|
|
Discussion on After 6 years of no rodents...I now have a rat...
|
| Author |
Message |
Member:
Sunny66
|
Posted on Wednesday, Feb 15, 2006 - 10:54 am:
I bought the ratzappers...I want to put one in the feeDrOom and one in the center aisle.
Does anyone have any experience with these? If hay gets to close to the zapper, could it start a fire?
Thanks!
|
Member:
Miamoo
|
Posted on Sunday, Feb 19, 2006 - 11:03 am:
My ratzappers have 4 legs and a tail. Seriously, I got a good barn cat. He takes care of rats that are almost as long as he is. No problem any more and I don't have to worry about electricity or poisen!
Good luck with whatever you do. Rats and mice are almost as much of a pain as ticks!
Ella 
|
Member:
Tweeter
|
Posted on Sunday, Feb 19, 2006 - 1:00 pm:
I have the same ratzappers that Ella does and I have never and I mean never had any rats or mice and I also have chickens which people say draw rats. I have 5 spayed female barn cats. I think the females work better because in the feline species the female does all of the hunting the males are too busy "toming"! My girls actually go out into the fields hunting for field mice. I also don't have to worry about the barn birds either! So for the approx $8 a week dry cat food bill I don't worry about walking into the barn in the dark and seeing the rats run. (This happens at my friends barn, it creeps me out)
Kathy
|
Member:
Sunny66
|
Posted on Sunday, Feb 19, 2006 - 1:28 pm:
Thank you ladies...they *totally* creep me out! Haven't seen any around since I posted, but I have seen signs. I think my cat is too busy with mice, she did get a couple of baby ones -- I think baby rats -- great, I have a whole family. But she's leaving the big one alone. She's a small cat, but quick and fearless...why she hasn't gotten this one I don't know, but I don't want to wait anymore.
I haven't seen signs of them in the feed room for a few days now, but I have in the center aisle, so that's where I put the zappers. I baited them on Friday and they took the bait last night, so I will turn them on tonight.
I have a kid who will empty them for me...because I would just freak!
|
Member:
Sunny66
|
Posted on Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006 - 10:30 am:
Got my rat!
|
Member:
Frances
|
Posted on Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006 - 11:23 am:
I think we need to see a photo of this monster spreadeagled beneath your boot!
Lynn
|
Member:
Warwick
|
Posted on Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006 - 11:33 am:
Congrats on catching the rat, Aileen!
Another good way to get rid of rats is to have a lazy neighbor! Seriously one of my neighbors has appalling work habits and runs a large boarding facility. Grain left out everywhere, piles of old hay, and the list goes on. No matter what time of day it is, you can see the rats scurrying around her paddocks in amongst the horses. Yikes!
On the up side, rats come from far and wide to live and dine on her property and no immediate neighbors (we all keep our properties in good order) have rodent problems. Eliminates a big chunk of my little barn cat's workload but she's not complaining!
Sue
|
Member:
Sunny66
|
Posted on Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006 - 11:53 am:
LYNN! EWWWWW!!!! I couldn't even clean the trap...one of my boarders had to do it for me...
Sue, messy neighbors, huh...I think the big reason for this rat is that my neighbor - who just moved in last fall - has been doing a LOT of clean up at their place...and I'm getting the "gifts" ... 
|
Member:
Warwick
|
Posted on Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006 - 12:09 pm:
Aileen, my one great fear in life is that she'll sell the place to some normal people and the entire rodent population will start looking for new digs...
|
Member:
Sunny66
|
Posted on Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006 - 12:42 pm:
Sue, just reading your post gives me the willies!!
|
Member:
Bethyg2
|
Posted on Thursday, Oct 12, 2006 - 7:52 pm:
New rat problem in 3 year old barn- I suspect when I got a new horse in recently, that was on sweet feed, that this is when the rats decided to set up housekeeping in my barn. My cat cannot keep up, and neither can the resident barn owl. Because of the cat , owl and hawks, I am afraid to use poison- I was curious as to what a rat zapper is....is it a trap? I considered switching the new horse's food but he is thriving on it. I keep the feed all inside to avoid mold and mice, and my indoor cats stands guard, never had a problem. Even the feed pans go in the tack room at night after being rinsed. I am assuming that the horse's feed, DrOpped from his mouth, has attracted them. Every night they scurry along the rafters, they squeak, terrible.I am afraid they will gnaw into an electric line and cause a fire. Am I dumb to want to find a humane way to trap them? My husband says it isn't possible but I don't know. I take spiders outside rather than kill them, and I feel badly putting out traps that kill....(although today I eradicated a honey bee-Africanized?-nest)I think maybe they are large mice because they have hair on their tails. If anyone has any insight into this dilemma, I'd be glad to hear it.Action must be taken! Eek! -Beth in Fla.
|
Member:
Imogen
|
Posted on Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - 5:09 am:
Get another cat. A serious farm cat... none of your pretty moggies, one with raggy ears and a bit of mistrust of humans that has clearly lived wild, and only feed it just enough to keep it around your barn.
Rats here in Ireland are the worst ever this year, we have a load in the roof of the house that we just poisoned, personally I blame
1) global warming and
2)changes in agricultural policy leading to growing of more maize and fodder beet in the surrounding fields.
G'luck
Imogen
|
Moderator:
DrO
|
Posted on Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - 7:17 am:
That may be Imogen, to the degree that global warming contributes to the increase in food production it will also increase the vermin that live off that increase productivity. I have seen that the mass starvation/immigration experienced by Ireland in the last century is in part attributed to a very cold period that started about mid-19th century and continued well into the latter half of that century. I am sure the rats where adversely impacted also.
DrO
|
Member:
Bethyg2
|
Posted on Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - 10:19 am:
Dear Imogen and Dr. O,
global warming? In my barn? Only kidding, it could be... Poison will not work, as it will kill my lovely owls...and perhaps my tomcat. He has shown a lot more interest in the barn and the rafters lately, and now I have two owls instead of the usual one at this time of year. Maybe I need to let nature take its course.The tomcat has already killed one, a few weeks ago, so this may be the answer.I am feeding him less now so I hope he takes the hint. I don't know why it seems better than traps, maybe traps are actually more humane. This is definitely something I wish I didn't have to deal with, being a wimp at heart.
|
Moderator:
DrO
|
Posted on Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - 10:56 am:
Our lower and much older barn has 6 semi-feral though neutered (with the help of a Have-A-Heart trap) cats and we definitely do not have a rodent problem. Other than keeping all foodstuffs protected, and any DrOpped grain quickly cleaned up, I don't see another fix.
DrO
|
Member:
Warwick
|
Posted on Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - 11:31 am:
Beautiful owl, Beth. There's been a major initiative around here to increase the barn owl population as they became virtually extinct at one point. Happily their numbers have increased dramatically and we now see lots of them. My neighbor's indoor arena has a breeding pair and it's wonderful to see the little owls develop.
Oddly enough she also has a huge problem with rats. Mind you her barn always looks like a bomb has exploded so it's basically a smorgasbord for every rodent in the area. I guess the owls can only eat so much. Lucky for me the rats have no reason to stray further afield although I do keep all hard feed in rat-proof containers and immediately clean up any spills.
|
Member:
Tweeter
|
Posted on Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - 11:55 am:
Sounds like to me you need at least 3 to 4 cats. I have 8 barn cats that are friendly but not overly friendly. They are all spayed and neutered and get rabies shots every three years. The females seem to hunt better than the males which is the feline nature. I have never had 1 rat. My cats actually hunt the field mice because nothing is in the barn. They do eat about 10lbs of dry cat food per week but I figured the minor cost of the cat food is better than the damage and fright of rats running around. Plus its nice to be greeted by meows in the morning when you put the lights on and not rats running for cover!
Kathy
P.S. around here we have at least 3 groups that will actually bring fixed barn cats to your barn and release them. they are feral cats that need shelters (homes).you might check with your local spca.
|
Member:
Mrose
|
Posted on Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - 1:52 pm:
Beth, love your owl! We have screech owls,snowy owls, and another little owl that I'm not sure of, but no barn owls.
We do have barn cats, though, and I highly recommend them for rodents. Our place had mice in both the house and the barn when we first moved here. We also had lots of "chissler" which I think are like a ground squirel. We moved in with 6 cats and aqquired a couple of more. Some of them have died over the years, but the ones we have left along with the wild cats that sneak in the barn for food, keep our place rodent free. I see our cats hunting in our neighbors field now. One of them brings at least one, and sometimes as many as three, little rodents per day to our back door step. (We always tell her how wonderful she is and give her a kitty treat.)
|
Member:
Vickiann
|
Posted on Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - 4:19 pm:
No rodents in my barn, which is open to the elements except for the feed and tack rooms. It is not necessary to clean up spilled grain either. And no cats (I have an indoor cat only), traps or poison. I let nature manage the situation. The snakes, owls, hawks, coyotes and bobcats get them all. They do a pretty good job on the feral cats also.
|
New Member:
Mcbizz
|
Posted on Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - 4:26 pm:
Our Jack Russell Terrier has cleared out every rodent from our feed area. (rats, mice, ground squirrels.) He flushes them out of the hay and kills them immediately, one quick bite, so it's quite "humane." We have good sized Gopher Snakes that like it around the feed area also, probably for that reason. The terrier keeps his distance from the snakes...
|
Member:
Bethyg2
|
Posted on Friday, Oct 13, 2006 - 5:02 pm:
Thanks for all the good advice- I may go with more cats, thought the vet bills are getting up there...another complication: the outdoor tomcat that came with the house, when I took him to get fixed, I found out he has "feline Aids" of all things, so it sort of complicates an already complicated issue....I may move him and put out new healthy ones (tho' he looks fine and fat and sassy.) He's aggressive and will bite other cats- which passes his disease.Can't expose new kittens to this.Traps are sounding better and better.
|
Member:
Sunny66
|
Posted on Sunday, Oct 15, 2006 - 10:27 pm:
Hi Beth,
I think it's ratzappers.com. But you have to keep them clean (ewww!!), and get well stocked on batteries. I'll be going to the pound looking for some cats hopefully this weekend. My girl is an awesome mouser, but I think she needs a little help. She has free reign of the property, I'll be keeping the new cats in the barn.
Good luck!!
|
Member:
Imogen
|
Posted on Tuesday, Oct 17, 2006 - 2:44 pm:
Yeah I agree, Jack Russells are brilliant ratters. I should perhaps have mentioned you do usually need multiple cats if you go for cats - we have 3 for a tiny yard (same arrangement as Dr O, they were strays, except foolishly I have allowed the said neutered semi-feral cats to get too tame and too fat, big mistake!).
The only problem with ones from the pound is you do not know if they knew their mothers long enough to learn from mum how to catch stuff... but the pound staff usually have an idea if they will be good ratting, ask around.
All the best
Imogen
|
Member:
Banthony
|
Posted on Tuesday, Oct 17, 2006 - 3:54 pm:
The best hunter I've ever had was a male neutered cat I found and raised before he even had his eyes open. So he never had a mom to teach him anything about hunting. He was completely self taught. And he was fed a very good diet of Fancy Feast and free choice dry food.
Every neighborhood we moved to he would completely clean out the mole and rodent population.
Go figure.
|
Member:
Sonoita
|
Posted on Tuesday, Oct 17, 2006 - 4:49 pm:
Beth, be careful of the owls they do eat cats they are beautiful though.
Happy Trails,
Wanda
|
|
|
