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Broadies under attack from rats

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ancellsfarmer:

--- Quote from: Digeroo on December 08, 2020, 19:48:47 ---Much against my better judgement I tried poison.  That appears to be expensive rat food.  I think hitting it over the head with the plastic container might be more effective.   They seems to be totally unaffected by the poison. Saw one of the rats a couple of days ago and it looked very fit and well.  I have taken to banging the compost bins that seems to disturb them.   But I am still loosing beans.   
We have a hawk of some kind and that seems to be catching quite a few. 
I have some micromesh and I found them underneath, but I now have some very fine light weight stuff and they do not seem to like that I think they get caught up in it, so avoid it, so I might get some more in. 
I have been told that dogs have clear them out.  When I was a child my Aunt had a farm and a cocker spaniel called Markie.  And he was brilliant at finding rats.
I am planning how to keep them off sweet corn.  I put plastic bottles over them and will  not have to sellotape the bottom of the bottles back on.  My OH says he can drill a hole in the bottom for the stalk. 



                                                                   

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If it possible that your rats can get peanuts, from a neighbours bird feeder for example, they will thrive! Peanuts contain vitamin K , the antidote to many domestic rat baits. A thus mixed diet will give them pelts like doormats!

Paulines7:
Wood mice were eating a lot of my seedlings in my greenhouse and they particularly liked my beans which I start off in modules.  I bought two humane traps online and they were very successful, so I bought two more.  I use the very cheap cheese spread that sells for about 40p a tub for bait and they love it.  I used to take the mice down the end of the paddock to let them go but I was told that they could find their way home easily and that I was probably catching the same ones all over again.  I was going out most days so I ended up taking them in my car and releasing them somewhere in a woodlands near a river, about 6 miles away from home.   I love wood mice now I have seen them close up.  They are very sweet and have such appealing little faces. 

I now have a lot of rats and they are in my compost heap, but it's situated a long way from the house.  I saw 6 up there last week. I never put food on it as I have three large green compost bins that are rat proof.  However, one of my cats had killed and brought indoors 3 young rats last week and on the fourth day he brought in a live one! He let it go and it ran under the settee.  My two cats sat and waited but it didn't show itself.  A few hours later I noticed that one of the cats had located the rat behind behind the curtains.  I picked up one of the traps that I had set earlier and went over to the curtains and as the cat went round one end, the rat ran into my trap.   I didn't have the heart to kill it though as it was very young so I released it away from the house.

I don't use poison as it can be fatal to mammals and birds that feed on any rodents.  When the cats bring in their dead prey, I double wrap it in sealed bags and put it in the general rubbish.  If it has no injury, I will catch it and let it go, but if it's injured I do have to put it out of its misery.   

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