I have a rodent infestation. They've consumed all the mangoes, guavas, pomegranates, and most of my figs and plums, totaling about 50kg of fruit. They've invaded the garage, garden, and house, and my neighbors are also troubled by their presence. None of the cats I've owned, including my current one, have shown any interest in catching anything, and the dog only shows limited interest.
I've resorted to using poison in various locations, primarily targeting the trees they're attacking. However, I feel uneasy about this method, and not sure about its effectiveness bcos the situation hasn't improved. I've tried using cages, but they've only caught one rodent, which was released in a nearby field, and another suffered a dreadful death trying to escape from the cage.

Does anyone have suggestions for a quick and "humane" way to deal with rodents, or effective deterrents? I reside in a metro area.

* why do want to get rid of these things humanly ?
they are a vermin
they breed multiple times a year
they are disease carriers
they eat anything and everything
You will not win with your thoughts,
you won't win until all the food sources are taken away
you won't win until you use poison
and you definitely won't win if you neighbours do not take the same actions . Mate honestly get on top of the situation asap as they will start eating power cabling in your house, thousands of dollars, potentially causing fires , you will be left with nothing. poison and a ****e ton of it . Keep the animals away for a time . Proactive measures mate . Good luck

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FlySurfer said..
I have a rodent infestation. They've consumed all the mangoes, guavas, pomegranates, and most of my figs and plums, totaling about 50kg of fruit. They've invaded the garage, garden, and house, and my neighbors are also troubled by their presence. None of the cats I've owned, including my current one, have shown any interest in catching anything, and the dog only shows limited interest.
I've resorted to using poison in various locations, primarily targeting the trees they're attacking. However, I feel uneasy about this method, and not sure about its effectiveness bcos the situation hasn't improved. I've tried using cages, but they've only caught one rodent, which was released in a nearby field, and another suffered a dreadful death trying to escape from the cage.

Does anyone have suggestions for a quick and "humane" way to deal with rodents, or effective deterrents? I reside in a metro area.

What are you calling a rodent?

I have a friend who used to catch rats in cages, he would then transfer them into a large plastic bag and fasten it to his cars exhaust pipe. When rats died he would store them in freezer and put them out on bin night. He said it was humane.

Rats are one of God's many creatures, why are they forsaken so?

I just rang my friend to ask him more.

His last straw was when the rats started coming into his house.

The bait he used was apple slices and peanut butter. He would then place the cage in a large plastic bag which he later covered with a hessian bag, as he didn't want to look at the rats. This was then fastened to his exhaust pipe. He then buried the rats in his garden.

I asked if it worked.

He said it did solve the problem and he has 42 little graves in his back yard. But added it was traumatic at times as he would have to take some days off to cope with the process.

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remery said..
Rats are one of God's many creatures, why are they forsaken so?

How old are they?

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sotired said..

remery said..
Rats are one of God's many creatures, why are they forsaken so?

How old are they?

God's embryos inside the the murdered rats were just babies.

Please don't poison them; you'll also kill the native owls and snakes that eat the poisoned rats.

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stamp said..
Please don't poison them; you'll also kill the native owls and snakes that eat the poisoned rats.

This is what I was thinking.
I just discovered a rat in my yard two days ago. Bunnings trap set twice, baited with apple core. Both times he ate the core without getting trapped. Clever little bastard thinks he's my pet now.

?si=O3D-u4sVyFgmVsB4

Great video. Hopefully this is the end of it.

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shi thouse said..

?si=O3D-u4sVyFgmVsB4

10 mins later...


of course it wouldn't be a FlySurfer project without breaking something else getting the PVC pipe out...

$25 filament + 20hrprint + 24hr resin smoothing + 2hr filler + 1hr sanding == :(

Day 1: Rat(s) got 6 almost ripe figs (my figs are amazingly good) and 5 green tomatoes. Ants cleaned up the peanut butter and are presently consume the cat biscuits.
The trap/silver ramp is in the foreground.

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FlySurfer said..

shi thouse said..

?si=O3D-u4sVyFgmVsB4

10 mins later...


of course it wouldn't be a FlySurfer project without breaking something else getting the PVC pipe out...

$25 filament + 20hrprint + 24hr resin smoothing + 2hr filler + 1hr sanding == :(

I give up. What is the second image of and how does it relate to the mouse/rat trap?

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FlySurfer said..
Day 1: Rat(s) got 6 almost ripe figs (my figs are amazingly good) and 5 green tomatoes. Ants cleaned up the peanut butter and are presently consume the cat biscuits.
The trap/silver ramp is in the foreground.

So now your bucket needs to be in a dish with a bit of water to stop the ants, and an airgap between the ramp and the bucket.

I gave up growing tomatoes when the possums figured out how tasty they were and decided to eat a bit out of every tomato.

v2 (no ramp, just polystyrene climbing sheet + flippy lid.

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FormulaNova said..I give up. What is the second image of and how does it relate to the mouse/rat trap?

It's what I broke making the rodent trap...

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FlySurfer said..

FormulaNova said..I give up. What is the second image of and how does it relate to the mouse/rat trap?

It's what I broke making the rodent trap...

Yeah, I sort of got that because that's pretty much what you wrote before, but what are they?

'getting the pipe out'?

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FormulaNova said..
Yeah, I sort of got that because that's pretty much what you wrote before, but what are they?
'getting the pipe out'?

Custom desktop speakers, I make as gifts.
Slightly improved version of these...

Three weeks on and 0 rodents caught, and they've eaten an orange, mandarin, and lemon tree... weirdly they've left the grapefruits alone.
I've laid Ratsaks, blue bait, red bait, pellets... all over the place, and they haven't touched them.
I've cut the trees back from the fence/walls, but they seem to be jumping onto the trees.
So now I am down over 40 hours of work, $250 in poison/traps, and most of my garden produce.

I think it's time to go back to plan A: getting a hunting cat.
Does anyone know where I can get a hunting cat? Should they be female or male, what type? Do I need to restrict their food? How do I know if the cat is good at climbing?
Like I said, I have a cat, but he's Buddhist like all my previous cats, and I haven't seen any neighborhood cats in the past 1-2 years, whereas before I could hear them fight. My guess is the council killed them, and now we have a rat infestation. I don't want my current cat teaching the new one any lazy habbits.

Definitely rats and not possums?

Get Laurie deal with it.

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FormulaNova said..
Definitely rats and not possums?

Or flying foxes/ fruit bats/ winged rats. whatever you call those flying vermin that destroy all tree fruits up here. Maybe not the tomatoes though.

I think its a schooling problem

Here's one I caught last year...


And to make matters worse, now I have seedlings popping up everywhere... I always thought figs grew from cuttings, but turns out rat droppings w/ fig seeds work fine.

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FlySurfer said..
Here's one I caught last year...


And to make matters worse, now I have seedlings popping up everywhere... I always thought figs grew from cuttings, but turns out rat droppings w/ fig seeds work fine.

These traps are great, I have the same cage and sometimes I get up to 4 rats at a time. I use a little bit of peanut butter then press gunnie pig feed into the peanut butter on the trigger.
Rats always seem to follow edges and don't seem to like walking around in the open much so I always put the trap against a wall.
They can be very hesitant and smart when they walk up to an artificial object that could be a trap, so I cover the entrance with some sawdust/dried grass so the trap entrance looks and smells more natural.
I got caught by my kids and wife gassing the rats in a bag behind the car exhaust and I got called a murderer so now I have to drive them into the forest about 5km away and hope they don't come back.

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snoidberg said..

FlySurfer said..
Here's one I caught last year...


And to make matters worse, now I have seedlings popping up everywhere... I always thought figs grew from cuttings, but turns out rat droppings w/ fig seeds work fine.

These traps are great, I have the same cage and sometimes I get up to 4 rats at a time. I use a little bit of peanut butter then press gunnie pig feed into the peanut butter on the trigger.
Rats always seem to follow edges and don't seem to like walking around in the open much so I always put the trap against a wall.
They can be very hesitant and smart when they walk up to an artificial object that could be a trap, so I cover the entrance with some sawdust/dried grass so the trap entrance looks and smells more natural.
I got caught by my kids and wife gassing the rats in a bag behind the car exhaust and I got called a murderer so now I have to drive them into the forest about 5km away and hope they don't come back.

I used to let them go at work. Figured they'd have plenty of company!

I Didnt know you worked in Canberra japie

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Froth Goth said..
I Didnt know you worked in Canberra japie

Very close. Next to the Nambucca tip!

Very hard to trap. You have to persist. I used to release them up on the ocean front dress circle. So many early morning joggers about at 6 am, you have to look inconspicuous until there's a break in traffic before letting them go. Rats are they only known creature that's been tested in the lab that demonstrates meta cognition. ie. they will look at a problem, come up with a solution, and think to themselves " OK, am I thinking this through correctly?" before proceeding.

Treat them humanely if at all possible. Maybe get a few snakes?

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Ian K said..
Treat them humanely if at all possible. Maybe get a few snakes?

Is a humane death carbon monoxide poisoning?

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myscreenname said..

Ian K said..
Treat them humanely if at all possible. Maybe get a few snakes?

Is a humane death carbon monoxide poisoning?

Apparently it's supposed to be. You pass out without even feeling short of breath.
Snakes (& nature in general) are not particularly humane! The awful sounds made by frogs as they're ingested by snakes are testament to this (Can keep croaking for quite some time too.)