Rats, using cement or plaster of paris

[greenporter]

We have chickens and ducks -- and rats. Until it got cold in December, I was setting snap traps and eliminated 60 of them over a couple months. They also wised up and we were unsuccessful with the traps since then. That 60 was like the tip of the iceberg and the population has really exploded the past couple months as the weather moderated.

I read on a few threads here and elsewhere about feeding the rodents cement laced foods -- cement with sugar, corn meal, peanut butter, etc. So I started that one week ago, initially a 33% (by weight) mix of cement with sugar and pulverized feed. I added a separate 50% cement/peanut butter mix yesterday. They cleaned out every night's serving, licked the bowls clean.

By my calculation, the rats have consumed close to 600 grams of cement mixed into about 1.6Kg food. Do you think I am killing or feeding these pest? Stay or change course?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[eggbert420]

Get some cats.

 

[greenporter]

Got cats, done that. They just climb up and out of the pen -- either bored or scared.

 

[Millworker26]

Well, MSDS for cement puts the LD50 (amount to kill 50% of rats dosed) at 2000mg/kg. If a rat weighs 0.5kg then you would need to feed each rat 1000mg of cement to kill 5 out of 10 rats. Since you have put out 600,000 mg there would need to be more than 600 rats eating the cement to bee less than the LD50.So. my guess is you are killing some rats. Check my math though.

 

[greenporter]

@Millworker26 ... that is a solid way to look at it, thank you very much. But the LD50 for rats I see here http://www.askdsw.com/Data/ProductsMSDS/HAR-READYMIX.pdf is 180 mg/kg.

So, using the .5 kg per rat average, doesn't that yield LD50 for 6667 rats (rounded up)? Either way, 600 or 10x that, they should all be dead by now. Right?

 

[Birdinhand]

following... I would really like to know if this works. when I read the post the first thing that came to mind was cement boots, then I figured you were putting in a slab to deter rats. I have not heard of trying to feed them cement. I use snap traps. I read up on some exterminator sites that you kind of have to go all out, set lots of trasp, like 20-30 if you have a big problem and once they can identify the traps then you stop adding food and place them more like snares, moving them around to where they come out in the open, where they typically dart indescriminantly from one place of cover to another, it is here where they are more likely to run over the trigger and get caught. look for places where they have rubbed fur and musky dander, they kind of mark their territory, at least they leave a bit of a trail where they frequent once you know what to look for. I place the traps facing a wall, they tend to run along walls to reduce exposure to predators. you probably already do this, but make sure there is no stored food where they can get to it, keep it all in metal cans. best to take up the feeders at night and let them get hungry for what is in the traps. we had big problems with rats on the farm I grew up on and one of my friends ended up with hundreds of them in the walls of her house from her coop, it was a nightmare. you have to be very persistent. unfortunately, even if you resort to poison, it's not all that effective and it's hard on wildlife and or pets that eats the rodents.

 

[eagleview123]

It doesn't work, you're just feeding them. I have a rat problem myself and I have tried EVERYTHING you can think of that wouldn't be straight up poison. I did live traps and caught some and then they quit getting in the traps. I did the plaster of paris and killed one rat. I did the Vit D poison as that would be safer, killed one rat and a few mice. I did the water traps. Nothing. Not only are those **** rats chewing holes in my coop but they eat the feed and have also killed some of my younger chicks.

Honestly after exhausting every thing safe I can think of I finally caved and did rat poison. I kept my dogs on leashes for awhile when outside and was very careful to use locked bait boxes but finally found some dead rats after using that. I'm still fighting the battle as the rats do avoid the poison (I swear I grow genius rats here!). I have a very strong hatred for rats.....lol

 

[eggbert420]

Has anybody tried a bucket mouse trap?

 

[azygous]

Has anybody tried a bucket mouse trap?

I tried one a couple years ago. I didn't catch a single rodent in it, although there was no shortage of rodents. They were mowing down my chard and spinach as soon as the plants poked out of the soil.

To avoid that scenario this spring, I got serious about eating avocados a couple months ago, saving all the pits. I even had a friend save hers for me, too. I then inserted the pits into the rock wall below my planting beds. The pits are supposed to be toxic to rodents and chickens. Being tucked behind the rocks, the chickens couldn't access them, and the rodents seem to have disappeared. Even the vole that was tearing up the grass in front of my house has vanished. I have traps that have been empty now for weeks.

 

[stillbeachin]

think i'll try both barrels. only this recipe indicated icing sugar and cocoa with the cement, so no food. i'll use a sieve and sprinkle it on paper in my crawlspace to see if i attract any mouse.

i have a 26 ft. rv on the property, for eight years. no rats inside, sealed up but good. however, noticed last year there is freaking p8ink inhich over the last year i removed the pink insulation from the underside, stupid idea, just thickish black plastic stapling it onto the bottom of the rv. well if the rats didn't like it in there for several years. nothing inside! sealed up tight from the inside. so i ripped all of it out and blasted the driveway chip under the thing with a hose so the stink on the ground would diminish somewhat for the next attack... i heard a gallon of water with 1/4 cup of dish soap and 2 tbs of tabasco sauce. apparently the dish soap serves to keep the mess stuck on whatever it is you're spraying. so i got a good sprayer and sprayed the stuff all over the bottom of the rv.
then the coup de grace, i sprinkled powdered tide detergent all over the driveway chip under the rv. flung some onto the axles and whatever it would stick to. i haven't had any rats and they've been there for a long while. after four months of winter i'm just about to spray it again and fling more tide.

best part, the trailer smells like tide, so whoo it must stink to high heaven to them under there as well as walking around on sticky tabasco with soap on it. i'll keep you posted. this is quite remarkable to me because i have a chicken yard not 50 feet from the trailer, a home next door that lives with the rats, and an asshole neighbour who houses them in his derelict vehicle collection. including a small trailer. rolling my eyes here.