Pydpiper
Flashlight Enthusiast
Has this been rectified yet? Curious as to what approach you took..
There are rats in my garage.
- Thread starter Navck
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senecaripple
Flashlight Enthusiast
sniper said:Thank you!
you're welcome!
PoliceScannerMan
Flashaholic
Thread of the month!!! What a great read, I read every single post, a rarity for me.
I had rats living behind my dryer in my apartment. They came in through the dryer vent that leads to outside. The little vent thingy was missing. The rats must have been big or they can jump b/c my vent was about 1 foot off the ground!! They came all the way up the vent and chewed a whole in my dryer pipe to get into my apartment.
Luckily i have Chester, a 16 pound Tomcat Ive had for 8 years. About 12 days before I discovered my problem, I noticed Chester sitting in the laundry room with his Big eyes looking to pounce on something. I didnt think anything of it at the time, because Chester is one crazy a$$ cat! I came into the laundry room one night, about 12 days later and opened the Dryer door, WHEW, it smelled like rat pee. Very very potent smelling Urine.
I pulled the dryer out from the wall, very eerie sight. A whole bunch of Crawfish shells behind my Dryer! My apartment was next to a pond, which explained the crawfish. I called maintainenece and they fixed the vent and vaccumed out the tube, it was full of garbage and pine bark nuggetts! I couldnt believe it! But thanks to Chester, the rat(s) never ventured out from behind the dryer.
The apartment complex would not buy me a new dryer, mine was ruined with a pee smell that you wouldnt believe. They said they werent responsible, although I thought they were since there was no vent outside covering the dryer exhaust. So I put my old dryer on my dolly, and took it down to the apartment office, where i left the dryer, on the apartment leasing office doorstep!
I had rats living behind my dryer in my apartment. They came in through the dryer vent that leads to outside. The little vent thingy was missing. The rats must have been big or they can jump b/c my vent was about 1 foot off the ground!! They came all the way up the vent and chewed a whole in my dryer pipe to get into my apartment.
Luckily i have Chester, a 16 pound Tomcat Ive had for 8 years. About 12 days before I discovered my problem, I noticed Chester sitting in the laundry room with his Big eyes looking to pounce on something. I didnt think anything of it at the time, because Chester is one crazy a$$ cat! I came into the laundry room one night, about 12 days later and opened the Dryer door, WHEW, it smelled like rat pee. Very very potent smelling Urine.
I pulled the dryer out from the wall, very eerie sight. A whole bunch of Crawfish shells behind my Dryer! My apartment was next to a pond, which explained the crawfish. I called maintainenece and they fixed the vent and vaccumed out the tube, it was full of garbage and pine bark nuggetts! I couldnt believe it! But thanks to Chester, the rat(s) never ventured out from behind the dryer.
The apartment complex would not buy me a new dryer, mine was ruined with a pee smell that you wouldnt believe. They said they werent responsible, although I thought they were since there was no vent outside covering the dryer exhaust. So I put my old dryer on my dolly, and took it down to the apartment office, where i left the dryer, on the apartment leasing office doorstep!
The Rat Zapper 2000 works well. Caught 4 rats (so far) in a few days. It electrocutes them. Simple, easy, and reliable. No need to handle the dead rat--just invert the trap over a trash can and let it drop out. No need to even look at it (except for half the tail which sticks out of the trap).
Pydpiper
Flashlight Enthusiast
cy said:hey pypiper, did you take out many rats with the old Crossman .22 pellet rifle?
No..
In my business that is a no no.. 
Enjoy that rifle..
TedTheLed
Flashlight Enthusiast
a vote against poison .
many communities around here, as they expand and push further into the wild, are using more and more poisons to control rodents, and this has resulted in more and more poisoning deaths of bobcats, and other lovely exotic creatures..
there are poisons that have a shorter 'half life' than others -- that is, they become ineffective a few days after being ingested. I don't have the name of the poison at the moment, but will post it when I find it, unless PydPiper beats me to it.
even when using this poison it's a better idea to place it underground in the vermin's burrows, then bury it, so that when they die they are not accessible to other animals..
another alternative; a rubber tube that fits over your car's exhaust pipe at one end and attaches to a garden hose at the other end..twenty minutes or so and what ever's down the hole is done...
many communities around here, as they expand and push further into the wild, are using more and more poisons to control rodents, and this has resulted in more and more poisoning deaths of bobcats, and other lovely exotic creatures..
there are poisons that have a shorter 'half life' than others -- that is, they become ineffective a few days after being ingested. I don't have the name of the poison at the moment, but will post it when I find it, unless PydPiper beats me to it.
even when using this poison it's a better idea to place it underground in the vermin's burrows, then bury it, so that when they die they are not accessible to other animals..
another alternative; a rubber tube that fits over your car's exhaust pipe at one end and attaches to a garden hose at the other end..twenty minutes or so and what ever's down the hole is done...
That reminds me of a funny true story on another board. A fellow had a barn built on a concrete slab. Thousands of rats had built a warren of tunnels under the thing--just tons and tons of rats, all over the place. So one day he goes around plugging up all the holes but one. Then he backs up his old diesel John Deere tractor to the barn and runs a pipe from the stack down into the hole. Fires 'er up and keeps it running for half an hour. No more rats! All dead as doornails. But...
Then the warm weather came and the thousands of dead rats under the barn started decomposing. Made a bit of a stink. I think he said his horses wouldn't go into the barn for the rest of the year.
Then the warm weather came and the thousands of dead rats under the barn started decomposing. Made a bit of a stink. I think he said his horses wouldn't go into the barn for the rest of the year.
yuandrew
Flashlight Enthusiast
^I usually think of that solution when it comes to controlling gophers. The carbon monoxide in the exhaust displaces all the oxygen in the burrows and causes them to axphixate (spelling?). However, I have heard from one source that it is illegal in California to fumigate using engine exhaust.
If you do fumigate, I heard it's best to do it early before the gophers have a chance to dig extensive tunnels. Otherwise, fumigation may not be as effective as it has to spread through a larger tunnel system.
If you do fumigate, I heard it's best to do it early before the gophers have a chance to dig extensive tunnels. Otherwise, fumigation may not be as effective as it has to spread through a larger tunnel system.
Mike Painter
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2002
- Messages
- 1,863
Navck said:
A barrel half filled with (soapy) water and a smooth pivoted board with bait suspended over it can be amazingly effective. The rat walks out on the board which dumps it into the water, then resets itself. The soap makes sure they drown a bit faster.
As a kid in high school, I caught 23 mice in one night in a similar trap.
With rats you will have to wait a few days for it to start as they tend to avoid anything new for a while.
TedTheLed
Flashlight Enthusiast
http://www.shermantraps.com/
The Sherman Tradition
The Sherman traps tradition of quality began with the design of the folding trap during Dr. H. B. Sherman's tenure as instructor at N.Y.U. in the 1920's. The traps were brought to Florida when Dr. Sherman became a professor at the University of Florida. Sherman Traps became commercially available in 1955. Their construction and dependability have earned Sherman traps a reputation as the most effective live animal traps available today. Professional mammalogists from Africa to Japan, Israel to South America rely on Sherman traps in their research. They are used to catch a wide variety of small mammals including shrews, voles, mice, rats, chipmunks, flying squirrels and ground squirrels. The most common reported uses are population studies, collection, teaching and ecological or environmental impact studies.
Safe And Effective
Because of their upright spring-released door design, Sherman traps can capture an animal alive roughly one-third larger than many conventional hardware cloth traps.
Durable And Easy To Transport
Sherman traps are constructed of the finest aluminum and/or galvanized steel with stainless steel springs and wires to produce a sturdy device that is available in folding or non-folding models. The unique design of our folding traps enables them to be easily stored and carried in the field. Every Sherman trap is hand-tested before shipping. Traps are usually shipped in our reusable plywood boxes.
Sized For Every Need
A variety of sizes and models are available to accommodate the needs of researchers, field biologists and the common household.
-------------------
The Sherman Tradition
The Sherman traps tradition of quality began with the design of the folding trap during Dr. H. B. Sherman's tenure as instructor at N.Y.U. in the 1920's. The traps were brought to Florida when Dr. Sherman became a professor at the University of Florida. Sherman Traps became commercially available in 1955. Their construction and dependability have earned Sherman traps a reputation as the most effective live animal traps available today. Professional mammalogists from Africa to Japan, Israel to South America rely on Sherman traps in their research. They are used to catch a wide variety of small mammals including shrews, voles, mice, rats, chipmunks, flying squirrels and ground squirrels. The most common reported uses are population studies, collection, teaching and ecological or environmental impact studies.
Safe And Effective
Because of their upright spring-released door design, Sherman traps can capture an animal alive roughly one-third larger than many conventional hardware cloth traps.
Durable And Easy To Transport
Sherman traps are constructed of the finest aluminum and/or galvanized steel with stainless steel springs and wires to produce a sturdy device that is available in folding or non-folding models. The unique design of our folding traps enables them to be easily stored and carried in the field. Every Sherman trap is hand-tested before shipping. Traps are usually shipped in our reusable plywood boxes.
Sized For Every Need
A variety of sizes and models are available to accommodate the needs of researchers, field biologists and the common household.
-------------------
These rat tales (har-har) are amusing.
We had a pair a few months back and a simple trap with some peanut butter got them in 2 days. They didn't like the almond butter but the next morning after I used real peanut butter, got one. Next morning the new trap had the other one.
Closed up any possible opening they had into our house with wire mesh. At this time, I discovered how loose the tolerances these tract homes are built to. The eves had gaps ranging from 1" to 3" and two were large enough to put my hand through.
Also closed up the small gap for the A/C freon piping which was a 1" diameter hole.
Left one opening into the garage where I placed about 6 traps along the walls. Lucky for me I got the rats in the cheap $.99 traps. I hated the thought of throwing out the Rat Snaps which were some $4 each. (I wasn't looking forward to cleaning those traps of the critter anyhow.)
I didn't wnat the woofer to catch them because that would mean a trip to the vet for an exam.
We had a pair a few months back and a simple trap with some peanut butter got them in 2 days. They didn't like the almond butter but the next morning after I used real peanut butter, got one. Next morning the new trap had the other one.
Closed up any possible opening they had into our house with wire mesh. At this time, I discovered how loose the tolerances these tract homes are built to. The eves had gaps ranging from 1" to 3" and two were large enough to put my hand through.
Also closed up the small gap for the A/C freon piping which was a 1" diameter hole.Left one opening into the garage where I placed about 6 traps along the walls. Lucky for me I got the rats in the cheap $.99 traps. I hated the thought of throwing out the Rat Snaps which were some $4 each. (I wasn't looking forward to cleaning those traps of the critter anyhow.)
I didn't wnat the woofer to catch them because that would mean a trip to the vet for an exam.
Mike Painter
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2002
- Messages
- 1,863
senecaripple said:
I thought of an electronic version of that a few weeks ago.
RC car with a video camera or two from X-10 on it. A pellet gun with something to fire it and lined up with one of the cameras.
You could sit at your computer and kill rats. Who needs a $10,000 super fast obsolete next month to kill pixels.
watt4
Enlightened
nice link, ABTOMAT.
Antique Mouse & Rat Trap Gallery
Antique Mouse & Rat Trap Gallery
