Mixed Feelings On Drowning Rats

[GiddyMoon]

Quote:
E.T.A. Found the thread!! (MissPrissy explains how it works too) https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=183374

If we want to talk about a slow painful death...so basically this hardens in their tummies and intestines and takes awhile to kill them while they are in pain from not being able to pass it.. Sorry folks..drowning happens very quickly...and yes, rat traps work fast too but when you have many to kill..they kind of learn to avoid the traps..

This is from the thread talking about how it works..THIS is a very slow and painful death.


"The plaster of paris pulls the moisture ffom their body when it is consumed. It makes rat rocks. They can't pass it and die from dehydration, lack of being able to poo and eat, etc. Also the plaster of paris heats up fairly hot.

 

[mamabahre]

Quote:
hmm I bet the rats don't think it is very quick..

The OP feels bad about drowning them, there ARE lots of other ways besides drowning to get rid of them.

If my cats weren't so lazy I'd kick their butts out to do some rodent hunting. They just sit at the door and cry to be let in and are afraid of the chickens.

 

[chicknmania]

Lots of people dislike killing rats. They are intelligent animals, and they are animals, living things, and compassion has a way of kicking in. You can't ignore them, though, unfortunately. I have read about (and tried with good results) mixing plaster of paris and powdered sugar. The rats eat it like there's no tomorrow, and for them, after eating that, there usually isn't.

. I like to think that it is kinder than poison, though I have no idea, but I do know that it is safer than poison as far as accidental poisonings of other animals that you do NOT want to harm, including your own birds. I don't like snap traps, we have let a rat go more than once that had just it's tail caught in the trap, and how can anyone stand to watch that suffering. The best thing we have found to date is three feral cats, one is now tame, and one partially tame, who have adopted us and live in our barn. They don't know about being spoiled, unlike our fat half-house, half-outdoor spoiled kitties who are afraid of rats, these cats know no fear and they have killed a few rats, and the rats don't dare come out with the cats around. The cost of having them spayed/ neutered will be worth it to us, just b/c of that. In the past we have had rats so bad that they come out to try and eat with the chooks, with us standing there! It's nasty. But i don't like killing them, either.

 

[mtngrl812]

Snap traps don't always kill instantly, sometimes only a part of the animal gets trapped and they lie there suffering until you find them, I have seen them seconds after being snapped and they don't die instantly all the time. Cats are cruel hunters, usually playing with the victim until it finally dies or tiring of it and leave it maimed to die later of injuries. Poisons take hours, maybe days to kill. Shooting a pest is not a option available to many people. Sticky traps are miserable. Drowning takes 3 minutes and it is a sure thing and available to most everyone.

I hear so many people complain about how drowning is so cruel, but what is not! Shooting them..... what if the first shot does not do the job? By the time you get it figured out and shoot a second time they could have already been dead from drowning. Nothing it non-cruel, even relocating is not very nice on the animal. They have to fight for new territory, find food and water sources, find a new bedding area, it is not easy either.

Whatever we as humans choose to do to "pest" is not an easy thing. We all feel pretty bad about it, but it is something that needs to be done to keep pest from overrunning everything. They are termed pest most often because they have done so well over populating in the first place. I use to cry my eyes out if a mouse died, I can't stand the thought that most of the mice in pet stores are "feeders". I like all animals, snakes are even a wondrous creature. But if we are to have our own space and animals we have to protect out own space. No other creature is going to have mercy on a rat that enters it's dwelling, it will end up dead. If it were reversed, can you imagine what a rat would do to a human!!!

I do not know how to use a gun (also illegal in the city) so what should I do, use my bow HA! I'll never get it done that way. Try to stable it quickly with my arrow, just like a bullet would do. What a mess that would make.... Don't tell me to hit it with a hammer or something; how would I hit it while it is in the cage?? I have used snap traps... they have disappeared! I can only imagine how the animals is dealing with a trap attached to it's body.

I wish people would quit condemning others for their choice of dispatching a "pest". Nothing it completely humane.... Even leaving the pest to live out it's life will end up in a death or illness of one of your animals. That is just the way it goes.... Drowning is a much quicker choice than some of those Nature serves up. A person can only do what they are capable of doing!!!

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I would drown a rat if I needed to, better that then let them come back and kill my chickens.

 

[Teach97]

get some snakes and then you could feed the rats you catch to them!

 

[ErinG]

I agree with Mtngrl...the snap traps are not instant death. We had a rat problem IN OUR HOUSE. It was truly awful having to kill them, but you have to do what you have to do. We (okay he) had to drown ours as well even in the snap traps because most of the time, especially with the smaller ones, only a leg would catch, or it wouldn't be enough to kill them quickly because they were so small. There really is no pleasant way to kill something, but there is no reason to draw it out longer than necessary.

 

[Katy]

Do what you have to do to get rid of them!

I tried everything before resorting to poison about a month ago. They get smart to the traps very quickly and it seemed that once one died in a trap they smelled the death wouldn't go near it. The plaster of paris only made them poop white rat turds.

A week after putting the poison out I saw a reduced amount of sign that they were around.....it has continued to lessen as time goes by.

They can be kind of cute, but they will eat eggs and chicks without thinking twice about and the amount of feed they steal is unreal.

Don't feel guilty for disposing of them however you see fit.

 

[gambler]

Like anything else, drowning becomes easier after you do it a few times.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

As a former rat breeder, I must say drowning them is very cruel. An adult rat can hold their breath for awhile underwater.
2 mins is not a quick death, its a long one.
I hate the traps where it says to drown them