Rats eating my car.

[Ricard with an H]

I declared war on Roland-Rat, previously my lovely-lady showed a lot of concern when she saw a rat. I had to remind her we live in a farming community and rats are everywhere even though you don't see them.

She didn't like the idea of me trapping or poisoning them and view has always been that if they don't bother me i'll not bother them. The fact that we feed birds in a big way has been questioned, she insists we feed the birds.

The story is that a rat settled in my car and chewed wiring and pipes to the point the turbo failed and our garage had to take half the front of the car off to sort the problem out.

£260 in mostly labour costs and i'm at war with Roland-Rat, the farmers Co-operative sold me some bait blocks I have never seen before. They have a hole through the middle so you can tie them down or nail them to something before you cover the bait. Excellent, after only one night of war four out five baits have been eaten and i'm confident that no other animal can get to the bait which is mostly inside two inch mini rainwater pipe and tied in place so it doesn't wander.

Presumably i'll need to keep bait stations baited at all times due the prolific breeding habits of the rat.

The bait blocks I bough are only available in tubs of almost two kilos total weight for £20, that should keep them in check for the next year or two.

I'm fairly close to a tree-hugger and a peaceful man, with three vehicles in the drive and thankfully only a handful of similar stories I need to protect my wallet.

Moles next.

[alan refail]

Richard

I assume this is what you're using.

viewtopic.php?p=94090#p94090

[Ricard with an H]

Yes it is, oh-dear. perhaps I should have added to that thread rather than start a new one.

Ah-well, it is anout eating cars. Glad to see you had a success and yes, they love it.

[vegpatchmum]

Hi Richard,

Personally I would only keep the bait stations baited while ever there is evidence of significant quantities of bait being eaten. That way you reduce the chance of accidentally poisoning of 'innocent' wildlife.

If after a while only 'nibbles' are taken then I think you should assume that the rats have been dealt with for now, something else is now potentially nibbling away at the bait and then only re-bait if you find evidence that a new colony has taken up residence.

Good luck in your war with ratty

Vpm
x

[Ricard with an H]

Thanks VPM.

Yes, I get your point though just to make it clear there isn't any way any other wildlife will get at the bait. Each bait block is inside a two inch diameter pipe about 18 inches long with the bait fitted and tied in the middle.

Another version is a tube made from fine wire mess and another is length of four inch pipe but I abandoned that just in case birds like robin might go up it.

In another case I lowered a bait block nailed to a chunk of wood down into a rat-hole then covered that with a roofing ridge tile thats far to heavy to be moved by even a big dog.

[vegpatchmum]

Lol - I wouldn't want to be a rat around your place

Seriously though, they are a nightmare to get rid off once they have established themselves and they aren't afraid of people either. We had some a few years back and I swear they enjoyed taunting us not only from a distance but from just a few feet away as well! I really don't envy you your battle. Good luck.

VPM
x

[peter]

Patience, food in the open and an air rifle are another way of avoiding non-rat casualties.

BTW is your car a Ford?


Food Our Rats Devour.

[Ricard with an H]

BTW is your car a Ford?
Food Our Rats Devour.

Cheeky.

Ford escort and Ford Focus have a positive history with me. No, it's a VW Beetle. (New shape)

I really do think we shot ourselves in the foot by feeding birds and we feed birds big-time. Two large seed feeders, 1 large and one medium nut feeder plus fat-balls and coconut halves. At any one time there is lots of spillage but zero waste, birds feeding off the ground mop most of it up but it's inevitable we're attracting rats.

Mostly the rat lives in the Pembrokeshire banks, made up of mostly stones with earth the rat easily makes itself a network of caves.

Because the water table is so high Mr Mole has also taken to the banks and the little devils are in my raised beds. I found out from you-lot after I had filled the raised bed that I should have lined them with Ex-Met.

I'm learning.

[Colin Miles]

We use Sunflower hearts and Peanuts to avoid any mess. Niger seeds were always a problem as they collected everywhere.

[Ricard with an H]

We use Sunflower hearts and Peanuts to avoid any mess.

Thats interesting, we have a site where we only feed peanuts and the only mess is bird-poo. Where we feed the mixed seed the little rascals throw-out more than they eat though the bigger birds do tend to eat most of the seed on the ground.

I have eight bait stations of which only three are active, I would have put money on rats in my wood store. These are covered all around so the wood can dry but get plenty of air, I always imagined rats living in the wood stores but those bait stations haven't been touched. Same with a bait station by the compost bin that has signs of burying. Must be a mole then ?

[Monika]

We do it very similar to Colin: just feed sunflower hearts and home-made fat blocks. These two produce only a very minimal amount of mess on the ground (mainly when the great spotted woodpecker hacks into the fat!) so neither rats nor the winged variety find anything to eat.