PSA: take rats seriously as a threat

[HawaiiHermann]

My Hermann's lives outside 24/7 in a steel mesh cage with additional chicken wire reinforcement over all of the structure. (I've posted pics of it on here if you want to visualize it.) I saw the occasional mouse in the enclosure but didn't worry. I thought he was safe from predators.

Yesterday morning I went to put him in a bath and found blood everywhere. He had been attacked by a rat in the middle of the night. The rat ate into his legs, bit his face, and ate off about a third of his tail.

Thankfully I was able to get him seen by a vet right away. He is alive and alert, though obviously in pain. He'll be indoors healing up for quite a while.

So please, I urge you to take rats seriously as predators. I hope you and your Hermann's won't have to endure what my guy is going through.

 

[Yvonne G]

Rats, mice, opossum - most rodents of that nature - have the ability to squeeze their skull flatter to be able to fit through very small openings. It's very hard to keep them out.

 

[Tom]

I had a hatchling radiata stolen and eaten by rats after they chewed through a wall to get in to my reptile room.

Rats are no joke. Measures to trap and kill them should be at the ready all the time. I don't like poisons because when those rats die in the wild, other animals will eat them and be poisoned.

 

[wellington]

So hope yours will be okay. Rats are a hard one too keep away and out of things. We had them in my old neighborhood. I have no idea if they ever got into my torts shed, but my torts were never attacked. I have lots of mice now in my torts shed. They too don't attack my torts. I wonder though if food was always available, which there is always left over food from my torts, if the rats would leave the torts alone?
Maybe something to consider having available just incase you can't keep them out and while you trying to trap them?

 

[NorCal tortoise guy]

So hope yours will be okay. Rats are a hard one too keep away and out of things. We had them in my old neighborhood. I have no idea if they ever got into my torts shed, but my torts were never attacked. I have lots of mice now in my torts shed. They too don't attack my torts. I wonder though if food was always available, which there is always left over food from my torts, if the rats would leave the torts alone?
Maybe something to consider having available just incase you can't keep them out and while you trying to trap them?

I'm not sure this would work I used to breed rats I kept hundreds of them and it seemed to me they would eat anything they could get even if there is a better option I think this would be true of wild rats as well


Wishing the best for your little tortoise

 

[Taylor T.]

So hope yours will be okay. Rats are a hard one too keep away and out of things. We had them in my old neighborhood. I have no idea if they ever got into my torts shed, but my torts were never attacked. I have lots of mice now in my torts shed. They too don't attack my torts. I wonder though if food was always available, which there is always left over food from my torts, if the rats would leave the torts alone?
Maybe something to consider having available just incase you can't keep them out and while you trying to trap them?

I think if you leave food out it will just attract more rats, increasing the chance of one going after the tortoise.

 

[Bambam1989]

We used to have an automatic feeder with some chickens. It would dispense feed twice a day. The food leftover at night started to attract rats. The rats must have decided they wanted a little variety other than chicken feed pretty quickly. They began to bust open eggs when the hens left the nest and would eat the heads off of any chicks that were hatched.
As soon as we realized that the chickens were getting a little more feed than they needed we cut back the amount dispensed in the evenings until there was no leftovers. This ended up making the rats desperate and they started going for grown chickens instead of leaving to find easier food. By this time we had used traps but they never worked. Ive never liked to use poison so didn't even try it.
Enter dogs.
My three dogs had already been taught to attack cats, raccoons, and opossums that cross the fence. Being in a very wooded area it's natural for these animals to make an attempt on our chickens and rabbits from time to time. So I staked out the chicken pen one night with a .22 and managed to score me a rat. Then I gave the dead rat to my dog and started encouraging them to "get it". They quickly learned what I wanted and that same day caught 2 grown rats and located a nest in a stack of firewood. Our rat problem was solved over the next few days and my dogs still love bringing me dead rats.
they never try to eat the animals that they catch and are better than any cat at catching them. I don't trust my dogs with any kind of smaller animals unsupervised though because I have encouraged this hunting behavior. But if I put a secure animal pen within the area that my dogs patrol I know those animals are safe.

 

[wellington]

I think if you leave food out it will just attract more rats, increasing the chance of one going after the tortoise.

All I know is we had lots of rats at our old place and never a problem with my tortoises. With a restaurant dumpster in the ally and the left over tort food, they never had the need to attack my tortoises. I would still encourage trapping them.

 

[kellygirl64]

I'm so sorry for its injuries but really glad you were able to help him out. I hope he heals quickly. Best wishes.

 

[HawaiiHermann]

Thanks for the good wishes! The little guy is doing better these past few days, but he's obviously still hurting pretty bad. My house backs up on a forest reserve, and the fruit trees, household rubbish, and gardens in the neighborhood seem like they should be more appealing to rodents than a poor tortoise. It'll be a long time until he is well enough to go back outside, so right now I've got the enclosure and surrounding area covered in rat and mouse traps.

 

[Tom]

We used to have an automatic feeder with some chickens. It would dispense feed twice a day. The food leftover at night started to attract rats. The rats must have decided they wanted a little variety other than chicken feed pretty quickly. They began to bust open eggs when the hens left the nest and would eat the heads off of any chicks that were hatched.
As soon as we realized that the chickens were getting a little more feed than they needed we cut back the amount dispensed in the evenings until there was no leftovers. This ended up making the rats desperate and they started going for grown chickens instead of leaving to find easier food. By this time we had used traps but they never worked. Ive never liked to use poison so didn't even try it.
Enter dogs.
My three dogs had already been taught to attack cats, raccoons, and opossums that cross the fence. Being in a very wooded area it's natural for these animals to make an attempt on our chickens and rabbits from time to time. So I staked out the chicken pen one night with a .22 and managed to score me a rat. Then I gave the dead rat to my dog and started encouraging them to "get it". They quickly learned what I wanted and that same day caught 2 grown rats and located a nest in a stack of firewood. Our rat problem was solved over the next few days and my dogs still love bringing me dead rats.
they never try to eat the animals that they catch and are better than any cat at catching them. I don't trust my dogs with any kind of smaller animals unsupervised though because I have encouraged this hunting behavior. But if I put a secure animal pen within the area that my dogs patrol I know those animals are safe.

Dogs doing what dogs are meant to do. I'll bet you have some of the happiest dogs in your whole state!

 

[Bambam1989]

Dogs doing what dogs are meant to do. I'll bet you have some of the happiest dogs in your whole state!

They would be happier if I didn't make them take baths though[emoji57]

 

[katieandiggy]

Hi I’m so sorry that sounds horrendous.
My mum had 2 tortoises when she was younger in the 1950’s. they lived outside all year round and were around 30 years old. One winter when in hibernation, both were killed by rats. Please don’t underestimate how dangerous they can be.

 

[LoutheRussian]

I work in the rodent control business and yes rats are a huge problem and should be taken seriously. They have the ability to elongate their bodies and everything on their bodies can collapse except for their skulls. We go by the general rule that if the hole is the size of your pinky finger a rat can fit through it. We specialize in exclusion work and can tell you from much experience that unless you seal up every hole you might as well do nothing. Sealing their main entrance and exit will slow them down and may stop them for a while but if there’s a hole left open they will find it. I know that setting out poison or bait boxes may seem like a good idea but we always recommend that our customers remove or throw away any they have out. We do that for a couple of reasons, one is that when a rat eats the poison and starts to feel sick they often will go hide in the walls and die. When they do they will start to decay which smells horrible and can last up to a month. Another reason poison is a bad idea is secondary kill, if a dog or cat catches and eats a poisoned rat they to will become poisoned and will often die as well. If you do want to try something the best traps are the wooden Victor traps with peanut butter on them. However if the animals have easy access to food and water already the traps will not be as effective. They do make a poison that does not cause secondary kill but I’ve heard mixed reviews as to its effectiveness.

 

[Kriti]

My Hermann's lives outside 24/7 in a steel mesh cage with additional chicken wire reinforcement over all of the structure. (I've posted pics of it on here if you want to visualize it.) I saw the occasional mouse in the enclosure but didn't worry. I thought he was safe from predators.

Yesterday morning I went to put him in a bath and found blood everywhere. He had been attacked by a rat in the middle of the night. The rat ate into his legs, bit his face, and ate off about a third of his tail.

Thankfully I was able to get him seen by a vet right away. He is alive and alert, though obviously in pain. He'll be indoors healing up for quite a while.

So please, I urge you to take rats seriously as predators. I hope you and your Hermann's won't have to endure what my guy is going through.

Really sorry for your little friend . Hope he gets well soon .As a new owner, I had no clue rats could be this dangerous . I will definitely be a lot more careful from now on.