Very tricky pest control

[jaizei]

Has anyone used MouseX or RatX? I came across it a few days ago, seems worthwhile if it works as they described.

 

[Tom]

Has anyone used MouseX or RatX? I came across it a few days ago, seems worthwhile if it works as they described.

I got the Rat X on the advice of a friend who claimed success with it. I tried it in several areas around my ranch and home. I saw somewhere, YT if memory serves, but it might have been in the directions too, that you can serve it up in baggies to keep the product dry. I did some loose and some I baggies. I placed the product in several areas of rat interest and made sure anything else edible was policed up.

It didn't seem to do anything. The rats mostly ignored it, but in the cases where the product was eaten, I still had loads of rats running around. There was plenty more for them to eat, so lack of a dose wasn't the issue.

Snap traps work best for me, and we trained one of the ranch cats to run loose all night and come back to its cage during the day for safety. That seems to be working better than anything.

 

[SinLA]

Snap traps work best for me, and we trained one of the ranch cats to run loose all night and come back to its cage during the day for safety. That seems to be working better than anything.

why cage during the day for safety? Seems counter-intuitive? Night = getting rats, but also = coyotes, no?

 

[Tom]

why cage during the day for safety? Seems counter-intuitive? Night = getting rats, but also = coyotes, no?

Coyotes don't come on to my ranch. Its several acres with 30 dogs, emu, donkey, big wall, etc... I don't want the cat catching any local birds or reptiles which are all active during the day. The rats on the other hand are 99% only active at night. Cat gets let out after dusk and put away first thing in the morning.

 

[SinLA]

Coyotes don't come on to my ranch. Its several acres with 30 dogs, emu, donkey, big wall, etc... I don't want the cat catching any local birds or reptiles which are all active during the day. The rats on the other hand are 99% only active at night. Cat gets let out after dusk and put away first thing in the morning.

ah, makes sense. Still surprised they don't come on the ranch at night. It seems like nothing frightens them (other than big/predatory dogs). How big is your wall? they can jump 8' easy...!

 

[Tom]

ah, makes sense. Still surprised they don't come on the ranch at night. It seems like nothing frightens them (other than big/predatory dogs). How big is your wall? they can jump 8' easy...!

Wall is 6-8 feet. They most definitely could jump in, or dig under, but for 30 years all have chosen not to except for one recent large rogue male that traveled and stole pets all alone. My neighbors don't take kindly to that sort of thing, so he met an early demise after he grabbed the second neighbors dog. He got a few of my chickens and I caught him on a game cam:

No other predator wants to come within my walls. We have bobcats, roadrunners, mountain lions, raccoons, hawks, owls, and more, and they steer clear because of all the human and animal activity and noises. I do have a pesky coopers hawk that teaches most of my young pigeons how to avoid being caught by a hawk.