During the Winter,some citrus,tropicals and young Figs are kept in a small greenhouse.The past few years,rats found some of them good to eat.
I’ve caught some using mouse traps and they weren’t big.About the size of a large mouse.This year,some traps have been triggered and disappear.Like they are carried away.
That slowed them,but some still visit and have decimated Figs,Mandarins and an Orange.
I did set a couple of the larger rat traps,but when tripped,it is empty.Also being tried are glue boards and a poison bait box.
If anyone has had success,please let me know.
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Rats travel against the walls. Put your traps and stuff up against the walls. Not much more you can do beyond traps, poisons, and glue strips.
I’ve been considering trying those rat buckets. They have the baited trap door and they fall into the water to drown.
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Can you try an electric rat trap? I have a battery powered one for mice and it works well. I bait with peanut butter and sunflower seeds. They make bigger ones for rats. The brand is Owltra. I think rats can be sneakier than mice, one review suggested leaving it off and putting cherry twizzler pieces around and in it, then after a few days turn it on.
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A client gave me a good tip. He said get the snap traps with the metal hook/trigger instead of the large pad. Then, take gauze, it’s super porous, holey, and stringy and cut off a strip. Then work a small amount of peanut butter into the gauze. Catch the gauze on the hook and wrap it firmly around the metal trigger hooking the last wrap back under the hook. The rats get their teeth caught in the gauze and cannot gracefully back the bait off. Seems to work for me with a lot less empty triggered traps. I also rub a small coating of PB on the trigger bar.
Good luck and good hunting.
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Okay,the electric and gauze traps are set up.Ready for tonight.
I read about the lady and her Nibs candy and am using something similar.
Also turning on a trail cam to see the activity.
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Okay,there is the culprit,showing up on the camera four times between 11pm and 4am.No trap trips or bait/food taken.Probably has a taste for tree bark now.
Fersure a rat.
I read that rats don’t like Peppermint,so some Dr Bronner’s Hemp Peppermint Castile Soap,mixed with Peppermint essential oil and Chili powder,strained through coffee filters was applied.The used filters were also placed,at the plant bases.
There has been no activity on the camera,for two days,after doing that.
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The Peppermint spray may have stopped the rat from coming around for now,but damage has been done.a Gold Nugget Mandarin was completely girdled.
I’d of been pissed,if only the fruit had been taken,but now I want to take it’s head off.
There are a couple of Trifoliate Orange root stocks in pots,from failed trees,so I grafted a bunch on one.Then decided to try a bridge from an unneeded branch.
Think another should be added?
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I hate cats, but I’d get a cat if nothing else worked.
If that’s not an option, I have had the most success with poison and the newer style spring traps. The old school wooden ones don’t seem to work very well.
ETA: I like rats less than cats.
I almost bought a trap like that and still might.
There are a number of cats running around here,unfortunately,they are not very effective at catching or are indifferent to them.
I witnessed this once,when a rat somehow entered into my place,ran in front of me and the cat,that a friend gave me,who could easily catch mice and birds,barely moved.
It was caught with a snap trap and peanut butter.
Simply find where they are coming in. They are not small creatures… from what you have shown there on the camera. There will be a hole in the ground. . or if they have chewed through the plastic panel. I had an issues with mice in the past. I filled the hole a bit and covered with a rock. luckily no sign since.
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The greenhouse base is Trex decking stacked two high,sitting on the ground,with a plywood frame attached and polyfilm stretched over that.
They can squeeze through small crevices and between different materials.
The best solution I found is peppermint oil - which you are already doing.
And set a bunch of traps around the greenhouse area. Use crackers and peanut butter. I use the havahart live traps all year round.
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