RATS!

**Kaonohi** · March 9th, 2011, 05:26 PM

Yes, rats. Both kinds. Brown Norway rats and gray, smaller Polynesian rats.

When did it start?

We noticed rodent droppings in our ground-level attachment.
We noticed boxes that had been violated and film negatives were taken out and chewed.
We noticed small amounts of rat droppings in our attic.

When our son exclaimed a rat was in his closet, trying to eat its way into the attic, we checked - he was right. We caught it in a Havahart trap and released it in a forested area far from homes.
(We are true wimps, and do not believe in killing anything larger than mosquitoes.)

We are about to change our tactics. In spite of our catch and release on the other side of the mountains, and our 2-cat household, we still have too many rats. We are overwhelmed! We are driven to kill, big time.

We worry about poisons because if our cats or dog eat a poisoned rat.... we worry. Worry, worry worry. We worry about toxicity of rat poop, when we vacuum it up, etc., etc.,etc .

We responsibly compost all our vegetable waste. Guess who eats it? The Havahart traps are empty, cause our rats got smart, and ignore our delicious bait. (No, Mom! It's a monkey trap!) They have tunnels in our compost! We're FEEDING them!!!!!

Before I turn my house and home over to the eXterMiNaToRs.... I want to check in with those who have become my best and most knowledgeable friends... YOU!

CONCERNS:
Fumigation? Dead rats in inaccessible places rotting and smelling.
Poisons? Here, Fido, eat this rat, it's cool (evil cat).
Contamination: When we vacuum up the rat poop, will we die from the
poop decks... uh, poop dust?

Other options: Fire, nukes, midnight target practice with IR goggles, nitrogen tri-iodide.

I'm a bit of a pacifist, so I couldn't do glue traps. I drowned the first rat I caught in a live trap and still have flashbacks....

Are they edible? That might take some of the murder aspect out of it.
YUM! Ratkebobs! (BARF) sorry.....

**Ron Whitfield** · March 9th, 2011, 05:57 PM

Rat tails, the new chicken feet!

**timkona** · March 9th, 2011, 08:28 PM

Coming from a South Kona perspective, where rats are numerous..........

First of all, you better get over the squeemish, pansy, attitude part, or they will take over your house, home, food, refrigerator, and all your pets.

Start with poison blocks in the attic. Your pets won't eat an already dead rat. And if you smell a rotten one, time to clean out the attic. That should make you squeemish a little. Plus, by putting the blocks in the attic, you protect the pets. Also, buy the little black boxes that hold the poison blocks inside. Those work good.

Composting is a big no-no, unless you buy the big, metal compost bin with the locking lid. The plastic ones don't work. Rats love to chew on plastic when there is food on the other side. I like the one that looks like a barrel, with a crank to turn it around. You could make one easy enough.

Rat poop has a disease in it that is bad for humans. I forget the name, but my pal over in Honokaa got it once, and it was not good.

To top it all off, TIS THE SEASON FOR RAT NOOKIE. So there is a lot of them around right now.

Better get real aggressive, real fast. Stick to the program for at least a month or two to see real progress.

**Amati** · March 9th, 2011, 09:39 PM

Gee, I posted yesterday in the thread about termites (which I've had to deal with), and now there is a rat thread. Well, I've had to deal with those, too. We had an old house that got rats in the attic (I think they came in from the tree branches that hung over the roof). We used a "live trap" to catch them, but then had the disagreeable task of what to do with the rats-in-a-cage.

The next time, years later and in a different house, we got a rat in our garage. Once again, we used a live trap. This was because we had cats that I did not want to (1) get caught in a snapping (killing) trap, (2) did not want to chance that a pet would eat poison, and (3) did not want a poisoned rat to crawl off somewhere where I could not reach it and die and then stink.

But nowadays IF I had rats in my attic, where no pets had access, I'd go with snapping traps. Kill the buggers, but not using poison (and then having dying rats crawling between the walls or hiding then stinking as they rot). Set a half dozen traps in the attic, and snap away. Keep resetting the traps for weeks, even when you think the rats are gone.

Also, figure out how they are getting in and eliminate the access. Good luck. [But getting rid of rats will be way less expensive than termites, so consider yourself lucky about that part.]

**Kaonohi** · March 10th, 2011, 12:49 PM

Thanks Tim and Amati. Yes, it is war, and time to shed all tree-hugging - it's them or us.
Since we have attic spaces that are unaccessible, it's snapping traps. And since metal dissolves on the windward side, the end of composting.

I appreciate your good advice.

**anapuni808** · March 10th, 2011, 02:27 PM

in my previous apt., i had an intruder that was a big, fat brown rat. my landlord came over, armed with his snapping traps and his wifes pot roast to use a bait. He then did something I had never thought of before - he fastened some wire (like the thin telephone wire?) to the trap & to the kickstop of my door. when the trap went off, the rat couldn't crawl away because the trap was fastened to the door! i don't know if this trick would work for you but it is a suggestion...................no dead bodies inside your attic or walls that you can't find

**Amati** · March 10th, 2011, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by anapuni808

he fastened some wire (like the thin telephone wire?) to the trap & to the kickstop of my door. when the trap went off, the rat couldn't crawl away because the trap was fastened to the door!

I've also heard of that before. The idea was probably invented by someone who had previously learned the hard way!

**Kaonohi** · March 10th, 2011, 07:06 PM

Originally Posted by anapuni808

in my previous apt., i had an intruder that was a big, fat brown rat. my landlord came over, armed with his snapping traps and his wifes pot roast to use a bait. He then did something I had never thought of before - he fastened some wire (like the thin telephone wire?) to the trap & to the kickstop of my door. when the trap went off, the rat couldn't crawl away because the trap was fastened to the door! i don't know if this trick would work for you but it is a suggestion...................no dead bodies inside your attic or walls that you can't find

It was more poisoned rats I was worried about dying in remote spaces,, but, yes, why chance 'em? Maybe I even can plug 'em in! (NOT!)

Now, for to get the pot roast!