New guy, with Rat problem

[Frank Zwolinski]

Hello,

I live in a moderately large city and have a very small yard. I feed a few squirrels daily but have noticed several rats joining in. I really do not want the guys to get inside the house, bite someone or chase off the squirrels. And I have no intention in catching the rats and trying to find a place for them; I want to kill them. I love most animals but draw the line on mice and rats. Is there a safe way to kill off the rats without harming the squirrels?

I am sorry to offend other animal lovers but this is getting serious for us. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Frank

[Chirps]

Hi. You do realize that anything you try to do to the rats may also kill the squirrels? There are some crazy effective traps out there but bear in mind they WILL kill your squirrels too. Poison isn't legal in a lot of places and is a slow, agonizing death, for the rat or the SQUIRREL. Not to mention the unlucky predator who gets an easy meal only to learn (also in an agonizing way) why it was so easy. I do understand that rats just don't appeal to a lot of people, but bear in mind you've always had rats and always will. It's just a fact of living in a city. The rats were there long before you and will be there long after.

A question or two first: Have you only started seeing the rats since you've been feeding the squirrels? How much food do you put out? What kind? Is it on the ground? How long before it is consumed? Are the rats bold enough that they're joining in right in front of you, in daylight?

The only thing I can suggest is to cut way back on what you're giving, only put it out when you can be there to shoo the rats away, only put out what the squirrels will eat in several minutes, or stop feeding altogether for a couple of weeks until the rats go elsewhere, then when you start up again do the aforementioned. And put it on a dedicated table or some kind of feeder above the ground. You might get away with the rats not figuring out that you've started feeding squirrels again if it's not where they'll find it easily.

Please keep us posted.

[Frank Zwolinski]

In answer to your questions: The rats have been around for a while and were getting into the house from the roof. We have stopped them from getting in and disposed of the =bodies.

Today I saw a rat running around on one of the decks (in daylight), looking for who knows what. I usually feed the squirrels once a day on another deck outside of the back door, using only a small handful of peanuts in the shell and clean up when they are finished, never leaving food out all night. It is usually a fight between the BlueJays and the Squirrels to see who gets the peanuts first.

I am aware that the squirrels could get into poison and I do not want that to happen, that is why I posted here.

I am still hopeful to find a safe solution.

Thanks for answering,
Frank

[Chirps]

Ah, okay, well you're already doing everything you could be doing re. food and not attracting them that way. Sorry, I got nothing.

[Mel1959]

I know your pain. We too have a huge rat population. I know you say you aren’t interested in relocating them, and I get it. Maybe you can find a humane way to euthanize them if you catch them in a havahart trap. We have caught more than 25 this way, but because I haven’t figured out a way to kindly kill them we relocate to areas where they are away from houses. Some parks around me have feral cat colonies which is ideal.

The trick to trapping the rats and not the squirrels is placing the traps at night, but also what you use as bait. Bacon is suppose to be the number one choice as bait for rats. Cheese also works. Both of these foods are not desirable to squirrels so they tend to not enter the traps. There are also havahart traps that are too small for a squirrel to enter. I would never use slap traps or glue traps. They are too indiscriminate.

I am overwhelmingly against poison. With that said I will share my situation which I have limited control over. I live in a neighborhood with houses spaced about 25 ft apart. Because of the rat population my neighbor called an exterminator and had the black boxes of rat poison placed around his house....including the side yard which adjoins my yard where I raise and release squirrels. When I saw the exterminator out there checking them I expressed my concern about squirrels entering the boxes. She said they are designed with a turn inside the box that doesn’t allow a squirrel to access the poison. I was.... and am ....skeptical, but I have monitored the box that is beside my yard and have never once seen a squirrel show any interest in it. I have done a few things to discourage any squirrel interest though, like pour motor oil at the entrances, but it might discourage rats, too. Who knows. Anyway, when the boxes went out I vowed to keep my yard squirrels well fed in the hopes they wouldn’t be interested in anything inside the black boxes. I have also spoken with other licensed exterminators and in my state there are strict regulations that pertain to licensed exterminators and the use of rodenticides that kill non-targeted animals. They are fined heavily or can lose their license if this isn’t followed.

Our rat population has definitely diminished. I don’t condone the use of poison and I don’t necessarily trust what they are telling me, but I also have seen no evidence of harm to any of my squirrels. I only know what I’ve witnessed with the large black boxes that licensed exterminators use, nothing else.