Battle lines are drawn

Cobra said:
I'm not surprised TBH, so know you know where its feeding, can you set traps in there safely?
Man made "tunnels" ( bricks / wood) will keep the chickens out of harms way.
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I can set capture traps without bothering the chickens but obviously they have their food troughs / hoppers in there.

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Karen looks after the chickens (nothing to do with me) and she says they tend to eat everything she puts down so there's not food left in the compound when they go into their houses at night.

I guess the trick is to offer something more attractive to ratty than the few grains or pellets he's picking up. I've a load of gravel board I can set a channel up with.

I'll see how free ham offering goes tonight in the greenhouse and if it's taken I'll add the killer trap tomorrow.

In the meantime I'll get some capture traps.
 
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dinners said:
Karen looks after the chickens (nothing to do with me) and she says they tend to eat everything she puts down so there's not food left in the compound when they go into their houses at night.
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Excellent plan, blame the Mrs (y)
dinners said:
I guess the trick is to offer something more attractive to ratty than the few grains or pellets he's picking up. .
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Absolutely (y)

dinners said:
I've a load of gravel board I can set a channel up with..
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About the same width as the trap and just high enough for the trap to operate.
And a couple of feet is plenty long enough too.
or make it a little longer and put 2 traps in back to back.
When you do nail him, leave the traps in place for a few days too,
"justin case" ;)

dinners said:
I'll see how free ham offering goes tonight in the greenhouse and if it's taken I'll add the killer trap tomorrow.
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(y)
 
Battle of wits. I can see how this can be quite addictive :bat:

As for leaving in place afterwards, I will.

I've 2 of the traps you linked me to ordered. When they arrive I'll make a chicken proof wooden tunnel to fit them in end to end and then I've got it for the future.
 
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dinners said:
Battle of wits. I can see how this can be quite addictive :bat:
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It can be bloody frustrating TBH.
The worse problem I find, is the people refusing to stop feeding the (wild) birds,
when I put traps or poison down.

So of course there is a mass of alternate food,
and the Rats are used to feeding ad lib from seeds / bread / cooked chicken carcasses / un eaten dog food....
You get the idea ;)

I've never failed yet, as there is more than one way to skin a cat, or indeed nail a rat :D
 
Pretty sure there will be more than one offender... We kept a baited trap in the loft for a few weeks after the last capture and checked it every day - we wanted rid of the buggers not to starve 'em to death!
 
Nod said:
- we wanted rid of the buggers not to starve 'em to death!
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We are talking about making the "bait" more palatable than their normal food.
Or poison being the only food source.

If they have found a nice little Des res, they will sleep there, but travel
large distances in search of food and a mate.
But remove the local food source and replace it with a palatable one of your choice,
then they still have no reason to travel, but will get caught (or poisoned) quicker than if there was an alternative.
 
dinners said:
I can set capture traps without bothering the chickens but obviously they have their food troughs / hoppers in there.

edit

Karen looks after the chickens (nothing to do with me) and she says they tend to eat everything she puts down so there's not food left in the compound when they go into their houses at night.

I guess the trick is to offer something more attractive to ratty than the few grains or pellets he's picking up. I've a load of gravel board I can set a channel up with.

I'll see how free ham offering goes tonight in the greenhouse and if it's taken I'll add the killer trap tomorrow.

In the meantime I'll get some capture traps.
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Honestly forget the ham, it's too easy to take. Really, try Milky Way, I've never known anything else as effective in a spring trap.

After all this I checked the traps in the garage. Ive left them baited and check regularly as they are guarding the Tvr.
 
Byker28i said:
Honestly forget the ham, it's too easy to take. Really, try Milky Way
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I didn't have a milky way to hand.

Should be somewhere tomorrow where there's a shop so I'll get some and add them to the arsenal (y)
 
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Paddy and Casper cat are doing their bit. I've just liberated this little fella but somehow I don't think he's my nemesis.

Camera Roll-405 by dinners85, on Flickr
 
Where did you get this little fella - or rather where did the cat find him ?
 
wonder how many friends he has lurking around
 
Hundreds at a guess but as long as they stay out in the big wide world and leave your larder alone then they are just good fun for the cat, it's their big cousins that are the problem.
 
camerassassin said:
wonder how many friends he has lurking around
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Never known a mouse in the house.

The Cats have the utility room at night and spend most of the time outside during the day. We live amongst fields and they're always off hunting.

There was one resident mouse under my whisky barrel planter by the bird feeder so it's probably that one.
 
This fell on my head when I was pulling a ceiling down......Just before Xmas......Good knows how long it had been there but I did find two nests
 
All 6 little cubes of tinned ham vanished from inside the greenhouse this morning.
 
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A couple of days of that should get them accustomed to the stuff so let the snuffing commence! TBH, I'm not sure you'll ever win the war against the larger rodents but if you win enough battles, you might be able to negotiate a ceasefire...

We now keep all our bulk bird feed in a galvanised steel dustbin on blocks outside the garage - lid bungied down. Nothing's managed to get into it in over a year.
 
Nod said:
A couple of days of that should get them accustomed to the stuff so let the snuffing commence!
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After a few days of taking the bait - the traps are now set for real.
 
The tension is overwhelming ... we hope :D
 
I'd put another vote for the mk4 fenn - we used to use them in tunnels when i worked at a stone curlew site and they caught loads of rats (as well as mustlidae which were the main target) ... and also my thumb which was bloody painful so i'd also second the 'mind your fingers'
 
Ratty never came into the greenhouse last night.
 
We had a mouse problem for a while - next door neighbours had an infestation and were careless about it, but when they moved out & the nest ran out of food the wretches came to visit us. Humane traps were useless (we caught 1 right at the end) but got 26 over about a week in snap traps. We also sealed up every possibe entry & exit to the outside and have remained mouse-infestation free ever since.
 
No visits for 4 days now.

I'm not sure if I should be pleased or not.

I'm wondering if it/they have just cleared off elsewhere after the removal of the food source.

Either that or one of the cats has done it.
 
Nah, I think it's playing a game with you and prefers different ham :D
 
gramps said:
Nah, I think it's playing a game with you and prefers different ham :D
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It/they aren't even visiting.

There was one hole into the greenhouse which I loosely covered each day only to find it open again the next. Same with one into the chicken pen.

Neither has been disturbed since about Wednesday.

I'll keep the traps out tonight as I like the game but if it's not coming I'm reluctant to offer anything.
 
It's lulling you into a sense of false security :)

You wait - take the traps away and ................................
 
Actually - I've not checked since this morning so better go and check as I've live traps as well as snap traps.
 
dinners said:
Actually - I've not checked since this morning so better go and check as I've live traps as well as snap traps.
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I guess its been reading TP and realised what's in store for it :D

If there in no food source in the local area, it'll wander further a field and set up camp the next time
it finds a decent supply.
 
Cobra said:
I guess its been reading TP and realised what's in store for it :D

If there in no food source in the local area, it'll wander further a field and set up camp the next time
it finds a decent supply.
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Nothing in the traps tonight. Nothing has been back into the greenhouse or the chicken pens. Hopefully it / they have found the grass greener elsewhere.
 
Maybe your neighbors were having similar problems and they have "dispatched" them
 
Nothing in the traps and there's been no return visit to the greenhouse or chicken pen.

Keith W said:
Maybe your neighbors were having similar problems and they have "dispatched" them
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The neighbours are a good hike away but they also have chickens and the same stream runs through their garden so they/it could have moved on.
 
dinners said:
The neighbours are a good hike away but they also have chickens and the same stream runs through their garden so they/it could have moved on.
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I didn't realise that you also had a stream that makes that area doubly attractive, food water and shelter,
they have it made.
Yes there is a good chance now you have taken their food away, they have gone in search of easier pickings.
ie your "neighbours"

I've been killing vermin (Sorry "we" have to call them pests these days :D)
for over 20 years in all sorts of environments, from gardens to sewers and everything in between.
And I have yet to see a so called "Super rat" ;)
 
Cobra said:
I didn't realise that you also had a stream that makes that area doubly attractive, food water and shelter,
they have it made.
Yes there is a good chance now you have taken their food away, they have gone in search of easier pickings.
ie your "neighbours"

I've been killing vermin (Sorry "we" have to call them pests these days :D)
for over 20 years in all sorts of environments, from gardens to sewers and everything in between.
And I have yet to see a so called "Super rat" ;)
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Yep we have a stream.

Over the course of a year It can be anything from a 2 foot wide trickle to a 12 foot wide thundering torrent after snow melt.

It's difficult to describe.

Our 'garden' leads down to woodland. The woodland is still our land and that's where the stream is but we just let the woodland do it's own thing.
 
This talk of super rats has reminded me of something.

I was sat outside a café in a dusty remote village in south central France.

The leanest, meanest toughest looking cat I've ever seen was asleep under the table.

All of a sudden he sprang into life and dived into a nearby bush.

The next 30 seconds or so was like a Tom and Jerry cartoon; howls, screeches, flying twigs and lots of dust.

When the mayhem subsided, this cat trotted out with the biggest rat I've ever seen clamped in its jaws.

It was huuuge.
 
dinners said:
Our 'garden' leads down to woodland. The woodland is still our land and that's where the stream is but we just let the woodland do it's own thing.
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It sounds very nice TBH :thumbs:
 
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