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Rats!

2K views 16 replies 5 participants last post by  toddalin 
#1 ·
Glad I had the battery switch off.
 

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#3 ·
I am pretty pissed off at the little bast---s. I usually keep moth balls underneath the cars, unfortunately I hadn't noticed they ran out. New moth balls and time for the buffet to open, welcome to Hotel California, rats check in but they can't check out....
 
#8 ·
I’ve learned a lot about rats in this endeavor.
Upon disassembly I discovered the rat was making a nest in my frame rails evidenced by the acorns stuffed in there. Apparently, they don't eat the wires, they borrow through them to get to where they want to go and sometimes use the wiring as nesting material. Which leads me to a good use for stainless sleeving;
I used liquidtite conduit (flexible plastic pipe) and put the stainless sleeving over it, then through the frame rails, the wires go through conduit. Let em try to eat through that!
 

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#10 ·
It's alive!
E-Rat-O-Cator II, new and improved! Safe for pets!
I'm now using this around my car, easy to make for less than a 100 bucks, and it works Great! Delivers a mild shock to keep the rodents away, won't kill them (Hotel California takes care of that task), it just chases em away. And when used with the proper charger, there are no worries about the little buggers catching on fire and burning down your garage. This system won't even cook a hot dog (hot dog doesn't even get warm), but it gives a good jolt! They stay away completely!
 

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#12 ·
Ohhh, don't misunderstand me I'm not a rat hugger, I KILL RATS, hundreds each year. And, Hotel California is always open with a free trip to the buffet!
However, I live in a rural area and this year has been a little hard to keep ahead of the buggers, the experts say it has to do with the drought? Traps work, bait works, h-ll I've even shot the b-stards! But, in the meantime, they ain't eating anything else on my car!!!:D
 
#13 ·
I live in a rural area and we have rats. They were getting especially frisky in the attic and eating the bird food in the feeders so I knew it was time once again to take action.

I made a 120 a/c rat zapper that would come on with the patio light. But this was only enough to make them "fly" several feet and did not kill them, so abandoned the idea. If it doesn't kill them, it's just torture, though rats are very smart and it can work like a shock collar deterent, but doesn't get rid of them.

I've used peanut butter as bait with so-so results. When I bought some new traps the other day at Ace, the girl said people had good luck using "Slim Jims."

My wife had a bunch of turkey "generic slim jims" and I tried this. This proved to be irrestable to them and in two days, I've got seven rats both in the attic and back yard. Actually, maybe more as I haven't checked the attic in a few days because all noise up there stopped.

Set your traps out with bait, but don't set the spring for the first bait or two. If the rats come along and see another in a trap, they will avoid the traps. But if they have been actively feeding at traps, they'll just figure that the trapped rat got that way for some other reason and will still take the bait.
 
#14 ·
So I get a call from my wife tis morning, she asks “can I disconnect your rat thingy?” I say of course, its plugged in where my compressor is. About 10 minutes later she calls back mad as h-ll at me says, “you think that’s funny?” I ask what she means, she says “that @!#@!#$$#%$#%$#% shocked the $%$%^ out of me!!!! I said how did it do that, you just unplugged it? A long pause, then she says “plug?” I said what the heck did you do? She says, “I unscrewed the wires. This time the long pause is on my side. I said, Dear, why on earth would you disconnect the wires and not just unplug it from the wall? That must have shocked you numerous times trying to take the wing nuts off the wires!

Now I could understand this if she was a city girl, but we’ve lived on the ranch for 30 years, she has always had a horse(s) and we have always had electric fences. She knows what they do and she knows to unplug the charger before repairing the fence. Until now.

I call her sparky now......
 
#15 ·
So I get a call from my wife tis morning, she asks “can I disconnect your rat thingy?” I say of course, its plugged in where my compressor is. About 10 minutes later she calls back mad as h-ll at me says, “you think that’s funny?” I ask what she means, she says “that @!#@!#$$#%$#%$#% shocked the $%$%^ out of me!!!! I said how did it do that, you just unplugged it? A long pause, then she says “plug?” I said what the heck did you do? She says, “I unscrewed the wires. This time the long pause is on my side. I said, Dear, why on earth would you disconnect the wires and not just unplug it from the wall? That must have shocked you numerous times trying to take the wing nuts off the wires!

Now I could understand this if she was a city girl, but we’ve lived on the ranch for 30 years, she has always had a horse(s) and we have always had electric fences. She knows what they do and she knows to unplug the charger before repairing the fence. Until now.
I call her sparky now......
Not being unkind, but to me, that would be worth all the chewed wire he wanted. I might go as far as asking,

"Did you pull your shoes off and stand in water before you untwisted the wires? That's the best way to do it!"

BB :thumbup::thumbup:


Maybe that's why I've had so much trouble keeping a wife.
 

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#17 ·
Traps in the attic are all still baited and ready to go. I've not heard any noise up there, so it is probably clear for the moment.

The trap on the back patio took another last night (8 so far in this go around including the attic).

If I set it after the birds leave at ~7:00 pm, I'll usually get one, but if none are there to take the bait, I bring it at 11:30 pm so as not to trap the birds in the morning. The rats just can't resist a turkey Slim Jim but the birds ignore it.
 
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