Thread: Rats..... a first time for everything

Years ago a Rabbit Board guy gave me some Lavaside (spelling suspect) which is a mustard gas liquid mixed in waste oil to do some rabbit warrens.

Geez, man the rats that came out. the dogs would catch them then let them go when the fumes hit them.

Good fun though.

we trialled a gas gun at Kaitaia -we wanted it for rabbits - basically a CNG bottle with a wand and piezo lighter poke down hole give a burst- yell fire in hole and press lighter -worked but on rat holes yeah would be a lot of fun - idea comes from the USA where they are used on gophers

Most reliable I've found is the cage traps sild by bunnings. Got to fiddle with the trapdoor a bit but peanut butter on the bait tray works ok. Set the trap near rat hole in a bit of tunnel cover. Drop rat and cage into a bin of water to kill, then reset. Works good around the section provided you can locate rat track or hole.

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

we trialled a gas gun at Kaitaia -we wanted it for rabbits - basically a CNG bottle with a wand and piezo lighter poke down hole give a burst- yell fire in hole and press lighter -worked but on rat holes yeah would be a lot of fun - idea comes from the USA where they are used on gophers

Not the same gas gun as used by Anton Chigurh I guess? But Anton's one could be effective on rats maybe...

you tube has some neat designs with a bucket and falling plate that is baited and tips when rat goes out onto it simple- drown rats or air rifle - be good for a consatnt problem area work well on mice to

Originally Posted by zimmer

Not the same gas gun as used by Anton Chigurh I guess? But Anton's one could be effective on rats maybe...

not sure dont know who he is we got ours from an Auckland company it did work but poison bait was really more effective on bunnys just not as much fun

My wife has had success using the modern plastic traps around her compost bin. We also have a Good Nature Trap but have yet to set it up. We were getting rats in out macadamia trees but since the arborist has cut them back the rats seemed to have pissed off.

Incidentally, she is up to 15 mice trapped this season in out garage using the smaller version of the plastic rat trap. They just love peanut butter don't they?

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

I wonder if one was parking up in somwhere like Te Urewera if one sprayed under the bonnet with a product like a silicone water proofing spray or a armourall product- would that put the buggers off from chewing the plastic worth a look ?? especially if it was put on fresh

Nah I have had an empty armourall spray bottle chewed to bits in the outside shed at the old place we were renting. So silicone might be worth a go, but armourall is a nope.

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

not sure dont know who he is we got ours from an Auckland company it did work but poison bait was really more effective on bunnys just not as much fun

Barry, Anton Chigurh was a creepy assassin in a movie, going around killing people with a gas bottle driven bolt gun. Movie was called No Country For Old Men. A classic.

Originally Posted by Gamehunter

Years ago a Rabbit Board guy gave me some Lavaside (spelling suspect) which is a mustard gas liquid mixed in waste oil to do some rabbit warrens.

Geez, man the rats that came out. the dogs would catch them then let them go when the fumes hit them.

Good fun though.

Brings back memories of Sunday arvos at the local tip, shooting rats.

I think my mechanics idea would work, just cable tie a couple of baits that have the hole through them under your bonnet somewhere. It has the added bonus of seeing if it's been touched while you were away.
But having said that, I'd prefer not to attract them in the first place. Damned if you do and damned if you don't ?????

ahhh yes I remember supposedly a mexican assasin -- many years ago country calendar I think it was had a couple from Northland doing intensive predator work on their property - they were using a water trap for rats- basically a 30 litre I guess drum in ground with a simple trip plate above and bait - rat went for bait plate tripped rat fell into water drowned ratty - worked a bloody treat - they had a number of them around the farm - empty out basically ratty sludge every couple of weeks - course DOC and the do goodys went ohhh no poor ratty left to starve drown and die but I thought genious

Originally Posted by Woody

Most reliable I've found is the cage traps sild by bunnings. Got to fiddle with the trapdoor a bit but peanut butter on the bait tray works ok. Set the trap near rat hole in a bit of tunnel cover. Drop rat and cage into a bin of water to kill, then reset. Works good around the section provided you can locate rat track or hole.

I concur!
I use box traps from local ITM store and bait the trigger hook with sultanas which I smear peanut butter on.
I dispatch caught rats with a BB gun - tip: don’t shoot them with the trap on concrete paths to avoid ricochets and blood stains!

Done quite a few of those repairs. They seem to like the insulation. One customer had a rat chew its way through a loom up under the dash, that was a fun one to do

My Uncles first job out of school was as a shepherd in the yards at Gear Meatworks Petone.Unloading rakes of livestock wagons.So of course him and his dogs would regularly put up the well fed friggin vermin.I can always remember him saying the biggest rats at Gear were the ones that lived& fed permanently in the blast freezers.He reckoned they had evolved like the wooly mammoth into gigantism with size and dense shaggy coats to survive the sub zero temps.True story.