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Dial111
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  #2251744 5-Jun-2019 08:50
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We have a couple in the roof as well, I can hear their little feet sprinting across the ceiling at night. I've been using peanut butter, a bucket with water, a rod going through a bottle to act like a log on water.. no success yet, however, we had one in the house and I managed to corner it in the bathroom and caught it through sheer determination and luck.

 

 

 

The only reason I haven't used poison because I don't want them to die in the roof space.




xpd

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  #2251756 5-Jun-2019 09:15
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Delphinus:

 

Nope, nothing in there this morning at all. Even had a platform leading up to it to make it easy for them to get in. 

 

What I did have was dreams of a horde of rats roaming around the place, with 10 caught in the water, and 5 cats prowling to drag out the dead ones.  

 

 

Leave a trail up the platform :) Or maybe something with a stronger smell.... altho dont want to attract them as such either :D

 

 





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Fred99
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  #2251758 5-Jun-2019 09:15
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CYaBro:

 

Don't like to use poison as we have a dog and apparently they can get secondary poisoning by eating the rodents that have died from eating the poison.

 

 

I thought that had happened with our dog - she had blood in her poo and was pretty crook. Took her to the vet who assured me that a dog her size (about 10kg) would need to have eaten a reasonable quantity of bait - several blocks - to cause a serious issue. Eating a dead rat or two that had died from eating anticoagulant poison, while not a great idea, shouldn't be too bad. The bleeding was from her eating something else - some hard plastic which she shat out with no further issues. 

 

So while you should be a bit careful when using baits - particularly that pets can't directly eat the bait - it's reasonably unlikely that a dog would get secondary poisoning. (not the case with 1080 though - hence special warnings as canine species are about 100 times more sensitive to 1080 than other mammals)




Resnick
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  #2251775 5-Jun-2019 09:26
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Anecdotal I know, but I found the best bait for traps to be nutella. I had a much better strike rate with this over regular peanut butter for mice.


kiwifidget
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  #2251779 5-Jun-2019 09:32
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I once had rats in my walls. I set the big plastic traps which did catch the rats but did not kill them.

 

Then I couldn't hit them on the head with a hammer because their head was inside the trap.

 

So I got the sturdiest gloves I could find, picked up the trap, rat and all, and shoved it head first into a bucket of water, and held it there until the struggling stopped.

 

I got nearly 20 rats this way over a weekend.

 

Any solution has to be better than this. I remain traumatised to this day.





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neb

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  #2252017 5-Jun-2019 12:23
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kiwifidget:

I once had rats in my walls.

 

 

You didn't live in a priory did you?

kiwifidget
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  #2252914 6-Jun-2019 12:24
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@neb , very interesting story, thank you. 





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pctek
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  #2254738 9-Jun-2019 11:02
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The best thing is a cat.

 

we had mice once, took a week for the 2 (older)  cats to clear the lot. At the end they were eating the babies.

 

 

 

Had a neighbour with rats too, didn't take long for that to stop also...the cats didn't eat the rats, just killed them.

 

Even now Mr Hopeless hunter cat actually caught a mouse the other night. Looked surprised himself, lol. He isn't skilled and other cat (experienced) soon got it and ate it.

 

 


Bung
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  #2254757 9-Jun-2019 11:41
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Depends on the cat. The neighbour's cat catches rats and releases them in the house once the novelty has worn off. It kills and eats geckos but has no interest in eating rats or mice. Predator Free Wellington have lent her a rat trap that baited with oatmeal and peanut butter is killing rats before the cat gets them.

cddt
1556 posts

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  #2254958 9-Jun-2019 20:45
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neb:
kiwifidget:

 

I once had rats in my walls.

 

You didn't live in a priory did you?
Well, there goes any chance of me sleeping tonight...


  #2255367 10-Jun-2019 15:47
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Fred99:

 

CYaBro:

 

Don't like to use poison as we have a dog and apparently they can get secondary poisoning by eating the rodents that have died from eating the poison.

 

 

I thought that had happened with our dog - she had blood in her poo and was pretty crook. Took her to the vet who assured me that a dog her size (about 10kg) would need to have eaten a reasonable quantity of bait - several blocks - to cause a serious issue. Eating a dead rat or two that had died from eating anticoagulant poison, while not a great idea, shouldn't be too bad. The bleeding was from her eating something else - some hard plastic which she shat out with no further issues. 

 

So while you should be a bit careful when using baits - particularly that pets can't directly eat the bait - it's reasonably unlikely that a dog would get secondary poisoning. (not the case with 1080 though - hence special warnings as canine species are about 100 times more sensitive to 1080 than other mammals)

 

 

 

 

Had three dogs get into a bucket of anticoagulant poison. Off to the vet for vitamin K doses to keep there levels topped up. Annoying thing is the one of the dogs had to climb onto a bench to get to the high shelf to get to it.


  #2255368 10-Jun-2019 15:49
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pctek:

 

The best thing is a cat.

 

we had mice once, took a week for the 2 (older)  cats to clear the lot. At the end they were eating the babies.

 

 

 

Had a neighbour with rats too, didn't take long for that to stop also...the cats didn't eat the rats, just killed them.

 

Even now Mr Hopeless hunter cat actually caught a mouse the other night. Looked surprised himself, lol. He isn't skilled and other cat (experienced) soon got it and ate it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had a border collie that would hunt out rat nests, pick up the babies and drawn them in his water bowl. Never could figure out why he enjoyed it so much.


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