Collateral Damage

[IANTO]

Slugs and Snails have always been a problem in the Garden and my father used to liberally broadcast slug pellets.

A neighbours dog, apparently took a liking to them, and used to have fits, and froth from the mouth. Eventually it died, and the Vet's Autopsy diagnosed it had been poisoned by Metaldehyde.

We also found a dead badger in the garden, who it appears had feeding on poisoned slugs, or possibly eating the pellets.

This year for the first time, something was digging up and eating the peas and beans as soon as they were planted.

I put down Rat Bait behind a heavy slate slab leaning against the wall, and after a while had no further problems.

Just to be sure, I left a few blocks behind the slab, and one day the slab had been pushed over and the blocks gone.

Put down another three blocks, and that night, they were gone, and the slab again knocked over.

Put down another three blocks, which have not been touched for 6 weeks.

The Gap between the Slab and the wall, was too small for a cat, and I have puzzling, what could be strong enough to push it over.

On reflection I suspect it was a Badger. There was a Hole in the Hedge that was used by something, and from time the sensor light would come on, and we would see a Badger.

Since the last lot of Blocks disappeared, the hole in the hedge has also disappeared, as there is obviously nothing using the track.

Does anyone know, how many Metaldehyde Blocks would be required to poison a Badger?

 

[llamedos]

would be dependant on what they had previously eaten, how much they had eaten and how much they pee, but it is said that 3oz will poison a 30lb dog, given anything would be hungry enough to repeatedly eat it, the answer to the first two reduces the latter.

 

[neilo]

None at all, because it would illegal to do so.

Well done IANTO, that's one less of the uncontrolled vermin (large stripey slugs that is) on the loose.

 

[llamedos]

But they are wild animals, cant control what they eat. I would say it were to be pretty sick and outcast for it to have to select to eat it.

 

[IANTO]

But they are wild animals, cant control what they eat. I would say it were to be pretty sick and outcast for it to have to select to eat it.

I happen to be in the Welsh Assembly Government Trial Vaccination Area, and did stop to speak to a couple of their trained operatives I happened to see on the roadside.

They suggested, that two or three or four blocks would be sufficient, and suggested I should put more down if I knew of any Badger Sets, as it would do a better job than they were authorised to do.

Purely to kill Slugs and Rats of course.

 

[rob1]

Dont think it takes many pellets to do for a may rat as theyre called here. Few years ago i brushed the loose pellets of the tractor and pelleter so they didnt blow off on the road, no more than a handfull but next day i had a call from a walker to say that a badger must have been hit on the road and moved 150mtrs into field but was now unable to move, went tl put it down but no sign of any injury at all put it down to eating pellets

 

[Cowcalf]

Sugar Beet pellets can also have a similar effect to a badger that it has on a horse, thought they would have been tolerable, so one needs to be sure the feed store is secure ?

 

[Princess Pooper]

The 'domestic' pellets have a deterrent in them which is meant to discourage certainly dogs from eating them. Agriucltural ones do not and as they are basically cereal meal then they are palatable to a range of species. They are a pesticide and therefore regulated. At least 2 farms locally have been prosecuted in the last 5 years for not clearing up slug pellet spillages as they were found by dogs which ate them and subsequently died.