Keeping vermin at bay - what's the rule

[Lucylou]

I'm here again with another question, you're all such a mine of information 19

Now I'm living in the country & have a brook nearby, I'm concerned that I must be aware of vermin particularly rats. When we moved in there were some old rat/mouse catching things (those black plastic bait boxes) so they obviously had had a problem at one time & I certainly don't want to encourage them to come back.

Its not practical to remove the chooks food & water every night (although arrangements would have to be made if essential) & at present the pellets are fed from an aluminium feeder (the sort with a lid & handle on top) & they have 2 water stations.

How do you all combat this problem? If I suspend the food I would have to buy a different style of feeder I think, as although there is a handle I don't think its suitable to hang up. Is this the obvious thing to do?

 

[chrismahon]

Similar situation to us in the UK Lucylou. We suspended all the feeders and still do, but there is no point in removing the water living next to a brook. The rats will try to reach spilled feed anyway, so you will need to consider trapping and killing any that arrive. We have never used poison.

We used Fen4 snap traps set under ridge tiles but be aware they don't always kill outright. You have to despatch with an air pistol and there is always the danger of trapping a hedgehog.

 

[KittyKat]

I was under the impression that any traps which harmed but didn't kill were illegal and that all live traps had to be checked at certain intervals so that the trapped animals did not die of dehydration.

We don't have a critter problem, but I keep the feeders and drinkers in the run and always make sure to check for vermin when locking up for the night, as well as for any potential entry points.

 

[chrismahon]

The reality with snap traps is a bit different than legally intended KittyKat. They are designed to kill outright, but sometimes the rat isn't in quite the right place and is found during regular inspections to still be alive. It therefore has to be despatched immediately in a legal manner, so not drowned in a bucket apparently. RSPCA successfully prosecuted a man who drowned a trapped grey squirrel on the basis that it's death was inhumane.

The traps and snares that just catch the leg to restrain the animal certainly are illegal.

 

[BabyBantam]

my neighbour has a fixed run (we back onto railway) and had a rat issue. I used to watch them come in via their tunnels and climb up inside the metal feeder and eat their way out again. One funny rat got so fat, he couldnt squeeze out again no idea if he stayed in there all night till he had digested food or found another way out. The food was hooked onto a string in the air at night but they had weldmesh with large holes in, so the rats squeezed through. I think if they had used smaller weldmesh, the rats may not have got in as they dug down about a foot when sinking it into soil against foxes.
I have a run that I move round the garden and sweep up all the overspill as I close up at night, I also take all the food into the house. I have voles I see at dusk mopping up the odd bit on the lawn, but never seen evidence of rats apart from in the compost heap.
Basically, if you can keep the rats out, or clean up the overspill so there is nothing for them to eat you're in fora chance, but you're going to get rats if they smell food - just need to control oppertunity and dig out anything that looks like a run or a nest site so they are de-housed.

 

[dinosaw]

The only way to truly combat rats is to remove their food supply, if you do get a problem you will have to store your feeders out of harms way every night. Buy yourself a galvanised metal bin, weight it so it doesn't blow over and put the feeders and food in that and it should do the job.

 

[Marigold]

I agree with BabyBantam about the size of the Weldmesh. Mine is 1/2" square and nothing can get through it, not even mice, let alone rats, and foxes couldn't chew their way in because the holes are too small to let them get their teeth in, We lined the run floor with Weldmesh as well, and then fastened it to the mesh of the sides all round to a height of about 6", like a mesh box, so nothing can dig in from below either. This was a lot less trouble than digging the mesh into the ground round the sides would have been.
Dinosaw is also correct about removing the food supply, and keeping all food in a galvanised bin. I once kept bird food in a plastic bin in a shed with a wooden floor. A rat ate its way through the floor and then through the bottom of the bin to get at the food. Since then I've used metal bins.
Proper purpose-built rat poison traps from an agricultural store are the safest way to deal with rats in my opinion. They consist of a longish tunnel that the rat has to navigate before getting to the poisoned food, and if sited sensibly this means there's little or no risk to other species, and no risk that poison granules will be spilled where anything else could eat it. Unpleasant, but necessary. It's actually an offence to fail to deal with rats on your property, and half-hearted attempts mean that eventually you're faced with a need to kill more of them than if you had nipped it in the bud.

 

[Lucylou]

Ooer! Hope I don't get any come back then, couldn't deal with a dead rat, probably not a live one either!!

Thanks everyone, good advice.

I have paving slabs around the perimeter of the run but haven't dug down with this run, mainly because it came in wood framed sections so a bit tricky to dig extra wire mesh in exactly the right place. So I'm hoping any unwanted visitors won't dig & then tunnel (would have to tunnel about 18", more in some places). I think I'll invest in a galvanised bin, I have one of those plastic garden stores at present with the food kept inside it in another plastic crate with secure lid but this is obviously not going to stop a determined rat. Prevention better than cure in this case!