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Wild rats and poison

FudgeTort

Wise Old Thumper
Hi,
My next door neighbours have put up this huge platform of decking in their back garden and since doing this, loads of rats have moved under there, and they have been coming into our garden. We've had to stop feeding the birds.
My dad wants to put poison down, I told him if he ever put poison down I wouldnt let the rabbits out free range.
He said it would be fine because he is going to get a proper box thing, but im doubtful this would be at all safe for my bunnies.

Anyone got any experience with this?
 
i would be worried that the poisen would be scattered around even if it was in a box..

we had a rat in the Autumn ... used a trap to catch it .. felt sorry for the poor thing but it had to go :(
 
Exactly what I said to my dad.
I would rather have the bunnies shut in their shed/run then risk it.

I feel terrible about the poison, I really do, and Im trying to talk him out of it. I think they are now too intelligent to take it anyway.
He did try putting a trap out for them a few weeks back, with no results.
 
wild rats and poison

I had this problem a few years ago:cry:my neighbour was overrun with rats who got into her house via her loft and then into mine where they managed to get under the floorboards in my bedroom:shock:chewing all night long so no sleep for me:censored:
I put a humane trap down and caught loads (in one evening i got six) i let these go into the field at the bottom of my garden but they "homed":roll:terrified that they would get into my bunnies shed i had to do something drastic so after consulting the farmer who supplies my bunny hay/food etc. i went down the poison root:cry:
I really did not want to do this BUt my bunnies had to come first:)i had already tried to get
my neighbour to do this but she had refused:censored:
So i put down poison:cry:i made sure it was put into the boxes supplied by a pest controller who placed it where it would be out of reach of my buns/cats:cry:
I hated doing this but felt i had no choice:cry:I must admit when i saw the first dead one i cried:cry:it was a horrible thing to have to do :shock:
It did get rid of the poor rats who were only trying to survive :cry:and my neighbour,s son came round and sorted her house out so they never came back:)as i wouldn,t want to have to do that again:cry:
 
The problem with poison is that it then enters the food chain as well, so any owl e.g. feeding on a poisoned rat is also going to be poisoned etc etc.
 
I am the same over rats and I don't have the guts to hurt one. I even move a slug out of the way and cannot step on it. We got moles and when my kitty Melah caught one and brought it to me, I took it way way down the road and left it go in a field. I would be really concerned about the poison also. It is a shame that the "pied piper" is too busy to come and lead them away.
 
The problem with poison is that it then enters the food chain as well, so any owl e.g. feeding on a poisoned rat is also going to be poisoned etc etc.

I just thought this was important enough to need repeating. If you're going to kill them use traps. It's horrible but it's quick most of the time. :(
 
I dont want to kill them at all, I dont think the rats have done anything wrong to deserve that, and I would worry about killing off mothers to kits that havent been weaned.
but its not my choice unfortunately, all I can do is make sure that my bunnies are safe.

Im going to try and persuade him not to put any poison down at all, I'll make him read this post.
 
I dont want to kill them at all, I dont think the rats have done anything wrong to deserve that, and I would worry about killing off mothers to kits that havent been weaned.
but its not my choice unfortunately, all I can do is make sure that my bunnies are safe.

Im going to try and persuade him not to put any poison down at all, I'll make him read this post.

I completely agree with you. I actually love rats but sometimes there is nothing you can do. Just do your best. :)
 
See if you can get sonic rodent repellers to at least keep them out of your house - a charity shop I used to volunteer for had a problem with mice in the store room, but once getting one they never saw any sign of the mice at all, so those do work. I don't know if you can get them for the garden though :?
 
Might that bother the rabbits though? Never used them so I don't know but it's just a thought.
 
Might that bother the rabbits though? Never used them so I don't know but it's just a thought.

Well there a several different ones out there so you'd have to check the packaging. The ones we have here said on the back it affects animals with a rodent based nervous system so it had to be kept away from guiena pigs and small rodent pets. It didnt mention rabbits at all, since they are lagomorphs I always assumed it wouldn't affect them :?

I'll see if I can find the ones we have online somewhere and post a link.
 
Humane poison?

We have a rat or two - he was jumping over the snow helping himself to the bird food. They live cose to my rabbit 'aviary' but can't get in to the actual rabbits.
I would leave them alone but I know if my neighbours see them there will be trouble and I would have to give up feeding the birds.
So
is there such a thing as humane poison? I have put poison down before but I read somewhere it takes hours of agony to die:cry::cry: How do I get rid of them without their suffering horribly?
 
We have a rat or two - he was jumping over the snow helping himself to the bird food. They live cose to my rabbit 'aviary' but can't get in to the actual rabbits.
I would leave them alone but I know if my neighbours see them there will be trouble and I would have to give up feeding the birds.
So
is there such a thing as humane poison? I have put poison down before but I read somewhere it takes hours of agony to die:cry::cry: How do I get rid of them without their suffering horribly?

As I said, if it was up to me I would leave them, they can't get into their accomodation so long as I make sure I keep it clean and tidy.

As far as I know, there is no such thing as humane poison,
This might be outdated, I dont know, but they give rats warfarin (sp?) which stops the blood from clotting, in this case, if they injure themselves slightly, they will just bleed to death.
Not sure what other types there are, or what is commonly used now.
You can get humane traps for them, but you have to release them miles and miles from your house otherwise they will just come back.
 
I have just moved before Christmas and our builder found a mouse this morning. I thought there might be as we have removed 20 horrible mouse traps. Would this repel mice but be safe for my 2 house mini lops?

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I think the spring-loaded rat traps are far more humane than poison. Yes, they're still not nice (says she who has in the past used 'humane' live catch rat traps with success) but the rat will at least be killed instantly. Poisoning is a horrible way to die slowly and, as others have said, foxes or cats could try to eat the dead or dying rat and ingest poison themselves.

You need to leave any new object i.e. a trap, out for several weeks before the rats will go anywhere near it. They are very intelligent and will steadfastly avoid anything new until they're sure of it. Make sure it's put up against the 'rat run' - usually up against the wall/fence - so that they have to go right past it to continue on their journey. Use something like peanut butter or chocolate as bait.

RIP little ratties.
 
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