rats

[Johnboy]

Hi Bodger,
The EraDi range of products work in an entirely different way to the usual poisons. I have used them and had pretty good results.
They are not poisonous to anything other than a rodent. They actually mummify rodents with the ingredients working on the digestive system of the rodent and are cellulose based.
At present I am using EraDiRat to protect stored Wheat and Barley and as far as I can tell very successfully.
JB.

[Bodger]

Dependant on how you are storing your grain, I'd say a liquid form of which ever poison you're using would work best. I once had to sort an infestation out in a warehouse where the rats were feeding on Hula Hoops and lots of other goodies. They turned there nose up at my offerings of poison on wheat and left me stumped. I ended up draining all the water from the building and leaving them some purpose bought water dispeners with liquid poison. The poison was the same formula as that put on commercial grain bought bait.

[Johnboy]

Hi Bodger,
Thanks for the information.
Have a quick shufti at this:

http://www.trapman.co.uk/eradirat.htm

JB.

[Bodger]

If it does what it says, then thats fine. It still takes one heck of a time for one and a half pund of rat to mumify.
I currently pay just over fifty pounds for a 25kg bag of conventional poison.
As I said, scatter bags are not the best way of putting poison out. There's a lot of wastage.

[Elderflower]

I spotted a rat on our back garden on Wednesday, eating the seed that had fallen from the bird feeders. Then it scurried under the shed. I phoned the council and they sent a person round the very next morning. I was worried that he`d say that I had to get rid of my chickens but he was satisfied with how they were kept. I take the feeder in every night and never scatter food willy nilly. Their food`s stored in the pantry in the kitchen so that`s not accessible. He checked the compost bins and there were no signs of burrows or droppings in them. Phew! He set a bait box and gave me loads of advice about making sure there was as little food for ratty as possible so they`d eat his bait. He`s going to come every week to check and restock the box until it`s been untouched for two weeks. The bird feeders have been taken down and I`ll do a regular poo-pick to deny them as many dog or chicken droppings as I can.
The service was free and the man was really kind and reassuring.
Fingers crossed!

[Smurfy]

Hi Elderflower. That's a really good service you got. We have a bit of a problem with rats as there are a number of overgrown gardens near us which people come and dump stuff on including food waste. The council people i think are so fed up with it that they offer no advice at all which is quite frustrating.

Hope your rats soon dissapear

[bottomleypots]

When the cold snap hit us recently, I went to feed my chickens and was amazed to see about 30-40 rats star burst from the food trough.
I had been trapping about 1 a week for a few months and didnt expect this many.
Having watched a recent Countryfile programme about rats they said that a fit full grown female rat could produce up to 2000 offspring in a year, so enough was enough for me and I placed the bag baits down the holes and in the wall and it seems to have done the trick. They took about 8 bags and Ive come across a few dead ones on the surface and havent seen one since. No bait is being taken now, so hopefully theve been wiped out.
I think the timing of the snowy frosty weather was perfect to bait them as they were very hungry.
No surprise my hens dont seem to be eating half as much food these days....

[bottomleypots]

Bloody Hell-They are back!! -after 2 weeks of no digging eating or scratching I found a fresh tunnel into my green house, and fresh droppings. Back to the bait!!!!

[Elaine]

Ello Bodger. Thanks for that fascinating information. We don't have chickens but we do have rats on our allotment site which have become more pronounced since the flooding in 2007. I regularly find tunnels in my compost bins. Don't suppose you can help with my red spider mite problem????? cheers, Elaine.

[Compo]

I had to put 2-3 kilos of bait down before they stopped taking it, they feed off the neighbours pigeon loft, as he lets the feed fall through their loft and does not clean it out. The rats have stopped feeding for now, but I can guarantee they will be back. It is a constant battle but worth it.

CoMpO