Rats

[Racing]

Guys, looked around and didn´t really find a heading that fit so..
Here goes.

I use the PCP´s for rat control. For various reasons we´ve got infested at the shop of mine.
As of this writing tally is up to 63.

I just recently did the jump to night vision, and in fact have set up all 4 of the PCP´s that way. One Yukon, one generic Asian one that uses a screeen, then an ATN Aries and finally a Pard NV008LRF.
That said, got that covered.

At the shop we at first shot many. Reaching 50 was rather easy, after that though it seems they have learned and gotten "gun shy" for lack of better words - why i reach out to you guys as i presume many of you are way more experienced than me on the subject.

I´ve tried to try and get a grasp on their behavior but.. no dice. They can get REAL scarce for a while, then all of a sudden - like once a week to ten days - they´re friggin everywhere.

These days i rarely spend nights at the shop but for various reasons me and an old friend of mine were at the shop last tuesday, and this was one of those days "they´re everywhere".
We had tasks to cater to so i just got to shoot one but peeking out the door to take a P or just walking over to fetch something from the car.. That night i easily saw 30-40 different ones.

Then the night after, about stone dead. Nothing. Not to be found.

When we go after them i normally put bait out. Old buns, pasta and the likes. Seems the more the eadibles smell the more rats - in short.

Trying to understand what runs these creatures though, i´ve tried making some sense out of their behavior.. nope. It´s like it´s all driven by pure chance. What gives?

At that "range" of ours (two spots to be sure of backstop and what have you) there´s an ever so slight background lighting. It´s like they´ve learned that even walking out into that very sparse lighting = death.
True enough, we do shoot them.. i mean. Hello. That´s the whole point, but it seems they´ve taken to that walking into the light CAN be bad and as stated this is anything but "super trooper" floodlight. More like 5 watts a bulb doing its thing, to hand you an idea at least.

We shoot them, we trap them (as in rat traps) but lately as stated.. and i´m trying to make some sort of sense out of what drives them.
Being wild animals i appreciate that they´re oppurtunists.. why logic to me tells they should go after anything that´s easy to stuff into their mouths.
In short i´ve taken them to be very primal animals. Kind of sex, hunger and sleep and that´s it.

We´ve also got mice at the shop, but them don´t really bother me. What i´ve learned though is that when they mice are not to be seen then normally the rats are around and vice versa.

Right now it´s winter up here. Being that time of year we´ve got fairly high temps and no snow at the moment. A month back is was 10 below zero and about 2 feet of the stuff.
That rats "burrow".. sure. On that we´ve got three clear holes in the ground right next to the actual building and these seem to stretch into/under the shop itself.
Then on the backside of the building it seems they´ve nested in the actual wall at one place. In turn there´s a couple of storages out on the lot and they´ve dug burrows there as well, two of them.

When it´s warmer we do NOT see this "once a week let´s go ballistic" while now during winter..

So.
You guys more knowledgeable on the subject than me, any ideas to spare?

[Neil54]

Shooting on the same place for more than few days will make the rats shy. I would suggest once a week after an initial onslaught is best.

Remove all food . Block as many holes as possible. Put bait down in the locations you want to shoot. Bait should not be out in the open but secluded.

[BC312]

Theres a reason you have rats just like anyone else, its a food source. In summer they forage in the fields and woods, in winter they look for warmth food and shelter. Rid the food source, rid the rats and mice. It may not be you that has a food source its could be a neighbour. Even bird tables can attract rats. What type of shop do you have.

[Racing]

Shop of mine, i build tube (valve) amps for instrument use.
Yeah well, service and repair too of course.
But that said since my racing days i´ve got heavy machinery around as well like lathes a bridgeport and so on.
What has evolved is that i work loads on old blackpowder guns too.

No. No "restaurant". Not even a coffee table. Outside though.. we´ve taken an old homeless man under our wings and him and food hygien is so so to be honest, and that at best.
Thus i don´t really have rats IN the shop but very well outside, and all over. Guess the only reason they´d have to dig themselves inside would be warmth.
Then again, as a gigin musician too we rehearse at that place as well. In short it gets VERY loud not only when we rehearse but when i try amplifiers out too.
Guess that has an effect on them as well?

With you guys as far as food source and all that but what is it that about makes them disappear and then once a week say "peek a boo" like nothing before?
What controls that behavior?

[cptman]

Could it be the outdoor drains bringing them out when there’s heavy rain or visa versa.

[rapidresponse1]

thats exactly what i was thinking

[BC312]

Rats can travel quite a distance through drains to certain places from their main scource.

[Born Again]

I keep ducks, chickens and pigs, so rats are guaranteed. This year is the worst ever, I keep track by the empty rimfire ammo boxes.

The pattern I have found is that they dislike coming out at full moon or in very windy weather. Traps have proven useless, they won't go near them after a couple have been caught.

My next effort will be running a pipe from the exhaust of a petrol powered generator into their holes to try to flush some out or kill them underground, I can't use poisons because of our farm cats and many owls / kites / buzzards here.

I don't know why this winter has seen so many rats, possibly because some of the surrounding farms have changed their land use from grass / sheep / cattle to growing corn and barley.

[cringe]

Hi , a few years ago, I converted an old small mackulic chain saw into a sort of leaf blower? no chain saw blade but a 1 inch pipe from exhaust. Would poke it in holes or under sheds etc & see the rats run , but you ideally need a couple of terrier ,s to make this work. regards Al.

[Captain Bongo]

Mice and rats are rarely encountered together. The rats tend to eat the mice. Reactive control as you have found, is not the solution but it is very necessary until the ingress point is found and sealed. They are getting into the property somehow and this is the direction you should be focused in. I would hazard a guess that there is probably a drain fault somewhere that is allowing them access. These can be hard to find (without a proper survey) but usually manifest themselves in the form of rodents tunnelling in from cracks or faults in walls and floors.

[Shedder]

We get them in the garden now and again - at the bird table and under the hen house.
I have noticed that some feed at more or less the same time every day/night.
I have cheap (eg Aldi) cctv cameras in both locations which of course means we can watch them in comfort, but the big plus is that there is constant infra red illumination from the cameras which means they get used to it. That means I can shoot them out of a bedroom window with the IR off on the Pard, so they just don't realise that I have them in my sights. In the past I have been quite sure they could see IR lasers at least.

Although others say they find peanut butter or some other bait is irrestible, I think you have the best chance by baiting them with something they are already used to eating (like hen food or bird food)

As others have said the best ways of controlling them include removing whatever they are feeding on and "blocking up" their harbourage/hiding spots.

I once heard a talk by a pest expert and he said they need 3 things, and if you remove one of them then you can control them - the three things are food, water and harbourage. It is rarely feasible to prevent access to water, so best to focus on the other two.

[angrybear]

It sounds to me like the rats live somewhere else (probably in the sewers) & just visit you every so often to look for food,
it may also be that they are either regularly attracted to your area by something, or on the other hand maybe driven from where they usually live by something else happening, if that makes sense to you.

Rats are very smart & will travel quite a long way to get food, a few years ago when we had snow I spotted one going back & forth and was able to follow it's track for about 150m from my bird feeders, down the lane, through a hedge, across 2 neighbours driveways & under an old shed in the corner of a field.

If you put food out as bait that will continue to attract them, If you want them gone it sounds like a job for the local council although I have no idea how such things work in your Country.

[rapidboy1]

We usually get them in the garden every winter as we have a couple of dozen bird feeders in the trees.

Live capture cage traps work well at night, they won't go into smaller traps, the traps around 8" x 8" x 18" work best.
I need to reposition the traps once a week and changing baits keeps them interested

Shooting them during the day always seems to be better than at night, a bit of winter sun is even better, they sit basking on a good day, on a cold day or at night they are more active and don't hang about.
Peanuts in a metal mesh bird feeder or a tin of dog food with holes punched all over both work well, they have to hang around to work at them.

I know people say to remove the food source but that just moves the problem, they will multiply and be back sooner or later.
As soon as i see them i start feeding them, encourage them to a place where i can shoot and trap them and just keep at them until they are gone.

Shooting from cover is best, they bolt as soon as they see anybody but shoot from a vehicle or building and they hang around longer.
I always position traps so that i can see them from the house, even if i need binoculars to check them, again its better to keep an eye on them without disturbing them.

This is the first year we haven't had any, (i was expecting more than ever because im now feeding birds on the ground as well as in the trees).
We had a stray cat turn up and we gave him a home for about four months, he slept all day and patrolled all night, had to put him down a couple of weeks ago but i haven't seen a rat this winter and that is a first.

[Born Again]

i haven't seen a rat this winter and that is a first.

That's because they're all in my polytunnel

[steveyb]

Shop of mine, i build tube (valve) amps for instrument use.
Yeah well, service and repair too of course.
But that said since my racing days i´ve got heavy machinery around as well like lathes a bridgeport and so on.
What has evolved is that i work loads on old blackpowder guns too.

No. No "restaurant". Not even a coffee table. Outside though.. we´ve taken an old homeless man under our wings and him and food hygien is so so to be honest, and that at best.
Thus i don´t really have rats IN the shop but very well outside, and all over. Guess the only reason they´d have to dig themselves inside would be warmth.
Then again, as a gigin musician too we rehearse at that place as well. In short it gets VERY loud not only when we rehearse but when i try amplifiers out too.
Guess that has an effect on them as well?

With you guys as far as food source and all that but what is it that about makes them disappear and then once a week say "peek a boo" like nothing before?
What controls that behavior?

They might dig your music like a pied Piper?