So, my love and I are strolling back to the house this evening, and we both notice light emanating from the crawl space vents. Hello?

I crawl under to so what's what, and seems that some rats have moved in without paying rent. One chewed and obviously swung from the light string to give the place a bit o' Holiday Season light and warmth. There seems to be a small town of them in there--hanging insulation batts, rat guano, a general mess. Found a pile of fill where they dug in around the waste piping where it penetrates the foundation stem wall. I'll get after that one with some steel wool embedded in urethane foam.

Anyone have any proven methods 'sides D-con, Dan torching the place and the usual trap line? May have to set up a sniper's nest with a spot light. Dirty rat Bast'rds....

seale the place tight... then gas them dirty rats! or.

i've watched some exterminator shows over the years o discovery channel. there's a trap for rats called "jaws". these guys swear by peanutbutter as bait.

next set the traps along the inside foundation walls. rats have very poor site, so they hug walls while walking. you won't find a rat out in no rats land. set 10 of these aday. also around the entrance to the crawl space you found.

or afix a flashlight to a 22 rifle and go in, blast them dirty rats!

my neighbor nails a bunch of traps to a 2 by 4 shoves it under the house. oh he ties a rope to it to pull it out with works great

Do rats carry hanta virus, or only the bubonic plague? Filthy bast'rds they are! I'd hit them with everything you've got... poison, traps (inside and out), and pellet gun or .22 if your location allows it. They have to have some kind of food source. The infestations I've heard of around here have been the result of bird or pet feeding practices. I read that bird feed mixed with peanut butter was a good trap bait. Run up a BIG body count and post trophy pictures.

rats can seriously [censored] up a cat. since i don't care for cats. i agree with hankster.

Depends on the cat Brewer. We use to have an old barn cat that would bring some big sh-t back(many packrats and a rabit went down to that bitch). She also had a thing for hands and forearms when scratched.

I've never heard that before.

Don't use poison. When poisoned rats run for water where the local cat, owl or whatever ambushes them and also gets poisoned.

I hate them rat / mice bastards.Go get'em.Good luck,
SZ

Yeah the poison's nasty.
I had a dog that got into rat poison when I was a kid......sad day.

Just bait 'em and air gun 'em.
Or trap 'em out.

Reality, get rid of their shelter and any food source and they will go elsewhere.

Peanut butter and traps have been effective for me when they try to move from the woods into my house.

Fish on...

Todd

Had some in the garage and used some old foot holds that were baited with PB. Those old traps still work well. They do a number on rats and since foot holds can not be used in Wa for anything else these days it was nice to see them put to good use. Kind of exciting to go "check the traps" as well.

Got a colony of Common Brown mice living under the Yucca plant. They live off garden detritus and bird feeder fallout. I sit at my garden table and watch their antics while enjoying a cup of coffee.
In November there are alway a few that want to move into the garage
where the feed, seed and shelter are. Those I trap. A pinch of Nijer
seed on the trap pan and vicinity almost always works. Peanut butter is
just a treat for the delicate lickers.
After a bit of research I find that the Hanta Virus carrier is the Deer
Mouse among other creatures. The Common Brown Mouse or house
mouse doesn't seem to qualify. I wonder why.

How does feeding the birds get rid of rats? I never had any rats until I strarted feeding the birds, I stopped and the rats moved on.

Curious, I have fed birds for a long time and I never have had any rats
to use for target practice. I have used the pellet rifle on the aboreal rats that abound here abouts. They are damn smart and pop one now and then and they become scarce.
I kinda like the critters. The deer are a pain when they raid the garden.
The moose never stays, just see em passing thru.
Turkeys visit early in the AM and you can hear them later but they
are pretty spooky.
Fall brings some interesting flyers passing thru on their way South.

There's a female Coopers Hawk that shows up several times a day, she really likes the Stellar Jays,the Crows stand up to her and try to chase her off. She stands around 16"-18" high.

Thanks for the additional suggestions and stories. As per my initial post, don't want to poison for a goodly number of reason, some stated above. We do have raptors of both the am and pm variety, so will reload the bird feeders and adjust same in accord for the graveyard shift. Will also deploy the PB-loaded spring traps in strategic locals.

I do find it interesting that my love purchased a Hindu Ganesha for our home. Seems that ol' Ganapati's mount is a rat.

Cue Rod Sterling and Wikipedia....

The rats we had were only active during the day time, I guess they adapted to hunkering down at night when the Owls and Cats were active.

Edward Abbey kept a bull snake in his camp trailer to rid it of mice. Other bull snakes were released under the trailer to keep rattlesnakes from taking up residence. In your case a couple Burmese pythons released into the crawlspace should solve the rat problem, in short order. Then, the strongest python will devour the other, leaving you with a single snake to maintain. One home inspector per year should keep your pest prevention system fully functioning.

Any of the insulation that has been pissed on by the rats needs to go. . . .. . I have been told by a couple of different exterminators that more rats are attracted by the smell. . . ..

Anothere thing they are attracted to is dog sh!t, apparently they like to recycle waste. . ...

I like the simplicity of the good ole rat trap. . ... nothing like hearing one go off and finding it full of twitching rodent. ... . . . just be sure to set them where they are most likely to catch only rats (not birds, Douglas squirells, etc .. . ). . . .

I hate rats, they pulled the screens off some of the bird blocks on my shop and tried to take up residence. .. . . . .trapped six of them (and one Stellar Jay, sorry buddy) and replaced the screen with hardware cloth. All better now .. .

Had similar problems and spent quite a bit of time working with an exterminator. He gave me the the following wisdom. Poison has the problems mentioned above. Also, it may lead to dead rats rotting in your house. If they die in your house, all their fleas and disease migrate off. Spring traps work well. As indicated earlier peanut butter makes a great bait. Smear it UNDER the trigger plate. Makes it more likely their neck is in the right place when the trap springs. Exterminator also put a peanut on the prong on top of the trap. Finally, he wore surgical gloves when he set/baited/handled the traps. Put traps adjacent to walls. Trigger plate goes closest to the wall.

Once they are gone (you haven't seen/heard/trapped any despite having 5-10 traps baited and out for two weeks) pull and replace all the gross insulation. It is full of stuff you don't want in your house and may attract others. Find/plug all entrances with hardware clothe or steel wool and spray foam.

Rats fear light and change. He recommended I string up LED lights in my attic and put them on a timer to go on for a bit every day. They don't like sudden light, feel uncomfortable and will likely not hang around.

Good luck. Did I mention that I HATE rats?

The rats I've seen wouldn't fit in that bottle.

This one looks more user friendly. Leave it to the Chinese....

Laffin'

I would have fun dumping that trap and a rat in a 5 gal bucket full of water.

I have had great success with this: http://www.thehuntinglife.com/html/sections/articles/ferreting_trapping/victor-rat-trap.html

The one on the left with all the mods. I also cut the plastic tab about a 1/8 inch above the V so the rat must get his head in further before he gets wacked. I use pencil led for the chin bar.

Victor's are must because the wire is heavier and stronger. Use peanut butter (not chunky). If you don't do the mods and use Victor traps, apply peanut butter all over a small piece of cardboard and slip it in the V on the plastic tab. This will prevent them from licking it all off and getting away. They eventually will start biting the cardboard and WACK.

[/quote]

New cat is more dangerous than the plague.


let the bodies hit the floor. [/quote]





I figured that any pussy hanging out with the Staminal would have a bit of attitude. . . . . . .. .

Awesome, I have a lil Sparrow Hawk that haunts the feeders. But it takes the
occasional Sparrow or House Finch, I got no Jays, darn.

I have about 11-13 Stellar Jays that come looking for their Peanuts, I probably go through 5-6 pounds per week. Talk about gregarious Birds, and their beauty is unmatched. Most can swallow one peanut down their gullet and another in their beak. They are a hoot to watch.

I get to see em in deer camp every year but they don't come around here in Spokane.
Wish they did. I get a few Cedar Wax Wings occaisonally, but mostly Sparrows, House Finches, Gold Finches and Flickers.
The Oregon Juncos are ground feeders and don't hit the feeders, just the fall out.
Oh, and there are always the Red Breasted Nut Hatches and Chick-a-dees.

Cedar wax wings are cool birds, I heard when they eat berries off trees they pass them down to one another so they all get to eat, also when courting. There's a place about 5 miles from here that has tons of Gold finches, it's quite a sight when you see a flock of 30 or so.

Set up many many many traps and bait them with peanut butter. I had one exterminator recommend setting up 12 traps. If you're going to get the wood traps, get the ones with the yellow plastic trip on them and put enough peanut butter on it to keep the rat engaged.

I was going to get a 22 when we had rats, but, the misses didn't want me to miss and hit something I shouldn't,... like our water tank. Probably a good thing I didn't take the commando approach.

I remember my dad using his 22 single shot pistol. He bought bird shot for it so he wouldn't penetrate the roof. Well, it didn't penetrate the rat either.

I never had cats until we had one start showing up at our doorstep a couple years ago. She was apparently born in the outdoors and had learned to fend for herself. Since she came around, I have had ZERO rat/mouse problems. She brings all kinds of stuff to the doorstep. Wish she would quit killing the "good" birds, but otherwise, she has been a Godsend.

Before I had a cat, I had trouble with rats. They are smart bastards. If you catch one with a given style of trap/bait, it will usually be the last. You have to change up your tactics frequently to take out a small colony. You can choose to have fun with the war (can be maddening), hire an exterminator (will be expensive, but probably not as expensive as a cat over time), or get yourself a FEMALE cat (males tend to be lazy).

Can't trade the Pitty for a Kitty, so I'm thinkin' a borrowed female cat, a litter box, and closing the crawl space door for a week. Should make for good MMA audio....

Rats show up around here occasionally. They are after the dog food mostly. I use a wire tie and tie a piece of food to the trap trigger. Never misses.

A Rat Terrier will take care of the rats. Put one of these under your casa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Terrier

I think Salmonella has a RT Pup.