Rats- how to get rid of them?

[oliveview01]

We have a rats tunnel going under the patio by the pool I´ve set poison down the hole and I can see it has been taken. We have set a trap too but caught nothing We did have a tunnel coming into our garden (into the hen run) from the olive grove next door so we went and dug up the tunnels and blocked in where it came into the hen bit. We take up the hen food at night and don´t leave anything for the rats/mice to eat.
The neighbours burn their rubbish- they keep it for days on the pile till they are ready to burn it, so that doesn´t help the rat problem.
Would the rat have a nice cosy house under the patio do you think? If I flooded the hole out or used a mole ´smoker out thingy´ do you think that would help move on the rat or would it just send him deeper underground? We can´t dig up the patio, it is re-inforced concrete under it.

[julian]

are you sure that the rat is still there? if the rat poison has gone the rat should have gone with it

[Julie]

Hi

If you have one rat, you probably have a lot, I would advice that you continually put down posion, even after you have killed the family off, if it is were your animals go, best to cut the top off a plastic bottle and put the posion inside, that way the rats can go in for the bait, but not cats or dogs, more rats in the world than people, i hate the things Lol.

[oliveview01]

The poison that I put down the hole yesterday is still there, I can jsut see it if I get to the correct angle! so hopefully the rat has died We have poison in an old chimney tube down where the hens are and that hasn´t been touched for ages. I guess we just need to regularly check the poison set and fingers crossed the buggers stay away

[silver]

There is a plug in device that keep rats..mice away.. some ferreterias have them...sorry cant remember name.

[frank]

¿Ahuyentador de ratas? ¿Ahuyentador ultrasonidos? http://tinyurl.com/dzxqo7

[oliveview01]

We filled in the rats tunnel under the patio- so the next day another was dug going under the driveway So we set a trap again last night- this morning the trap had been sprung and there was an almost dead rat (it looked quite pretty ) almost dead beside the trap- don´t know why the trap didn´t ´trap´ it. Hubby finished off the rat. Hope the rat doesn´t have a big family I wouldn´t mind, we have a Jack Russel that sleeps outside, she´s not caught a thing

[K chameleon]

Give him less food!

[K chameleon]

her

[Julie]

They are very clever they laugh at you

You haven't got a collapsed drain or anything like that, were they are coming from, normally you can control an infestation quite quickly if you find the source, keep up with the posion

[oliveview01]

I´m sure the source is our neighbours plot, they don´t take their rubbish into the town, they don´t have a car. We have said we will take any rubbish when we take ours to the bins, but they say no need! They only burn their rubbish every couple of weeks or so, so there is normally a pile of rubbish before they burn it.
I´ve filled in the other hole and there is no sign of the rat coming back. The other neighbour has around 20 cats- all feral- you would think they would keep the local rat population down.
The first visit we had of the son and his new girlfriend they went down to see the hens and there was a rat eating the hens food:shock: The first rat we had seen, talk about a good first impression We take the hens food up every night now, so no food for the rat at night.
This morning I went to ´unset´the rat trap, I used my toe..... ..... it was a little bit sore

[K chameleon]

I'm not laughing now, found 2 holes in chicken run this morning. Do rats eat eggs? We've got 2 small black feathered hens with feathered feet (their eggs are half size of normal ones), thought they'd stopped laying...
We've got a cat. I will stop feeding it

[Martin Page]

Rats will kill chickens - if hungry enough - and if they can get at them

[Julie]

Yes, rats do eat eggs, not sure they will kill a full grown hen, but definately kill the youngster.

Just keep putting the posion down, eventually you should eradicate the whole family, then just keep on top of the posion, it sounds like you have quite a infestation, shame next doprs are feeding them too
I am ff to renew my traps now don't want any new residents

[Mariposa]

We are very used to rats about the place, in the chicken house, on the roof ,but regularly captured by one of the five cats and laid outside the front door ...Use poison in the back of the chicken house where they don´t go . But re can they kill hens , not sure but today I found one of our 4year old hens dead with no sign of illness so now I am wondering. especially as I shut the door due to the torrential rain... the others seemed to be making a lot of noise so maybe there was a rat lurking. Watch out though , they play at being dead then jump up if you poke them (rats ,not hens)!

[oliveview01]

We have had hens just keel over and die, I think they can have ´heart problems´ and their hearts just stop
Even in the pouring rain the silly hens still go outside and paddle about in the many puddles, I think I might get them wellie boots to wear

Our neighbour had her quails eaten by rats, just over a month ago The quails nesting box was right on the ground and the rats chewed the birds heads off