The Rats Are Real

rnexus

rnexus

Well-known member
I've been dealing with a wood rat infestation in my main storage greenhouse. At least 150 trees partially or completely destroyed so far. Can't see the full extent of the damage yet because most of the trees are inaccessible. Noticed the problem 5 days ago thankfully. In a month I would have nothing left. They dug down below the soil line on some trees, chewing all the bark off the trees. Some only had their tips chewed off. Caught 4 rats as of today.

Ross just posted a video today. It's crazy, he's dealing with a rat problem also.

This is the first time I've had this problem.

My storage greenhouse is out in a field area. I saw a few wood rats in the autumn in that area. I should have known better. Now I do.
 
Ive been fighting a similar deal for a couple months now. But I thought they were voles. I think i'm on the upside with them now. I tried a few different poison baits but the most recent seems to really do the trick JT Eaton peanut butter flavored. They ate in up very quickly, and have virtually disappeared. Got the bait off of Amazon
 
I have so far suppressed my darker side. I use havahart traps. Put some cheese in it. Works well. Drive them far away.
 
I had to forgo the light hearted sentiment after last Fall. We had an enormous Acorn and Beechnut crop. That brought the rodents a running, with the house being the warm dry place on top of the hill. Many decided to come inside, had to discard alot of things. clothing bedding, food. And the worst was the wave of Black Snakes that came looking for the rodents. I had to dispose of 14 from my basement
 
TorontoJoe said:
How cold do you keep the storage greenhouse?
Click to expand...
The inner greenhouse is kept above freezing this year. Have/had too many delicate plants. However the rats have found the green ones very tasty. I have a dual greenhouse setup right now. I am heating the space in between the smaller and larger with propane. It's about a 20" space I'm heating, 140ft long. Works well. It's a messy amateur setup this year but I really like this style so I will probably build something more stable and professional next year.
 
I was going to suggest working cats if you can create a heated space for them to sleep. Around here the humane societies have working cat programs where they offer feral cats to farms and greenhouses so they get a good home even though they're not suitable to be pets.

ontariospca.ca

What you need to know about the Working Cat Program - Ontario SPCA and Humane Society

At the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society, we strive to find each and every animal that comes into our animal centres a safe and loving home. That is where the working cat program comes in. Sometimes community cats end up in our centres and cannot be returned to their original colony site, for...
ontariospca.ca ontariospca.ca

I really like cats. I imagine a half dozen of these could live well and help you with your problem
 
TorontoJoe said:
I was going to suggest working cats if you can create a heated space for them to sleep. Around here the humane societies have working cat programs where they offer feral cats to farms and greenhouses so they get a good home even though they're not suitable to be pets.

ontariospca.ca

What you need to know about the Working Cat Program - Ontario SPCA and Humane Society

At the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society, we strive to find each and every animal that comes into our animal centres a safe and loving home. That is where the working cat program comes in. Sometimes community cats end up in our centres and cannot be returned to their original colony site, for...
ontariospca.ca ontariospca.ca

I really like cats. I imagine a half dozen of these could live well and help you with your problem
Click to expand...
It's a great idea! I really like it. However. We already have a cat. He is the king, the boss, owner of the property and he would go crazy if another cat showed up. I call him Mr. Baby though his real name is Sweet Thing. He doesn't work much anymore though....lol. Used to be a psycho killer of everything smaller than him. Now he's gotten softer and unreliable. He just wants to have fun, not seriously hunt.
 
rnexus said:
It's a great idea! I really like it. However. We already have a cat. He is the king, the boss, owner of the property and he would go crazy if another cat showed up. I call him Mr. Baby though his real name is Sweet Thing. He doesn't work much anymore though....lol. Used to be a psycho killer of everything smaller than him. Now he's gotten softer and unreliable. He just wants to have fun, not seriously hunt.
Click to expand...

Let Mr. Baby retire. It's time to bring in the kitty storm troopers to protect the plants.

Ours is Orion (the hunter). Very snuggley with people. Not at all with rodents. He's true to his name. He gets along with other cats and has many friends in the neighbourhood. Cat's have been the absolute best rodent deterrent I've ever known... and they're adorable :)

IMG_3202.jpg
 
DCallahan said:
I had to forgo the light hearted sentiment after last Fall. We had an enormous Acorn and Beechnut crop. That brought the rodents a running, with the house being the warm dry place on top of the hill. Many decided to come inside, had to discard alot of things. clothing bedding, food. And the worst was the wave of Black Snakes that came looking for the rodents. I had to dispose of 14 from my basement
Click to expand...
Wow, that sounds terrible. Rodents are so destructive. We have a huge problem with squirrels here in our barn and around the property. And mice also like to eat electrical wires in our cars and trucks. Not so fun fact: Many electrical wires in cars are made with soybean products. Yes, the "genius" (or evil) manufacturers of cars decided it was a good idea to build a car out of food....... Japanese were doing it already in the early 90s, Chevrolet not until after 2000s I think.
 
Of all the critters to have to battle, rats have to be one of the worst, and most damaging.
I'm sorry to hear that and hope you get that under control.
Much harder to stop the issue when you aren't out to "do whatever it takes".
Have any used cat litter?....might help some.
 
Reading through this. I would guess
The rats are tearing up the green plants to make a nest between the pots of your figs.
You will find the nest when you pull your trees up of the green house. I finally had to go the good bait route. I tried all the traps. They would not solve the problem.
 
GoodFriendMike said:
Reading through this. I would guess
The rats are tearing up the green plants to make a nest between the pots of your figs.
You will find the nest when you pull your trees up of the green house. I finally had to go the good bait route. I tried all the traps. They would not solve the problem.
Click to expand...
I've had battles with the local rats for years. Berkeley is a special place because the goth girls bring them onto the Berkeley campus as pets. When they graduate or flunk out they certainly don't take their cage full of pet rats with them. They let them go so every other block has a hybrid race of rats that are smart as all heck. Believe It or Not simple bubble gum is a true killer of most rats but won't harm squirrels. Something in the rat digestive track cannot deal with bubble gum but they will eat it. And it will kill them.
 
The problem with traps is that you will rarely get the smart ones. Then the smart ones breed and you get more genius rats (i might be making this up). I only caught the smart (big?) ones once I stopped baiting the havahart and just left it open in the middle of a rat highway.

I definitely tried a lot of humane ways to deal with my situation but I kept losing. Then I tried the 'only lethal to rodents' non-poison options. Those sort of worked but required a commitment to making the stuff regularly (or paying a serious premium) and were less effective in that I still occasionally saw them. I finally got a bait station and a bucket of bait cubes. Now I don't doubt they are around still but I don't see signs of them, aside from empty bait stations.

I'm not sure where they keep coming from but I have never checked my bait station and found it still full. I also usually throw a couple loose bait blocks in the back corners of my small shed (and now probably my tiny greenhouse also). Once a summer I pop into the shed to a fierce smell but that's better than all the chewy things having been shredded and Hanta virus turds everywhere. They haven't found my fig trees yet (knock on wood).
 
I managed to catch 4 wood rats with the havahart traps. Nothing in the traps for 36 hours since the last one and cheese is still there. I know it's not a final solution, but it's probably good enough for this year. I'm going to leave the traps set until I remove the trees from storage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top