we have rats

[DAC8671]

We noticed last night (thanks to our dogs going hog wild) that we have rats in our backyard. I didn't see the rat, but saw the poop. It's inside Ralph's enclosure. We "think" they are coming to steal some timothy hay for their nests.

Should I be worried about Ralph? Will the wild rats harm him? Give him diseases?

I don't want to put out poison because of the pets and the kids.

 

[Yvonne G]

You can use D-Con if you are careful. This reminds me of another story!!! My neighbor sold her house and the new people tore down an old out-building that had been in the backyard (we're in the country) for many many years. The next night when I went out to my chicken coop to be sure everyone was put up for the night, the chicken house was actually crawling with rats!! I was so disgusted I almost threw up! There were hundreds of them. The next day I put out about 10 boxes of D-Con. Because chickens like to scratch the ground and eat everything, I had to be creative with the placement of the poison. I staked them out under a wire form that I fashioned with chicken wire and staked into the ground so the chickens couldn't move the form. It only took a couple days for all the rats to disappear, but I had to change out the D-Con boxes 4 or 5 times in those couple days. You can put the box of poison under a plant saucer inverted over the box with a little rat-door cut into one side, then put something heavy on the saucer...a cinder block or something the tortoise can't move. Place the poison someplace where you've seen rat droppings.

As an after-thought: I asked my mammal vet if a cat or dog would be poisoned if they ate a poisoned rat and he said that the rat's stomach acids would neutralize the poison and secondary poisoning wasn't really an issue.

Yvonne

 

[Itort]

I use a bait station, a box with entrance large enough for rat, posts to hold bait (poison). THe box is basically a lethal maze for rat who can not remove bait just eat it. The bait I use is called Tomcat. All these products can be found at farm supply stores. I have never had any animal besides rodents poisoned with this method.

 

[janiedough]

just be careful when you do these things because they like to crawl up in your walls or under your house and die and stink while they rot.

 

[mtdavis817254]

they can chew on your torts shell and you dont want them eating the rats poop... i had a small rat from petco kill my 3.5ft central american redtail one time so i wouldnt trust them at all... if your tort is small enough bring him inside until they are dead and gone