recent arrival of giant snails to Orchidland

[allensylves]

Our rats here in HPP are picky and only eat Tomcat bait. I prefer the smaller 1/2 oz blocks. The best place I have found to buy it is at Home Depot. I tried 2 or 3 other brands and they were pretty much ignored. I put the blocks out of the rain - a hollow concrete block (tile) on its side is a simple way.

Allen
Finally in HPP

[1voyager1]

quote:

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Originally posted by terracore

Do you have a specific brand name of rat bait you prefer?

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I don't know if alensylves is correct about the preferences of the rats, but I do use the Tomcat brand baits. I ordered a 4# bucket of each bait through Amazon. I still have at least 3/4 of each left. I will continue to re-bait occasionally to see if they're re-infiltrating.

The mongooses prefer the Bromathalin. It is not very effective against them. It is for the rats. The Diphacinone is for the mongooses and the rats. The mongooses will eat the Diphacinone after the Bromathalin is gone. I bait the boxes with both baits at the same time. I do not re-bait until all the bait has been eaten. Seems that you have to force the mongooses to take their medicine.

I also get the iron phosphate through Amazon in a 10# bag. Weather permitting, I spread it around the lot with a hand broadcaster every 2 weeks or so.

I highly recommend using the tamper resistant bait boxes rather than a less secure method. Kids and pets are not very good at recognizing property lines.

[myomy]

When I lived in Brazil, these were a major problem. See:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...nails.html

At night, our ornamental garden might have 50-100 happily munching away.

I found a good ecologically benign way to control them was to fill a spray bottle with a mix of 50/50 ammonia and water. Spray snails with a stream of the solution. Snails sort of 'melt' like having had salt put on them.

[terracore]

So the rats came back and the snails have disappeared. While it could be a coincidence, it appears to be one that keeps repeating.

[shave_ice]

quote:

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Originally posted by terracore

So the rats came back and the snails have disappeared. While it could be a coincidence, it appears to be one that keeps repeating.

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That's an interesting observation terracore. And I'm wondering if there is a connection. My cat used to catch his fair share of rats and I'd see a few snails here and there, but nothing major. Now, they are everywhere and I can't remember the last time my cat got a rat. Additionally, for the past several months, a pair of I'o hawks have been living on my property. One day, I saw them in tree happily ripping apart a rat.