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A lot of people we know (all around the island, up in some of the Nat. Habitat areas & such) are all complaining about the amount of rats....
Our house had been a rat habitat before we moved in, but we had nothing, even with a lot of fruit trees until this year...and this has been a year!....
Yesterday we harvested a tall banana bunch, me with one of our giant buckets up above my head to catch the bunch (& limit LFA contact) & DH lopping the stem, as I brought the bunch-in-a-bucket down, a rat started scurrying around the bunch-in-the-bucket....to say I freaked would be a mild interp of the situation, but DH got the rat & situation under ...um...control, however all night I replayed the scenario with the potential of me with the bucket over my head, bunch landing & rat climbing down my arms.....no Sleep for me!
We do have a couple of ratzappers, so if you need to try them, but I would be careful, as small things like chicks could enter...we usually have ours in areas only rats go... and the same with glue traps, they do work, but can work on other critters...
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if you buy peanuts in the 35oz? jar, wide mouth...after enjoying the nuts, of any sort, cut hole (1.25"/1.5") in top, place any kind of bait, if bait has hole in center, put 2 holes either side to accomadate a wire, insert wire (i prefer electrical) with bait strung in the middle, bend wire for non removal on either side, screw wide mouth cap back on, and place any where...if your family pet may try to enjoy some of the bait, hide the bait station under some rocks! just an idea
If you live off grid you should not be poisoning rats.
Poisoned rats become confused and wander out where they are taken by predators such as hawks and owls. The predators then become sick and die. Rats reproduce MUCH more quickly than predators, so the rat population promptly explodes.
Please think multidimensionally about this problem. The quick easy solution (poisoning) is not necessarily sustainable long term. What happens when the predators are all gone?
Traps are messy, but they work.
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You can't fix Samsara.
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Walmart had 3 of the Tomcat bait stations this evening...I picked them up for you guys, if you are looking for that type, if not, no probs
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NOW ITS WAR!
Car wouldn't start. Lifted up the hood and saw the ignition wires were chewed by rats! The car hadn't been ran in awhile and the bait stations have been "feeding" the rats since then. Hopefully the culprit(s) are no longer of this earth. Fortunately the seven daze auto parts store in Pahoa had a set in stock so the car is running again.
Carey: I didn't see this message until our stations came in from Amazon, hopefully you can use them.
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OMG. We are over run. Never saw it this bad.
Trying cubes. Only feeding cats in the AM. Traps. Cutting much vegetation back from house.
Getting rid of anything that makes it appealing for mi casa to be the rat casa.
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So why is it so bad this year?
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I bought a bunch of big bait stations from dels ,the last of them . I also bought traps , electrocution traps 2 of them , and the cage traps , I used the bait bars big yellow ones in the stations . after a week of work they are gone , dead . but it was expensive and work . I still keep all traps and stations set up just in case they decide to make trouble for me again . I can not say what worked the best ,everything I set up worked equally well and quickly . I believe you have to be aggressive in treatment or they can quickly take over . oh I have a west highland white terrier and she also killed quite a few of them . good luck to all of you I sympathize it is like being terrorized when they are wrecking your stuff
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quote:
Originally posted by terracore
So why is it so bad this year?
For me it is because my 4 cats mysteriously disappeared in a 3 month period at the old house.
at this house, there are 2 feral that we know have been neutered so hoping they take over the rat killing business.
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quote:
Originally posted by terracore
So why is it so bad this year?
El Niño, plus the hot molten lava. They are on the move in the jungle! Be grateful they are relatively well fed and friendly. Mine, I'm getting really close to being able to hand feed them surplus cockroaches.
