of someone whose house was inundated with rats over here...and had 'pest control' out...within a few days the rats were gone..but the family had to move out so the attic space and walls could be ripped apart to remove the carcasses as the smell of nearly 100 rats rotting was appalling!!

Catch them early is the message I think!

Another drawback to poison!
The snag with terriers, blunt instruments and shooting is that you have to be there when the rats come out of hiding. Traps, and bait (poisonous or merely unpleasant in other ways) can wait for the rats to appear when you are elsewhere.
Some ferrets can drive rats out into the open, but then you need a rat killing animal which knows a rat from a ferret.....

[Noodle]

I saw a mouse yesterday in the hen run. We were fairly suer we had somethign living in the garden, but had never seen anything apart from hedgehogs and foxes! The dog has been going mad at one spot in the garden and yesterday the mouse just trotted along to it's hole!
The dog didn't manage to get it, but had a good dig at the hole. I've fille dit up with bits of concrete, but don't think it will stop it.
We're off on holiday tomorrow so can't put down any poison as I think it might be goin g a bit far to ask my friend to dispose of dead mice!
We did see a woodpecker in the garden for the first time though, so it's swings and roundabouts!