[QUOTE=b54red;357092]I have used the live traps and caught a few but the problem is they learn not to go in them very quickly and I can't keep my dogs out of them. I had a bad problem with some rats last year in the fall and finally bought a good bait station and kept it baited. I placed it near the bottom of my garden near a neighbors old shed where I suspected they had set up house. For the first week I had to re-bait every few days and found a half dozen dead rats around the garden and then only had to replace the bait every week or two then they stopped eating it at all. I think it got them all because I have not seen any damage since the bait stopped being eaten. I have a lot of small dogs so my only option was a good bait station that they couldn't get into and I weighted it down with a heavy rock so it couldn't be turned over and some of the bait spill out. As soon as I see the first sign of any rodent damage I will refill it and put it back out.

Bill[/QUOTE]

Bill, were you worried that your dogs would find the dead rats and try to eat them? We have 4 small dogs. A few years ago our next door neighbor decided to put out poison for the rats. (I was unaware that he did this.) Unfortunately, some of the rats decided to die in OUR yard. I let the dogs out early one morning and went back into the kitchen. Then, through the window I see one of the dogs (15 lb dachshund) with a rat in her mouth, shaking it wildly :panic:. By the time I got out there, she was trying to eat the darn thing! After I got her to drop it I looked around and found several more dead rats in the yard. /puke
That was an exciting morning :twisted:

Lyn

I have five miniature dachshunds and they will pick them up and bring them to the back porch and leave them on the mat for me to find. I have not had a problem with them eating them. They don't even eat the squirrels I shoot sometimes but they will kill them when they hit the ground and fight over the carcass. They are vicious little things and attack a squirrel, possum or cat as a pack.

When I had the poison out for the first two weeks I would go out and check the garden for dead rats and mice first thing in the mornings before the dogs were let out. I have a pit bull mix that may have eaten a few but if she did it didn't bother her.

Bill

Well it/they were back last night. Went out and bought some netting today. Hopefully this will keep them out unless they can climb up/down walls.

In the past I too have used elaborate methods so I could use poison bait, which does work quite well. I would usually put the bait inside a large empty coffee can, cut a hole in the lid, then put some type of crate with rat size opening on top of the coffee can. Then I would place a heavy potted plant on top of the crate. But now, as I said, I have Kitty!

I have too much fun with the air rifle, so I am presently experiencing a rat drought. But they will be back - Here is a recipe for the rats that will not bother the dogs or other wildlife (Disclaimer - I have not personally tried it):

Put 1 cup of Cornmeal, 1 cup of powdered Hersheys chocolate milk mix with 1 cup of plaster of paris in a bowl. Using a whisk, mix the dry mixture up thoroughly. Place the powder in upturned jar lids in the rat infested areas. The theory is the rat will eat the powder, and the plaster will set in the rats gut when it contacts the moisture, killing it. The volume of plaster in the mix is too low to affect anything if the dog gets to it - it will just be pooping gravel for a bit...

Report your results back here if you try it, so we all know whether it works or not...

Kristin, good luck with your netting!

Baja Traveler, I've never heard of your plaster of paris method. I may have to try it out. My husband has used your air rifle method though;).

Lyn

I have always heard that chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

Bill

Bill,

You're right! Forgot about that! If I try it, I'll put the lids on the side of the house that the dogs can't get to behind the gate.

Lyn

[QUOTE=LDx4;357344]Kristin, good luck with your netting!

Baja Traveler, I've never heard of your plaster of paris method. I may have to try it out. My husband has used your air rifle method though;).

Lyn[/QUOTE]

Thanks Lyn. I'm hoping it works and they don't chew through it. Stuff is starting to make me mad and you don't make the pregnant girl mad haha.

Chocolate is poisonous to dogs in quantity (and even deadlier to cats, but they do not taste sweet so are less likely to eat chocolate), but the quantity here is not enough to do anything unless it is one of those teacup breeds. The compound in chocolate that is poisonous is Theobromine (it is even poisonous to us, but we metabolize it faster). Dark chocolate has 2-3 times the theobromine that light milk chocolate has.

Unfortunately, rats have the enzymes like us to metabolize theobromine, so it is not really toxic to them unless its huge quantities.

Hell, I had a Springer Spaniel get up on the kitchen counter once and eat a complete chocolate cake to no effect! Other than sleeping off the bloated stomach that is. Luckily it was all light milk chocolate and not dark or semi...

On a side note, I see cocoa mulch sold in the garden centers now. It also contains theobromine and should not be used in gardens with pets that could chew on it.

I have wood rats here and I want to caution people using poison. Wood rats will store food and move poison. I used to use boxes of blue dyed rat poison in the barn always where pets couldn't reach it. But the rats made a nest and when I tore it up there was sun flower seed from my bird feeding, dog food, cat food and various objects like plastic forks and pencils. If a dog found this stash they would eat it. Hiding the poison does not work. The black plastic rat traps at Lowe's work better for me than the wood traps.

People in town should know that there are people living in rural areas and they don't want the unwanted animals. Not having the heart to kill a pest causes problems for other humans. I have done this myself with an armadillo. I caught it then realized I would be dumping it for someone else to deal with. After that I shot them when I could.

Well, I returned from a vacation Sunday to learn I have a rat problem for the first time. After an interminably slow and late season, I had a good number of beef steak sized tomatoes I thought would be ready or near ready upon my return. What I found was that those that were low hanging to nearly on the ground have been eaten up to the stems, even though they were entirely green. By memory, this was probably around a half dozen, so I can live with it, but, I need to save those that are still ripening! I have a very small dog that does like to run in my tomato beds and she in fact chased a rat out of there yesterday, which is why I believe rodents are my problem. Can't do poison because I can't chance harming Ms. Waffles!

This seems to be happening at night. I'm thinking the trap approach may be my best option, so I'll grab one at lunch today at home depot. I have no love loss for rats, especially tomato eaters, but, practically speaking, how does one deal with a trapped rat to make sure the critter doesn't cause me or anyone else a problem again? Thanks.

Dewayne mater

[QUOTE=Dewayne mater;360182]Well, I returned from a vacation Sunday to learn I have a rat problem for the first time. After an interminably slow and late season, I had a good number of beef steak sized tomatoes I thought would be ready or near ready upon my return. What I found was that those that were low hanging to nearly on the ground have been eaten up to the stems, even though they were entirely green. By memory, this was probably around a half dozen, so I can live with it, but, I need to save those that are still ripening! I have a very small dog that does like to run in my tomato beds and she in fact chased a rat out of there yesterday, which is why I believe rodents are my problem. Can't do poison because I can't chance harming Ms. Waffles!

This seems to be happening at night. I'm thinking the trap approach may be my best option, so I'll grab one at lunch today at home depot. I have no love loss for rats, especially tomato eaters, but, practically speaking, how does one deal with a trapped rat to make sure the critter doesn't cause me or anyone else a problem again? Thanks.

Dewayne mater[/QUOTE]
I drive them away because I live trap using peanut butter as bait. They like it far better than tomatoes. I find an abandoned wooded area away from houses and at least 5 miles away. then just release. (don't tell anyone I did this!):twisted: go out about 2 hours after dark to check, and I bet you will have it. But reset the trap because they seem to be in pairs, I have always caught 2 in a row. Of course if you use the type that snaps and breaks their necks you don't have to drive, I just can't bring myself to do it.
Marsha

Since I have a very small dog, I have to use a trap type that they walk into and can't escape. A neck snapper could seriously injure my little dog. That leaves me having to dump it somewhere else and maybe be someone else's problem or having to play Sweeney Todd. Yikes!

I purchased an expensive but effective trap at Lowes that looks like a small black mailbox and electrocutes the rodent using batteries. It is made by Victor and has good reviews online. I think I paid about $50.00 and it is reusable, claiming to kill 50 rodents on one set of batteries. As with the poison, I place the bated trap inside a crate with holes plenty large enough for Mr. Rat but not my little dog. Then I place a fairly heavy article, like a potted plant on top of the crate.

I have only needed to use it once but it did the job. Big dead rat inside it in the morning.