So I woke up this morning and noticed some seeds I had drying in the garage had disapeared. Scratching my head trying to figure out if I misplaced them only to find a hollowed out shell of a seed led me to realize a rat or mouse got in a got ahold of them. Figured out I need a new door sweep. Now my concern is my seeded outdoor plants around time of harvest, last year they took some tops off some of my best seeded plants days before harvest as well as destroyed tons of seeds while hanging in the shed. I can fortify the shed but what precautions can I take to protect the outdoor grow? Thinking about building a square structure around them with netting but guessing rats will chew right through, rat traps, heard something about shredded bar soap, currently spraying a peppermint dish soap, alcohol, hot sauce spray. Don’t really like using poisons and don’t want a cat but what are your opinions and or experiences with dealing with seed snatching rats?
Fuckers ate all my cherry tomatoes one year
Cool thanks brotha 
Dude they destroyed an entire apricot tree year before last, in 2 days they took every apricot off of the tree, think those we’re squirrels though. Let them have a couple this year but managed to have a good harvest. Those damn rodents know exactly when it’s ready.
I have a thread (Do Any Members Have Skill or Experience With Arduino; Coding for Microcontrollers) about rats. I also have some serious experience with the fuckers.
- Have you identified what the potential animal is for sure? 100%? Have you seen one/them? Or rat shit?
I had/have been dealing with them for about 4+ years now. One of the best tools I got was cameras. As far as exterminating tools, I’ve tried almost all of them, and am willing to answer any questions or give suggestions. I have literally hundreds of videos/footage of them and their behavior. I’ve sent dozens and dozens to meet their maker. I studied this/them like I was in school a while back, haha.
Note:
@FieldEffect Was very helpful trying to assist me in getting a/my arduino trap going, but I just lack the requisite coding skills and time to improved. I spent so much time on that.
In the end, he was going to help me with having some little boards made (outsourced) and with the code for them. But just didn’t have time in the end (wife, kids/school, work, garden projects, etc.).
I say that to say this, I think about this trap almost every day - every week for sure. And I still want it done, and I’d gladly pay for it (if you’re reading this, @FieldEffect), or donate something nice to the forum maybe? Whatever.
So, if you wanna chip in, @OG619, maybe we can get someone with the engineering skills to help.
Sorry if vague, check my thread. Well over $1000 in traps, and various other bits of kit.
EDIT: I saw the word “rat” in your thread title, randomly, and…well, it triggered something inside me. PTSD. I see them on camera almost every night.
They are very smart and what works today may not work tomorrow.
I’ve been wanting to set up a trail cam in the backyard mostly to see the wildlife at night, we get coyotes, bobcats, skunks, possums, racoons, even some mountain lion sightings within a mile or so away, would be interesting to place one by the plants to see what lurks around at night. I’m not sure on who the culprit was last night assuming rat or mouse but we have these bushy tailed woodrats that I believe are vegetarian, we got big rats, small mice, squirrels, gophers. Last year a damn gopher popped up in my raised bed and chewed the base of the stalk in half, now I know to put some kind of screen or preventative barrier at base of bed. I’ll look through the thread sounds like you have some experience.
My friend had a pack rat living in his out building. He tried traps and poison to get it. Eventually he left the door open for a couple weeks and the thing up and left.
My best rodent advice is piss them off more than they piss you off. Take all their food, seal all their holes and tunnels, steal their babies, find some dogs or cats to live out there (we have a rat snake out there currently), start shooting. Ive even played the radio in the barn all day.
I’ve never had much luck with traps and I’d never poison, it would just end up killing something it shouldn’t. Being a horrible landlord seems to work some.
Agreed. I really don’t want to accidentally kill the neighbours cat.
Fuckers ate all my tomatoes THIS year. Im not mad at all lol. Ive done some serious rodent genocide with the bucket water traps. Bait some peanut butter or walnuts, and youll snag them fools fast. When I was living in the Santa Cruz mountains, in the spring/early summer each bucket trap would get 10+ kills a day. My record in 1 day was 15. Theyll even get those bigass mountain rats, not just little mice.
That, and worse.
Lots of possibilities then (unfortunately). Harder to know. I don’t think there are “vegetarian” rats. Rats can and will eat anything though, including poop, each other, and smaller rodents. I duno about the “bushy tail” you’re talking about. But the “Norway Rat” (Rattus Norvegicus), or “Brown Rat”, is the scourge of this earth. It’s a “ground” rat (burros, digs, tunnels), as opposed to the “Tree Rat”. I duno where you live, and what’s around there. But the Norways are almost everywhere on earth.
They can and will chew through anything if determined; concrete, aluminum, etc. Only stainless or galvanized steel deters them strongly. “1/4 inch Galvanized Hardware Cloth”. It has to be galvanized, and it can’t have holes larger than 1/4". This is what you need for a “barrier”.
Be thankful they’re not in your home (I hope they aren’t). If you have to make a “barrier” *around" an object/area - like outside, where there’s no “roof” to speak of. You might have to use something like hardware cloth (metal mesh) and then electrify it with one of those electric “horse” fence things.
If this is outside you’ll likely have constant “pressure” from them/critters. You can’t kill them all, unfortunately. One reason I mentioned a barrier of some kind. I assume your plants/garden area is just an open area with beds/containers…
-You are going to get a lot of bad advice coming in, man. Try not to waste money, or time.
Peppermint can fuck off. Hot sauce can fuck off. Cats… please.
That’s the stick in a 5 gal bucket trick? Those things were even eating my hot peppers at a different spot last year, started eating jalapenos then moved on to the hotter ones.
I have a couple totes with every trap that will be suggested.
So much for the hot sauce idea, right.
Also, is there abundant … plant/forest based food around (from trees, bushes, etc.), like berries, nuts, etc.? Open water nearby? Can you say where you’re located.
Soudns like wildlife around that would eat dead rats in the open, too.
I started with a cheapish trail camera. Then got some little Eufy Cam wifi cameras solely for this purpose.
I’m want to say the ones eating the seeds are the “bushy tailed woodrats” or just regular rats. I’ve seen other rats in the past eat through plaster to get into a wall or house. I’m in San Diego, the rats eat the cactus/berries/fruits around the yard, they got a lot of predators including snakes, hawks, raccoons, opposes, coyotes, etc. So they keep the population low but I swear everytime somethings ready to harvest they find a way to get to it even though it might only be 1 or 2. But I’m going to grab a cheap trail cam online just to see what’s really out there in the middle of the night. The hot sauce, alcohol, soap is just a preventative spray I was using to spray the plants for a minor aphid problem, but read it could deter rats, thinking back I highly doubt it’d do much. Those rats eating the peppers were at a different location different rats, those ones were Savage AF.
Yup! Well theres 2 methods, the fancy lid traps you bait. Those are the ones I prefer for the most death and destruction(lol). But if youre in a place with no water available like the mountains, theyll jump in just for the water. This is the style I like for them. Im not sure if this is a good deal, just the first one I found.
Amazon.com?
crid=22TS42U3CVWKD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ej236lX0qnNnudaFbWQaO6qRLpTC3zE05CJ1MxAJr-BTlrOYXG84Ho8nV9y6-BOpu63PJWTRxAQYqDD2GvL_9TRfMuHNRTfBymM0EUSqf–EgE7JyVxUtdA3NYvUqgjwncM6HBdNschh3TNz5gSWRn8PQpnV6u1oVmnG4ZjrPNjmybToisngqSq_wppKosdB7dzOM3tRXvpb8FcXYWVswPvJ8Fsth5qwXvGnpTDTCgBmTUq4feUXeJ9Y5aJXFbAZQpyYnNZn6GxTvabHjsSBFfSKPpLe2rtj2_sFUZDPlB8.A8Ks5XaGgxOUMTcXZwradNbPjznmeslQXQ7sVS9WSaA&dib_tag=se&keywords=rodent+bucket+trap&qid=1724185166&sprefix=rodent+bucket+tr%2Caps%2C261&sr=8-4
For 20 bucks I’m about to order one right now. Thanks, I’m going to get proactive this week and sure I’ll get a catch a couple.
Best of luck! Theres a huge construction project going down right outside of where I live, and its been apocalyptic amounts of rodents. My buddy has been callin me ol blood and guts with all the kills Ive logged. Those bucket traps and the fancy modern mousetraps have been winning the war for me. This is the style Ive been using to cause havoc. Got a good number with the glue traps too, if you know where theyre travelling. Im all about the multi-prong attack though. Amazon.com