Rat catching

I’ve had an email from a poultry keeper asking for advice on catching rats as they don’t want to use poison baits.

I wrote a “how-to” on making a trap box last year. This dramatically increases the effectiveness of nipper traps and is the only way to go if you’re using Fenn traps.

But I should also to point out that the environment must be made less attractive to rats.

Keep livestock feed in steel bins, keep the bins off the floor so traps or baits can be pushed underneath (or terriers and cats put underneath), try not to leave passages behind stored timber, drums, sacks and other detritus, and disrupt tunnels as soon as they are found (unless you’re going to trap them).

Turn muck and compost heaps regularly—which also helps them break down, clear up rubbish and litter regularly, don’t allow rubbish bins to overflow and permanently block holes in walls and floors.

Unfortunately even if you do that and more, you will still have to fall back on traps, baits, air rifles, terriers, cats and even a golf club (very effective when turning over the muck heap) as rats are very, very persistent.