We had 5-10 outside cats for decades. For whatever reason our cats dwindled to the point we only had one old one left. he mice started moving in then we got a rat. I gnawed it's way in and was getting fat off the bird seed in my wife's bird room (a converted bedroom). I set snap traps, foot holds and conibears all of which it avoided. I put out poison that it ignored.

My wife had a half-screen in blocking the bird room door so the dogs couldn't get in but heat from the wood stove could. She has cameras in there and we caught it climbing the screen and hopping down the other side.

I put six of the big sticky traps where it was hopping down, caught it the next night. I heard it get stuck and start squealing so I went back there and smashed it's head in.

We got five outside cats again now and haven't had a rodent problem since they became adults.

I need to remember that if we ever have another one come around.

I keep a couple of #1 jumps fastened to a brick against the wall of my barn at all times. Rarely does a rat move in that I do not have him within 24 hours. My sister had a rat in her house. I took a 5 gallon pail put some ground corn type chicken feed in the bottom of the pail and then set the #1 jump in the pail with the brick. Set the pail in a place that the rat could get easily to the top and jump in. He jumped in the second night and that was that.

One other thing to try if all else fails, 5 gallon bucket with honey in the bottom. Probably could use syrup but the idea is the rat can't jump when it gets honey all over it. I inadvertently left a bucket out with an inch of honey in the bottom. Caught a rat I didn't know I had.

If you know someone with a small terrier,say Jack Russell, they can be very effective.

For the bait to work they have to be HUNGRY!!!!! Remove all access to the other food stuffs it's eating now, then the bait, what ever it's eating now, will draw it in.

I've had JRT's

Absolute born and bred killers. It could catch rats with lightning speed and dispatch within seconds. Unbelievable how quick it can clean out a heavily infested area. Made the Navy seal team 6 look like a joke.

When I was a kid , my mom worked in a feed store. Big rat problem in the back warehouse. They tried a housecat first. The rats killed the cat on the second night it was locked up in the back. Very big and well fed rats.

Then the owner got a JRT. Locked up in the warehouse overnight. Came in the next morning , found over 30 dead rats. Blood everywhere , floors , bags of feed even on the 20ft high ceiling. An exhausted blood drenched JRT was waiting for us. Cleaned up the dog , spent hours cleaning the blood in the warehouse. Dog slept all day , totally wiped out. Following night got about 15 more. In less than a week , there were no rats left.

Cragar: Would have loved to see him in action!

How big is this store room? I’d be emptying it out and cleaning it up to get rid of them.

I watched mine capture and kill 5 rats in under a minute. It happens so fast , it is hard to keep up watching the action. Pure bloodlust. I bet if you gave the dog a choice of eating dinner or going after a dog in heat , it would pick killing rats first. Everything else can wait. Had an issue with my neighbor's chicken coop (30 birds) , my dog would just go after rats like a guided missile after we got the chickens out of the way and in a safe place because my dog probably would have killed them just as quick. Had to hose the dog down everytime , just red with blood.

JRT and dogs like them are the best rat killing machines. You could not design anything better. I miss that dog so much.

I can always trap and poison some rats, but there's always at least a few I have to shoot and there's little doubt that there are others that never give me a shot. I need to shoot some more, it's been a few months.

Keith

I had a female JRT growing up. She was a hunting machine. Absolutely great woodchuck hunter. She'd go right down any hole she could fit in and drag them out dead. If she didn't fit she'd dig until she did.

That's awesome Cragar and would be something to see.

I had a Patterdale that was a rat killing specialist and loved doing it. First thing I thought of when I saw this thread.