Pack rats were mentioned. Like voles they will pack poison bait away so the effects of the bait seem to be ineffective. But in reality they aren’t eating it.
Rats are really more susceptible than mice to typical rodent poisons, because rats don’t have a gall bladder to filter out the poison.
I’ve seen infestations by rats and mice where grain was abundant, when I was a manager for a commodities company, and in other circumstances. By far, rats are the worst. They will literally eat a building down. Fairly quickly.
If you see rats, the cost of any amount of bait you put out, will be far less than the cost of any damage they do.
That’s the way I feel about the cat food I buy, pretty cheap rodent control. Before this cat I had five large very wild grey tabby cats that I trapped at my grannies house . They were great predators. I kept them for two years but a neighbor got some kind of a malamute cross looking dog that hated cats. It took it about six months but it got every one of my cats. I’m just glad to see my new cat earning her keep.
One could always resort to homemade traps such as in this video. Probably not recommended if you have pets…or children…or a wife, neighbors or any other living thing nearby. Warning: there is one bit of bad language involved. Start @ 1:20.
Some small critter (vole, chipmunk, mouse, or something) has been digging up my smaller potted plants. Put out snap traps with peanut butter. This morning one is gone, nowhere to be seen. I figure I’ll find a dead rodent somewhere hidden soon. Had 2 go off without catching anything.
There are several strays in the neighborhood, but I think 1 or 2 neighbors feed them so they are lousy hunters.
This one was about a foot long. He and his friends already rebuilt there nest and stored away some of my Egyptian walking onions aka winter onions and a new supply of cherry tomatoes while I was at work. Did I mention they tore up the inside of the shed in the process again ? Ugh
One technique which is suppose to help is to use the poison bait that comes in the form of compressed cubes with a hole in the center. You run a wire through the hole and tie it to a stake or the like. The rat finds they can’t run off with the poison, so they eat it, at least long enough to bring it home.
I have also noticed that with some rodents, it takes several weeks of taking poison before they stop coming around. They may be getting immune to some of the agents.
The strangest part is how they leave other things when they take your stuff hence the name trading rat. If it’s shiny they grab it such as tools, tinfoil etc… and where your screwdriver was will be a rock or stick…um no deal lol! Understanding them helps to combat them http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/pack_rat.aspx. Lewis and Clark’s expedition would have starved to death had it not been for rodents such as these that pack there nest full of food. I can’t imagine how desperate they were to eat it . I’ve heard it was Jerusalem artichokes they ate. At least one version of the story I heard was it was pack rats nest they raided for food but this account is slightly different “On April 9, 1805, the captains recounted Sacagawea’s search for “wild artichokes which the mice collect and deposit in large hoards.” The description is confusing, however, and is thought to relate not to Claytonia lanceolata but to the hog peanut, Amphicarpa bracteata (L.) Fernald.” Jerusalem Artichoke | Discovering Lewis & Clark ®. By the way if you like Jerusalem artichokes and we do love them you should know there is a large patch growing right outside the pack rat shed. Be aware they may have been one of the attractants to the rodents. With the potatoes, tomatoes , onions , peppers, garlic etc in the garden a few feet away you can see how the pack rats thought it was a hard shed to pass up .
Yes that is a nice one!! A real trophy😝. When I had one in my shed I put out one of those sticky boards , the rat would just drag it off and pull out of it. Once , when I went to check it, my chihuahua ran past me and became hopelessly tangled in it. How does a rat escape a trap that catches a small dog?
Wanted to post this link just as documentation to verify my account of these pack rats hunting prey http://www.mypetchicken.com/backyard-chickens/chicken-help/What-do-I-need-to-know-about-rats-if-I-keep-H177.aspx . They are widely known to hunt whatever they can bag. This article says they get 10" but other links say pack rats get 18". A foot or so like this one I got is not as big as they get and tomorrow may demonstrate that. The trap is reset with peanut butter and they come out at night so soon we will see what happens.
I have a few mouse problems in my unattached garage, but a local neighborhood (not feral) cat does a good job of limiting them. My big rodent problem is squirrels, which I trap and euthanize throughout the growing season.
But it’s worth noting that these guys do not hibernate and need more food during the winter, so it pays to keep after them even when there’s no fruit for them to damage, thereby reducing the breeding population.
I gather that it’s at the end of the winter when their stored food is gone and new sources haven’t appeared that they are most vulnerable and likely to enter traps, so that’s important too.
I dislike the whole process of having to catch and dispose of critturs, but it seems like it needs to be done if we’re to have fruit, so I do it.
That is a good point Mark, it is easy to let your guard down when all of the crop is done for the year. I took care of a large red squirrel last week and I noticed I had another one working on some of the black walnuts left in the yard. I suppose I will have to keep an eye open for it as well.
I’m lucky I have a lot od squirrels on my property but they stay down in the creek bottoms. My barn cats kill any that wander up close to the house and the fruit trees.
I’m already seeing rabbit damage and I still have green grass and other weeds still growing…i noticed my blueberries have all been trimmed…the cilantro that is still growing is all trimmed and the green shoots of my garlic have been trimmed… this thing is already seasoned! Traps going out…can’t imagine what he’ll do once we get snow cover.
My trap turned up 10’ away from the shed the other day. Last night I got another pack rat. Are you ready for the rabbits? Some locations are already getting snow and when it snow the rabbits show up in big numbers in Kansas. I use several methods to control them.
Method 1: A cage like this is very effective on rabbits and other rodents.
What about the deer you might ask? You can see here by my old orchard back in the day it was a real battle that ended with a 5’ fence with a hotwire on top.
