Rats

[htcdude]

How can I get rid of them??

They've now eaten their way into one of my rabbit hutches!!

I put down pellets which they've ignored, they're nesting under the shed which I can't move or do anything about.

Can anyone recommend a humane trap to kill them or another method to get rid of them?

Thanks,

Nige

[Nutty]

We had a huge rat epedemic on the farm last year and, like in your case, they were not taking any of the bait from our bait stations. When they were seen coming in to the house enough was enough and we called in pest control. The bait used by them was readily eaten by the rats and it is changed regularly to avoid resistance issues. My advice would be to call in the professionals.

[artdemole]

I used the man from the local council.Soon got rid of my problem.Then some appeared 4 houses down and were called out again .No problem since.Probably took bait back to the pack which wiped them all out.

[Kayleigh]

Council rat catchers are rubbish all they do is put down poison that kills all other things that come into contact with the rats.
Get a few little snapper rat traps and bait the spike with chocolate buttons so the rats cant remove them..
You will get rid of them this way cleanly and without poison.
The humane traps dont work as they dont go in them.

[werdnal]

I'd second not using bait, as it can poison other creatures. Especially if you have rabbits - please remove any remaining pellets before they get hold of them.

Snap traps are humane if set properly with bait that cannot be removed, but also put these where birds cannot get caught. You can also get an electronic rat trap which apparantly elecrocutes them, but not tried one myself.

[htcdude]

Thanks for the advice guys.

My wife also phoned Rentokil the other day and they recommended moving the rabbits away from the shed and onto concrete which we've done. They also said to stop feeding the birds ( )

I'll try and get hold of some of those traps and see what happens. I only used poison because I didn't realise you could get traps! It wasn't ideal but it was out of the way of where the birds go, and we didn't put it down during the day whilst the rabbits where out.

Nige

[Nutty]

The professional pest control company we use have special bait stations that are inaccessable to anything larger than a rat and these are secured so they can't be inadvertently moved. They keep a log book which hangs in our workshop and this gives a plan of where the stations are and records of the type of poison used at each visit.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Nutty

The professional pest control company we use have special bait stations that are inaccessable to anything larger than a rat and these are secured so they can't be inadvertently moved. They keep a log book which hangs in our workshop and this gives a plan of where the stations are and records of the type of poison used at each visit.

Yes but can the rats get out to die somewhere else after being poisoned this is the poroblem other animals eat the dead rats not the poison directly carrion ect so get poisoned this way.

[shirl]

I agree, poison isn't a good option, one of our neighbours seems to be doing that and as the rats can access our loft, one kindly died in there - not a pleasnt experience. Also we have kestrels, owls and buzzards hunting over our garden not to mention our 2 dogs who would readily eat a poisoned rat. The bait stations allow field mice etc into them too so you cannot just target rats I am afraid. My live trapping rats hasn't been successful either so far, they are one intelligent species.

Shirl

[Farplace]

Originally Posted by htcdude

Thanks for the advice guys.

My wife also phoned Rentokil the other day and they recommended moving the rabbits away from the shed and onto concrete which we've done. They also said to stop feeding the birds ( )

Nige

Were any rabbits hurt by the rats, Nige? A couple of years ago, we had a couple of bunnies killed by rats. Not pretty.
Jan