[Yolky]

I think we have rats under our very old shed. There look like little holes in the ground under it where they are getting in and we are clearing it right out and I can see large droppings (too big in my opinion for a mouse) we are going to get rid of the shed (too old to be saved now, have done botch up jobs on it quite a bit). Is there anything we should do about the rats when we take it away?

The space will be empty for a while as it will take a few weeks for the new shed to come. Pest control in our area do treat rats but they are shut today so can't ring for advice from them.

Also to prevent further infestations should be put the new shed onto a concerete base or something?

Thank you.

[Porffor]

I'd just poison to be honest.. we had rats arrive after we got our chooks.. a few days of poison going down holes and we no longer have a problem.. close up hte holes after you've put the bait down though.

I was a bit ewww about poisoning at first but as you say you don't want an infestation. Let alone that they can hurt your chooks.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Yep, kill 'em. They are the enemy.

[muntjac]

kill em afore ya move the shed .... save em coming back

[milly8]

we,ve just got some too,they look so cute that i hate to poison them but know i have too,will have to get the poison tomo!!!!

[too many girls]

rats cute? go away..........

[milly8]

well this one is,its clean and looks quite young!!!!!!after all its just trying to eat!!!

[too many girls]

yuk, i could never think of rats being cute, ther orrible.

[SalJ1980]

my brother and I had a pet 'fancy' rat when we were young, she was dead sweet and very clean. We were all really sad when she died of a brain tumour  :cry:

[SalJ1980]

But saying that, I can appreciate that wild rats are not so nice, especially when you've got chooks. I aspire to having chooks someday (and ducks, and goats!   )

[too many girls]

pet rats are no doubt different to the ones we get on the farm, still wouldn't thank you for one tho.............

[Oliveview]

We bought a snap your fingers off rat trap today-  it is already set with a kind of peanut butter (not available here)  so tonight we will be setting it.   Fingers crossed it will get the B***er
Pamela

[Yolky]

Well the shed is gone and even though there were signs of rats in the shed there was no poo or anything under. We have decided to concerete over all the hardcore under there and do it really deep so there is no where for the rats to go when we get the new shed. There is a field not too far from us where horses are kept so I guess the rats could be visitors from there.

[chookiepaula]

we use a 'rat specialist' to deal witht he rats on our farm and poisons them but when we had them in the roof we didnt want to poison as the would hide to die and then smell! He swears by using chocolate in the traps... worked a treat!

[blossom1044]

Use bait, traps and anything you can to get rid of them. Cute they are not Weils disease/ fleas/rabies are a horrible things.

We've bought bait stations and hidden them in "rat run" areas.  We've had one rat attack this year which was stemmed very quickly and nothing when the weather was nice.  though this might change now rain is back.

Re shed - we had same problem few years back.  Removed old shed because too old to keep and it became a rat hotel despite poision & traps.  Replaced shed with Summer house on conrete base.  No returning pest yet.  We also put galvanised wire on the underside of the wooden shed floor and up the sides of shed to stop chewing through wood.  

We don't keep food in there.  All chicken, rabbit and dog food is kept in the house or locked sealed metal bins.  The metal bins all have bait and traps down.

We have also baited and trapped our compost bin and in the roof of our garage.  all our concrete sheds have chemicals in - Jeyes fluid, bleech and so on and I've noticed the rats stay well away from these areas.  I put bleech down our outside drains once a week too.  I also clean our pation once a week too with Jeyes, but that is more to do with cleaning dog wee up.

I've got 129ft of garden to keep rat free which backs on to unmanaged woodland.  This means they love to come to our house for a snack when the weather turns inclement. :twisted: