Guess who ate dinner
For the past month or so we’ve been fighting a losing battle with rats.
We’ve known rats have been in the neighborhood for years, but we haven’t had a personal experience with them.
When young lettuce was getting chewed down to the stub over night, at first we assumed it was squirrels (plenty of those).
We starting seeding more stuff and putting deer netting over everything… a time consuming project.
And then… kale – beautiful kale – chopped to the stump.
Next battle plan: taste and smell deterrents…
very hot Thai pepper sprinkled over everything, rosemary spread around
and “varmit vinegarette” sprayed all over.
And still…
The (not yet identified) varmints came, and continued to eat.
If we wanted lettuce our only choice was buying it.
Most of the kale gone with some left on the other side of the yard.
We’ve become the personal food purveyors for rats while we aren’t even getting a leaf!
Finally at some point we noticed “droppings” which led to varmint
identification: RATS.
Many hours of research later, we opted for numerous bait stations with a warfarin poison.
And still, we have rats… who have now moved across the yard to find the rest of the kale and all the broccoli and chard.
Here’s what I’ve learned & here’s where we’re at:
You main choices are:
- Live trap
- Snap trap
- Electrocution trap
- Poison
Before doing anything, it’s quite important you understand all the pluses and minuses of each method.
I’ll summarize, but please do some more in depth research before settling on a plan of attack.
The first thing you’re supposed to do is remove all food sources.
Easy enough if you’re talking about a plate of food. Not so easy if you’re talking about enough produce planted to feed two people for two months.
Live trap. Highly recommended and effective. Keep enough bait in it and check it frequently enough so that the bait never runs out. If there’s bait, the rats never freak out. In fact more come in to get the bait (or so I’ve read).
There’s just the issue of what to do with the rats you trap 
Snap trap. Tricky to set up without getting “snapped” yourself. Not easy out side where there can be unintended victims. Generally effective for the rat. The smell and site of said snapped rat, may alert other rats making them more cautious tho not necessarily moving on. Messy, ‘nuf said.
Electrocution trap. Not particularly cheap. Easy to set up. Could still be messy. Could also alert the others.
Poison. DO NOT use this method without really understanding the consequences.
There are three types of poison:
- Anticoagulants (warfarin, brodifacoum)
- bromethalin, a neurotoxin
- cholecalciferol-containing
(At least) One issue with poisons is you can’t fully control only the rat will receive it. The safest way to use them is in block form in a locked bait station.
A bait station is an enclosed box with a hole large enough for only rodent size animals to pass through. By using blocks of bait which are held in place, the bait will be nibbled on rather than dragged out.
Of the three types of poison only the anti-coagulants have an anecdote (Vitamin K) in case your pets or kids get a hold of the poison. All require quick action.
Here’s more info on the toxicity:
Small Animal Toxicoses – Rodenticides
You should not use poison inside. If they die where you can’t get them (in the wall, etc) you’ll be living with the smell for quite awhile – at least a month. Very unpleasant.
The FIRST thing you should do
Meanwhile, a friend of ours had a rat issue recently and called Vector Control – pest control for the County. Your County likely has one. (We always see a line item for them on our property tax bill).
These people know rats and their behavior and what’s going on in the County. As would a good pest control company.
We called them, they came and analyzed the situation.
The fine Vector Control fellow (David) didn’t suggest many improvements for us short of ripping out the gardens. Which leaves us with the option of: decreasing the population.
He’ll be bringing out some live traps and set them up. And even better perhaps: collecting them when they’re “occupied”.
This way he’ll also know what kind of rats that are turning us into anorexics. There are two kinds in the area: “roof rats” – more vegetarian in diet and very good climbers and “Norway rats” traversers of the sewer system and burrowers.
Given that we’ve also been alerted to a suspected burrowed rat nest one house up, the suspicion is Rattus norvegicus.
So the next phase of Operation: Liberate the Garden starts today.
The rats haven’t bothered with our bait stations.
Meanwhile we’ve torn out just about every remaining plant. We’ve got quite a few seed starts going… which we now cover up every night under buckets. We’ve basically lost the whole fall crop and are hoping to get a late fall/winter crop in.
We’ve also – at the suggestion of David – stopped putting kitchen scraps in the compost bin until we get the situation under control.
Got a rat problem – call a pro… you County Vector Control or a pest control company.
Rats are very smart. Every failed attempt you make to thwart them makes them smarter.
More on the rat chronicles as news develops.
Other resources:
Rat facts
Detailed article on rat elimination options.
University of California, Davis
St. Louis, Missouri Vector Control
Rat behavior
Peay Animal Hospital
Veterinary Support Personnel Network
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