Good luck. I lost count of how many I’ve caught in traps and plinked with the pellet gun. IME the best way to get them to move on is to cut off their food source. A hardware cloth cover might be necessary, and if they start tunneling into the pile from underneath you may need more cloth at the bottom of your compost pile. They’re ridiculously smart and resourceful pests.
There not only urban vermin. We had them on and off last year and we're out in the woods. Just foraging around the feeder for seeds. We used some moth balls as a deterant. Our compost is in a plastic garbage pail with a cover and ive seen nothing get it there. Hardware cloth cover should do the trick.
Or check out the compost bin setup used in "humanure". its a three bin setup (but can be done with two. One bin is for hay or sawdust/shavings. the other is the active bin, the third is stays empty till the active one is full. The bins are three sided, the open side being planks that are added as the level rises. they can be pulled for access to the compost. The bins can be constructed with pallets or whatever you have handy. The active bin bottom is slightly dug out, and lined with a little hay. then add compost and layer with hay. For each new compost add, pull the top layer of hay aside, add compost, then recover with hay. If doing humanure, let the bin sit for a year once full. The idea is that the bin will heat up and kill all pathogens. The carbon from the hay or newspaper or saw dust is what makes this work. This bin will eat about anything you can throw in it: meat, bones, paper cardboard, natural feminine products, egg shells, chickens, dogs, cats, rabits....roadkill or otherwise. It will not eat large bones (animal skulls) bovine marrow bones, plastic, wood (sticks/twigs) or metal. If there are plastic strips on the feminine products, they will be found later. There should be little to no smell once covered with hay. Even adding human poop. We used a piece of hardware cloth, followed by a small pallet. Generally nothing got in. living things cooked pretty quickly, even here in the winter, the pile was warm. After the bin sits for a year, it can be used anywhere compost can. My only mild concern was medication that ended up in manure. But all pathogens were cooked out of existence. I never saw any vermin at the camp, although some may burrow in. Wire mesh inside or outside the bin might work if needed. There is a book on the topic, as well as videos online.
I've had these bins and rotating the contents for decades. Never had a rat before. I'll get them de-vermined.
Ya jinxed me Mike. I just went to refill my coffee, look at the feeder and there's a baby rat there. Im thinking deadfall trap.
Living in the middle of the woods, I have so much wildlife around here that I use two dual-chamber tumbler bins for my compost instead of a ground pile system. I have enough 4-legged critters going through the property without adding something else for them to be interested in. As for the vermin, never had a rat here but mice, chipmunks, red, gray, and flying squirrels are an annual nuisance. I started using the bucket method and it works great. The lids are cheap and there are always extra 5-gallon buckets laying around. I just dump the water and the 'floaters' in the woods. A fisher cat or some other carnivore always appreciates the snacks, and it puts the pests back into the food chain.
I have heard putting nails through the base of the trap near where the bar snaps down is an effective mod. Haven’t tried it tho.
Yes, that works great. We had the big pack rats, like wharf rat size. They would get caught and take traps off. Dad, tied the traps down and put brad nails thru the bottom. Mr rat was there next time.
Got the little bugger. It'll make a nice snack for something that comes along. That flat rock is "Dead Munk Rock". So coined several years ago when I was culling the chipmunk horde. 55 of them ended up on that same rock. Most any vermin here, end up on that rock. Neighborhood cats and hawks are in the area. 2-3days after setting the table, the bodies disappear. A Victor trap did the deed. It's been redeployed in case there are friends. Baited with peanut butter
I just heard this on the radio for the first time yesterday. DINK and DINKWAD. Familiar? Dual Income No Kids and Dual Income No Kids With A Dog. Bout spit out my drink...
Oh man. We had backyard chickens for years and for 90% of that time, never had any rats. Well, one day we saw one and we had one heck of a time getting rid of them. Chicken food was kept in the coup and the rats were digging under the run fence to get to it. I eventually had to bury larger gauge wire around the perimeter of their run. Total PIA! We just pulled it all up yesterday to make flower beds. Heck of a mess. Best of luck and I hope they don't continue coming. Those large snap traps never worked for us. Had several.
