Darn Rats!!! Ate my corn patch TWICE!!!!!!

[silkiechicken]

GRRR.. I am ticked. This is the second time I have tried to plant my corn for the year and the darn rats dug out every last seed. You can see the holes where they dug the stuff up!!!

Any good ideas on how to get rid of these rats or mice?

 

[4H kids and mom]

Hmmm...can you put a fence of chicken wire or similar around the corn patch? There are also certain flowers and plants you can place around the area that will repel them.

 

[silkiechicken]

The are is fenced in using a larger wire but it's not going to be feasable to get more chicken wire to wrap that in

I'll try one more time... the only corn I can seem to grow is the 63 day variety (that takes about 80 days in reality), and with global warming, I should still get something if they start growing soon...

Do you think If I put poison under a bucket it would work? Or would I end up poisoning the cat who's not doing her job?

 

[Queen of the Lilliputians]

Totally shooting in the dark here, because Rats are so smart...

Maybe you could lay down cardboard over the seeds until they sprout? It'll help keep the seeds damp and maybe even protect a few. Not sure if the rats would go after the sprouts, though.


I think you need to give your cat a stern talking to about all the starving cats who would just LOVE Rat for lunch!

Good luck. I watched a special on the Discovery Channel about rats. They truly are incredible little creatures. Not sure I'd want to have to outsmart one.

-Meghan

 

[silkiechicken]

That would be alot of cardboard!

As for shoots though. Darned buggers will dig, eat the seed part and end up killing the plant. I don't know what to do!!! I started 80 seeds in the house in little cups that used to hold the tomatoes, but just 80 corn plants! Thats like nothing.

 

[mom'sfolly]

I've heard of a lidded bucket trap, with water that the rats fall into and can't get out of. It might of been here on this forum. I think you bait it with what they like, they fall in, can't climb out and drown. Maybe searching this site will get you something. One of my chicken books also recomended maze box traps, baited with poison. I haven't tried either, and hope I don't have too. I HATE rats. EEEEW!

 

[Freebie]

Quote:
My cat needs a stern talking to as well. It seems she has developed a taste for frogs and has stopped getting the mice and rats and now is on a frog diet.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

If you see her foaming at the mouth, it isn't rabies, lol. Frogs & toads have this "stuff" (for the lack of a scientific term) on their skin that protects them from things that want to eat them. Won't hurt your cat, just makes her look like she is Cujo looking to take a bite out of someone.

 

[Freebie]

Quote:
Hey thanks for the warning. I had no idea about that. I would have freaked out for sure if I had seen that.

 

[chrissieg]

My Dad

used to coat his peas in paraffin and red lead to stop the mice eating them! I suppose the red lead is'nt environmentally friendly, but the paraffin might just work!

One for the mice, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow!!