got rats

[terry stewart]

I saw a rat at the barn a few days ago after putting poison out it was gone the next day but still have the rats what kind of poison do I need to use

[RJMAcres]

You need cats, not poison.

[Minelson]

We just had a dog come in today (at the vet where I work) that we are guessing was poisoned with rat poison. It happens A LOT. They don't even have to get into the poison....they can eat the dead mouse or rat that died from poisoning and get poisoned themselves.
So just be very careful with your other critters

[plowjockey]

I't been years, but we used "Tomcat" rat baits, which looked like big chinks of hard fudge.

Did the job.

Now we have 12 cats to feed (and I still see mice).

[farmmom]

Originally Posted by RJMAcres

You need cats, not poison.

Or snakes!

I used One Bite in my attic. It worked quickly. No more rats up there! That was before I got a cat.

[stormwalker]

I have cats- I think you still need poison.
Just make sure other animals can't get in it.
I'm not sure of the spelling, but I use Ramik.

[tinknal]

Just One Bite.


We had a terrible problem and this stuff did them all in within a week.

[Tracy Rimmer]

If you've seen one, you've got fifty. And they breed every couple of months.

Our municipal office hands out free poison -- comes in blocks and I just drop it down in the walls of the barn. Keeps the numbers under control. Little green bricks -- I'm not sure what it's called. It's an anti-coagulant type and works well.

I don't like using poison, but it's better to address a rat problem directly and as harsh and fast as possible.

[meanwhile]

We use Dcon and also Tom Cat. The Tom Cat comes in solid chunks and the DCon is loose grains. We set a tray of each under the crawl space of every Cabin. We never put it at the barn since the cats take care of things up there. It is bad late spring and late fall but otherwise, it stays under control. Good luck.

[Tracy]

Originally Posted by tinknal

Just One Bite.


We had a terrible problem and this stuff did them all in within a week.

Just one bite is the best.

[julieq]

Originally Posted by RJMAcres

You need cats, not poison.

Yep, agree here. When we moved to Southern Idaho a few years ago and put out our plastic trash can full of grain in the barn it wasn't too long until the mice had totally chewed a hole through the bottom! One cat kept coming around, so we started feeding her in the barn. Then she had kittens and we ended up with enough cats that we never lost feed again!

No way we'd feel comfortable putting out poison, even if we didn't have the cats.

[farmergirl]

We never use poison. The big sticky traps work great for rats.

[MO_cows]

We currently have rats tunneling into the chicken house. The tunnels come up near the feeder. We got one so far with an electric trap made by Victor. We have 2 barn cats, one of them even prefers to live in the chicken house, but apparently isn't catching them. Our grand-daddy black snake that was around here for years went on welfare and was eating eggs so DH killed it this summer. Sometimes nature doesn't work FOR you. Poisen will be the last resort, but if it's a choice between having rats and using poisen, we will use it.

[Helena]

You might now see the rats dead as they usually go off and die from eating the poison. It causes them to bleed internally. We have our barn cats and find them with a dead rat or mouse. But, I am sure we still have rats. We will set the poison out in the chicken house after chasing the chickens out for the night and hope the weather isn't too cold for them then..and get the bait that is the granulars and spread peanut butter on paper with the poison...they rats love it !! But, when you have animals and feed you will get critters in the barn..just a fact of country life. Keeping the grain out of pens after the animals finsih with their pan after feeding and trying to keep the grain off the floor helps too. Good Luck ! ( also, we have been known in the past especially when we first had moved to our homestead which was empty for a year or so to use the 22 at night on the rats. Gives the kids good practice shooting..)

[deaconjim]

All of the commercial poisons work the same way, so most any of them will do. Some however, need multiple doses while the best work in only one dose. If you can use it out of the weather, the paper packs work fine, but the solid blocks work best out in the weather. Be sure to put it in some kind of bait station or a location where your other animals can't get to it. If the poison you put out is gone and you're still seeing rats, it's because you had more rats than poison. Continue placing the poison until it is no longer being eaten.

[gobug]

Rat problems require more than cats, poison, and glue boards to solve. They require YOU.

You must:
Find their habitat, and alter it.
Determine where they get their water, and dry it up.
Eliminate their food source.

Then bring out the cats, poison and/or glue boards.

Otherwise, your battles will go on and on. Cats cannot eliminate a healthy rat population.

There is a rodent poison with no secondary poisoning risk (IIRC it is, Quintox, and it is not an anti-coagulant). Owls are the main worry about secondary poisoning.

Dogs and cats are more at risk of eating the bait. They would have to eat many poisoned rodents to get a lethal dose.

Single feed block baits would be my suggestion for bait. The granular baits are often carried away by a single rodent. The block baits must be eaten.The block baits also give a visual indication of rodent activity. You just need to strategically place the "bait stations" and routinely monitor them.

Some block baits have a hole in the center. This allows for it to be nailed in a place where pets or toddlers cant get it. Or the bait can be put on a piece of coat hanger and placed in just about any kind of box with a rodent entry.

[farmmom]

Originally Posted by farmergirl

We never use poison. The big sticky traps work great for rats.

Depends on how big your rats are! I tried these, but the rats were so big they could get back off them. I had to use poison, but it was locked in the attic where nobody else could get to it.

[terry stewart]

I hate useing poison but hate the rats more as for having a black snake it going to be 29 here tonight if I found 1it would be so stiff I could use it as a club thanks

[houndlover]

Coonhounds. Better than cats or poison. Of course, if they're as prey driven as mine, you might end up with one stuck under the floor of the barn... but he got the rat!

[CIW]

We had a neighbor that would get old bread to feed his hogs. Needless to say that attracted the rats.
I took a pie plate and bread that was soaked in anti-freeze and put it under a milk crate. The rats could go in and out of the handle holes. The chickens, dogs and cats couldn't reach the bread. The rats went off down their holes and died. We never found any rats laying around, dead. (By the way I put a cinder block on top of the milk crate.)
As mentioned in a previous post, you also have to get rid of food and water sources. We also raised everything, like wood piles and such, up at least 2 pallets high eliminate places for them to hide.
Rats don't like alot of light. So the best time to shoot them is after dark when they come to the bait station out under the yard light.