Rats Rats Rats Advice Please

[bobtaildisco]

Hi all
I am new on here so please go gentle.
We have a small farm of about 300 acres and this year we are over run with rats.
I am looking at getting my ticket to purchase some stronger poison I see LANTRA do a e learning course "Rodent Control on farms" but at the bottom of the page it says "please note this course is not part of a qualification to be a pest controller" but I am not looking at becoming a pest controller just want to thin our rats out and need the certificate.
Could anyone please advise what to do or who to speak to.
Thanks Rob

 

[Homesy]

Get some cats. I had a serious rat problem when a couple of feral cats turned up. Over a couple of months they decimated the rats. We put a small amount of food out just to keep them around. Hardly see a rat now. Could easily shoot 10 in quarter of an hour with the air rifle before the cats arrived.

 

[bobtaildisco]

Get some cats. I had a serious rat problem when a couple of feral cats turned up. Over a couple of months they decimated the rats. We put a small amount of food out just to keep them around. Hardly see a rat now. Could easily shoot 10 in quarter of an hour with the air rifle before the cats arrived.

We also have a abundance of feral cats this year, we have managed to catch and rehome 6 kittens which leaves us with 3 or 4 cats (which are bound to breed again) I put £60 worth of poison down and it was all gone within about 4 days! Rats looked just as healthy tho!!!

 

[graham99]

find the feed source for the rats , no more rats . remember one grain of wheat will feed a rat for two days .

 

[Kidds]

Stop their access to whatever it is they are eating.
Tidy the place up so they have less hiding places.
Do the course online and buy bait and keep putting it down until they stop taking it.
Haven’t done the course myself but I expect it has some good tips in it.
I use poison blocks and fasten them down so they have to eat them there, otherwise they take them away and just stack them up. Sounds mad but it’s true.
Keep a few cats about the place.

Do all the above and you won’t have a rat problem.

 

[GAM]

All good advice given above, stopping the food source is key... contact a Plummer terrier rat pack look on youtube there is surely one in your area, yet they travel miles for good sport, they will certainly help whilst sorting the problem out, from my experience a good feral cat will take on a smallish rats, yet when they have established and grown on then they struggle, the saying is "cat and mouse" a terrier is what you need!

 

[tr250]

I find fen traps around the yard in tunnels work well. Everything we do we try not to give them hiding places and have a lot less rats but they seem to find more machines to hide in now which is annoying

 

[Gedd]

find the feed source for the rats , no more rats . remember one grain of wheat will feed a rat for two days .

Really

 

[DRC]

Last year we had a problem much worse than normal. The maize was so dry that they were burrowing through the sheet. I think the very dry summer had been good for them breeding in the fields . I paid a professional pest controller who soon had them under control and provided me with all the paper work needed for farm assurance . He now calls every month and we haven’t seen a rat on the place .

 

[GeorgeK]

Do you know where the burrows are? And have an old smokey tractor?

 

[Hfd Cattle]

We also have a abundance of feral cats this year, we have managed to catch and rehome 6 kittens which leaves us with 3 or 4 cats (which are bound to breed again) I put £60 worth of poison down and it was all gone within about 4 days! Rats looked just as healthy tho!!!

Next time you have feral kittens to get rid of pm me . We could do with some . Ours has disappeared ....probably old age and what comes with it

 

[Dry Rot]

Put traps down before the rats arrive. Scouts go out, find food, and lay trails where it is safe for the rest to follow, then the mob moves in.

Get rid of self feeders and feed by hand. Get rid of any other sources of easy food.

I once noticed a few rats but thought I would leave them as I had a terrier with pups. In no time, I was over run! I'd put a line of corn down the yard and fire a shotgun down the line out of the kitchen window! Removing the food source got rid of them when traps and shooting didn't.

Cat protection organisations (RSPCA?) often have feral cats for "rehoming", so I'm told.

 

[czechmate]

We were getting a quite serious rat problem last autumn, then they rapidly disappeared . I like problems that solve themselves but did find myself sometimes wondering what happened. Then we found out; when all the wife’s hens were killed by the now , very hungry, pine Martin. Really had to set to, to make the hen coup pine Martin safe before Re stocking. I wonder if you can buy and release?

 

[Cowcalf]

cats protection often have feral cats that have neutered,and are keen to get them homed but you do have to provide food as they will eliminate the rats

 

[trajan16]

To go the City and Guilds website and find the rodent control course, their qualification permits purchase of rodenticides. Site also lists training centres near to you.

 

[DrWazzock]

At a basic level I find they won't touch blue coloured grain or stuff in sachets. Blocks don't seem that effective either. But the buckets of red coloured grain from Mole works well. I know you are supposed to alternate to avoid resistance issues.

I have also just got two "feral" cats from the rescue centre after our old cat got runover at 17 years old. He was past his best anyway. They are doing a cracking job, but considering they are supposed to be feral it was not long before they persuaded the Mrs to let them into the house and now spend their evenings in front of the fire in the best seats.

 

[neilo]

Hi all
I am new on here so please go gentle.
We have a small farm of about 300 acres and this year we are over run with rats.
I am looking at getting my ticket to purchase some stronger poison I see LANTRA do a e learning course "Rodent Control on farms" but at the bottom of the page it says "please note this course is not part of a qualification to be a pest controller" but I am not looking at becoming a pest controller just want to thin our rats out and need the certificate.
Could anyone please advise what to do or who to speak to.
Thanks Rob

The Lantra online course will give you a certificate to allow you to buy ‘professional’ quantities of poison, which will work out cheaper. If you are Farm Assured, that will also allow you to do the same.

 

[Roy_H]

Do you know anyone with a silenced air rifle equipped with night sights?
Someone like this chap.

 

[Bobthebuilder]

if your having trouble with rats not taking poison mix it with something sweet like sugar or treacle they love sweet stuff

 

[britt]

Fenn traps are better than poison, if you can get a rat into a box to take poison you can get it to stand on the foot plat of a trap, and they only have to do that once !
£6 worth of poison only kills so many rats, a fenn trap can kill hundreds.
If you have cats or small dogs about be very careful about suitable tunnels.
Keep them set all of the time, you will soon find out the places that new invaders run, along walls etc.
I don't even need to check mine as the springer does that, and drags them out into the yard if successful . Too often they have been run over by the time I spot them . That seem to be their life limiting factor.
I rarely use poison and only as a last resort.