The sharpshooters are more efficient, the dogs are quick and I guess in the circumstances dogs are quicker as the rats are spooked and running too fast for the shooters. Instant potato flakes kill rats as well as chocolate powder mixed with plaster of paris
these topics can wander all over the place and it doesn't really matter much. Hopefully we have given MF enough info as to how he should handle his problem. As for my possum problem it seem that in the last few days my dog has lost interest in them as I think he has come to realize there is nothing he can do about them. I heard them running across the roof and he didn't bother racing outside to bark at them at 3.00am this morning, fingers crossed
Just up the hill from Woy Woy at Kariong we had an intruder about 6 weeks ago.. Baited, died and started to smell. Unfortunately for us it was in a very hard to get place in the house and interestingly enough my son volunteered to fetch it.
I'll let the image speak for itself, and unfortunately I was too slow to get an image of his legs straddling the timber.....
Hi TheCount and wce, who's going to fix the ceiling?!? This is an ultimate example of why I'd prefer to use a trap!
Btw, I spotted another mouse in the kitchen in the early hours this morning and set a trap with a piece of chocolate held on with caramel. Second time the mouse has succeeded in somehow removing it without setting it off. How?? I even had the tip of the pin teetering right on the edge this time. Might have to buy a more expensive model.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Insurance has covered the issue, thankfully..... He had the offender in a bag in his hands and appeared to rush his return to the man hole, stepped too close to one side of the beam, slipped and just went through. Luckily he straddled the beam so his man vegetables may have been sore for a while but he’s too stubborn to let it show....
The saga ended well enough, except that we had the whole house pained just 6 months ago!
Btw, I spotted another mouse in the kitchen in the early hours this morning and set a trap with a piece of chocolate held on with caramel. Second time the mouse has succeeded in somehow removing it without setting it off. How?? I even had the tip of the pin teetering right on the edge this time. Might have to buy a more expensive model.
Try a 'tougher' bait, that's harder for the rodent to remove from the trigger plate. A pea-sized piece of dried apricot, or half a sultana, has worked well for me. If need be, you can tie these baits on with sewing thread.
Cheers, Gadge
"ODK Mods can explain it to you, but they can't understand it for you..."
"Crazy can be medicated, ignorance can be educated - but there is no cure for stupid..."
Btw, I spotted another mouse in the kitchen in the early hours this morning and set a trap with a piece of chocolate held on with caramel. Second time the mouse has succeeded in somehow removing it without setting it off. How?? I even had the tip of the pin teetering right on the edge this time. Might have to buy a more expensive model.
Try a 'tougher' bait, that's harder for the rodent to remove from the trigger plate. A pea-sized piece of dried apricot, or half a sultana, has worked well for me. If need be, you can tie these baits on with sewing thread.
That works only as long as the mouse don't bring cutting tools besides its teeth. I not surprised how smart some of these little rodents are.
I don't think you to try keeping it as a pet. I remember the sp-called pet grey squirrels that we raised from babies. About a year later the male was sunning on my brother forearm when it got up and proceed to nail him through the web of his hand between the thumb and first finger. My brother didn't kill him but nearly did before he toss him into a cage and took off. He threw the squirrel and cage both out without letting the squirrel out. I had to find where threw he out the cage so I could at least let the squirrel out in to the wild.
Hi all, One story I have heard about mice taking the bait without setting the mouse trap off was by one mouse holding the bait plate up with it's nose while it's conspirator takes the food from the trap.Seeing is believing though.
I had the same problem many years ago when the food would disappear without setting the trap off ,like Gadge mentioned when the food is malleable it's removed without finding a dead mouse,as suggested you can use a tougher bait but I would just use clear sticky tape to hold the bait on and I never had the bait go missing again.
Have got an issue of some mice in my fertiliser shed. Destroyed a few bags to nest under the shelf. Ate 2kg of slug bait which certainly must have sorted out a few of them.
After pulling 300kg worth of bags off of 2 shelves, 3 big mice made a run for it one at a time.
Missed 2 completely and only slightly nicked one with a flying house brick.
My query now is what do you guys reckon is the best way to get rid of them?
The way I see it, my options are:
Regular snap traps – what are everyone’s favourite brand trap
Electrocution trap – sounds fun but I know I would somehow zap myself setting it up
One of those rat ‘humane live trap’ boxes – then the box somehow finds its way into a bucket of water
Baiting (the way I usually do it), anyone know of any extra good rat killer? The last one I bought was pretty average.
One thing I am aware of is the impact on birdlife if I use an anticoagulant bait. All these bird groups say about anticoag baits being bad, but they never actually list the ingredients or the actual individual products that are the issue (aside warfarin which is obvious).
I finally succeeded by putting something that wasn't easily removed from the trigger plate on the cheap wooden snap trap. Peanut butter or chocolate with caramel to stick it down with should help. I didn't even know the trap had worked for a few days afterwards when I found it's decomposing body with a few well fed maggots over it. Gross!
The face on the mouse was a look of terror with it's mouth agape. Felt bad for it as it was quite tenacious.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Hi MF, I will go to bunnings and grab a few traps this afternoon. Will also grab a few wax blocks with a hole in the middle and screw them the the wood shelf to see if there are any nibbles.
I lifted the shelf up about 30cm so I can see any of the mongrels
My memory is sketchy on how exactly I finally did it but I'm pretty sure now I actually resorted to tying the bait down with thread before it finally succeeded. I forget what food stuff I actually put on it.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Baits worked fine for me, people next door have birds and consequently I ended up with a rat problem in my woodshed. They were coming from nextdoor, through the back of my garage and building nests in the woodshed. Not anymore
They absolutely demolished Ratsak Blue wax blocks. I screwed them onto a board and every night for a week they were eating at least 3-5 blocks a night.
Then it slowed. One block was half eaten one night, then another half nibble then nothing.
Found one dead next to the bird bath, then a few days of a distinct stinking areas around agapantus and another shrubby plant area but couldn't find them. One dead near the shed but couldn't find that either. Stink is gone now. Stuck a hose down the hole I found they again dug under the path weeks ago. Filled it to the top and nothing came running out like last time.
Once I saw the dead one, I realised they were just full blown rats not big mice. They moved bloody quick for rats. And jumped 4 foot in the air to avoid my bricks
Bricks you pegged at them or a structure they leapt over? There's YouTube videos on shooting rats as seen through the scope. Also dogs weeding them out of farms and the ensuing squeals of desperation.
Last edited by Mowerfreak; 20/02/2202:52 AM.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
We have to keep rat baits out permanently. I have half a dozen enclosed bait stations around the house and others at outbuildings. I buy bulk blocks from the rural supplier and refresh them regularly.
We live near old mine works, 1850’s to 1880’s era, and whenever there are decent rainfalls rats are flushed out, I presume because old underground works get flooded. I’ve sat up looking for foxes through my thermal on a few occasions and seen processions of rats come up out of disused culverts.
Chickens are a complete magnet for the things too. My neighbours on the western boundary have a coup and if I look through the thermal at night I’ll be guaranteed of seeing rats on the roof and crawling up the sides. I have commercial style outdoor bait stations on that fence line but that’s only a control measure and doesn’t really solve the problem. The rats come from near and far because of the chooks.
Bricks you pegged at them or a structure they leapt over?
Bricks I was throwing MF, despite being a decent size target I usually didn't get close. The one time I did, the thing jumped vertically 4ft in the air when the flying brick was basically about to be on top of it.
Ironbark, there is still an orchard (well whats left of it, the old guy must be 90 now and the family does not look after the trees much) with old sheds and crap about 40 metres away. thats where I reckon most issues come from. Only thing worse would be chickens as you say.
When we had runs of 40 degree days, about 500 cockroaches came out of the verge inspection pit for the road drain. I drove out at night and saw the ground moving under the headlights. Turned the car off, went and mixed some permethrin (fast knockdown) and sprayed around the inspection pit. Then followed up with bifenthrin (long lasting) an hour later. The next day the verge was covered thick with dead cockroaches, followed the line down the fenceline and into next doors.
