RATS....RATS I GOT RATS....

[kydick]

HELLO
the rats have cut a lot of my under hood wires. first noticed my engine heater had not heated the water. after feeding hay the temp hand hadn't moved. got home raised hood saw some wires gnawed in two. fixed my heater wire. put out some rat poison and traps out. didn't catch anything and poison hasn't been ate. fed hay a couple more days. this morning the engine wouldn't turn over. guess they got my solenoid wire last night. anybody got any suggestions how to get rid of rats. fix or replacing the wiring harness wont do any good till the rats are gone. any thoughts or help would be appreciated. thanks

 

[davesl708]

I had the same problem. Found 15 wires and two wire bundles chewed through. Traps with peanut butter and oat meal works. Problem with poison is it is persistent and what eats the rats die as well. Cats help but get eaten also.

I set traps under the vehicle and blocked around it to keep the larger critters out.

 

[Ed of all trades]

5 gal bucket with burnt motor oil in the bottom and a metal rod with a can on it like a roller on it with peanut butter on the can. Will work for mice and rats. Some use water but it will freeze, motor oil won't. Ed

 

[2ndhalf]

To get rid of rats you need to try and eliminate all of their food sources... except the poison your putting out... I also like those glue boards you can put them around the perimeter of your building but if you have an infestation that could get expensive.

I like Ed's idea though.. Ed How much oil about half full?.. guessing that keeps them from just jumping back out of the bucket.

 

[Jimmy Joe]

Glue boards do work well if weather is warm enough, if they don't stay stuck they will not tromp on them again. We had trouble with them at work, caused over $4000.00 damage to our newest forklift. They also damaged others along with our man lift. Poison really took of the ones in the shop but we couldn't use it in the plant.

 

[bm3]

A farmer I used to buy corn from to feed pigs had a rat problem , he caught one alive and poured pine tar all over him then let him go. Rats are very protective of their fur so when the tar rat went through the rat tunnels it ran all the rats out. Farmer said that took care of it

 

[930ck]

Have had good luck using a small live trap and regular rat traps, my problems have been pack rats so leaving the hood up will also help

 

[kydick]

thanks for the suggestions. using the peanut butter on the traps now. was told honeybun in a live trap might work also. also moth balls scattered about. was thinking maybe using an old sock with moth balls in it and laying them on the engine overnight and taking them out when I used the tractor.

 

[CalG]

If you had an air rifle, a flash light and a few late nights over some bait.

Those rats could be a lot of fun shooting!

 

[1MOA]

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