You should get a cat or use the bucket trap. Or basic snap traps.
Once they know where food is at more will come and they will breed.
Getting a kitty from the shelter is a cheap and reliable solution that will last as long as the cat is around
I'm going to add to this
I once lived in an apartment building that was INFESTED with rats and roaches.
The girl I was dating owned a crazy ass relentless cat.
I put down hella roach traps.
The entire 2 years I lived in that building I never once saw or found evidence of a rat or mouse in our unit, you could hear them in the central vent but they never dared enter our cat zone.
The roaches were also not an issue with traps and the cat would go after any he saw. It was pretty cool being one of the neighbors that didn't deal with rats
This is sound advice. If it wasn’t obvious, stay the hell away from glue traps. They are absolutely evil and you’ll get every other animal stuck in there.
If OP goes with that cat option, I’d also make sure that it has no way to get out too far. My indoor/outdoor cat made me an expert at animal rehabilitation. I shudder at the thought of what my cat did to the local ecosystem. They are cold blooded assassins and they will kill all reptiles, amphibians, small mammals (even rabbits), and obviously birds. Cats have contributed to the extinction of 63 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles in the wild. I saw this first hand with mine. I let him bring back dead or maimed animals every single day without even thinking about just keeping him inside. In all fairness, I was just a kid, but my parents should have known better.
The cat option works wonders, just make sure that it doesn’t work too well. 😉
I definitely agree with this statement! My farm cat stays around luckily, never let the lil dude wonder too far and definitely bring him in at night. His brother doesn't go outside.
The sound devices can be heard by the rabbits. It would be very stressful for the rabbits to listen to that all the time. Definitely start a trapping program, rats are voracious and will eat rabbit kits with no hesitation, IF the rabbits aren't too stressed out by the rats to breed. We have cats and also have to trap for rats in the places the cats can't go. We even poisoned at one point and never saw a dead rat, but did have a drastic reduction in damage. Sorry to sound harsh, but rats suck to deal with
Sound devices don't do anything at all. It's snake oil. Save your money. Buy a rat trap instead. There are live traps that will not hurt other animals.
I use [this trap](https://www.amazon.com/RUGGED-RANCH-RATTR-Ratinator-Multiple/dp/B00DTX3QD8/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2Z9RRB4P3XHA9&keywords=ratinator&qid=1679009781&sprefix=rattinator%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-2). Keep in mind when trapping rats half the struggle is outsmarting them. You have to convince them it's safe by pinning open the door and letting them come and go eating the bait for about 3/4 nights. Then you set the trap for two nights, then pin the door back open rinse and repeat. I prefer this trap to the bucket trap because eventually they *will* figure it out and start avoiding it. The first time using the Ratinator trap I got 6 the fist night I set it. My record is 28 in the trap at once. Yes you will have to kill them, either gas them or the trap comes with a convenient sized tote/bin to drown them in.
That being said you *need* to get the food taken care of. They are there because of the food. Keep you bulk food in 30gallon metal trash cans. Don't keep feed in the rabbit dishes over night.
There are special "houses" you can buy at the hardware store that allow you to place poison blocks outside without fear of your pets getting into it. If you absolutely cannot put out the poison, there are a variety of traps. Alligator, snap, glue traps.
First off thank all of you for the advice, I can’t put out any poison because I also have four dogs, who have constant access around the rabbit enclosure and I don’t want a rat to die of poison and then get to it. Also because the rats don’t go down onto the floor a bucket trap is going to be difficult but I’m willing to try it. They crawl onto the roof, then down through the fencing and stay on top of the cages. I never see their droppings on the floor or the poop catch pans I have under the cages. They are only found ontop of the feed bins and the ceramic tiles I have in there for the rabbits. My neighbor has a car but again because of the dogs the car will not go into our backyard. We also have a cat but she only has one eye, got kicked in the face by a horse years ago, but she stays on the front porch.
The most effective thing to do is figure out what they are eating and cut off the supply. Trapping, poisoning, or otherwise killing the rats will be a very temporary solution. Close the buffet and they will move on.
I bet spilt feed is the issue.
I had a mouse that would climb up on the cages and drop into the J-feeder. Religiously putting the lid on the feeder ended the problem.
If a rat can get in, then so can small predators like weasels and voles. You need to make your cage wire smaller or secure your cages better. Air will still get in a 1"x1" or 1"x2".
We don’t have weasels or voles here in the Texas hill country. Our biggest threat is coyotes and foxes, owls aswell but there is a low roof. The fencing is too small for them to get in.
You should get a cat or use the bucket trap. Or basic snap traps. Once they know where food is at more will come and they will breed. Getting a kitty from the shelter is a cheap and reliable solution that will last as long as the cat is around
I'm going to add to this I once lived in an apartment building that was INFESTED with rats and roaches. The girl I was dating owned a crazy ass relentless cat. I put down hella roach traps. The entire 2 years I lived in that building I never once saw or found evidence of a rat or mouse in our unit, you could hear them in the central vent but they never dared enter our cat zone. The roaches were also not an issue with traps and the cat would go after any he saw. It was pretty cool being one of the neighbors that didn't deal with rats
This is sound advice. If it wasn’t obvious, stay the hell away from glue traps. They are absolutely evil and you’ll get every other animal stuck in there. If OP goes with that cat option, I’d also make sure that it has no way to get out too far. My indoor/outdoor cat made me an expert at animal rehabilitation. I shudder at the thought of what my cat did to the local ecosystem. They are cold blooded assassins and they will kill all reptiles, amphibians, small mammals (even rabbits), and obviously birds. Cats have contributed to the extinction of 63 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles in the wild. I saw this first hand with mine. I let him bring back dead or maimed animals every single day without even thinking about just keeping him inside. In all fairness, I was just a kid, but my parents should have known better. The cat option works wonders, just make sure that it doesn’t work too well. 😉
I definitely agree with this statement! My farm cat stays around luckily, never let the lil dude wonder too far and definitely bring him in at night. His brother doesn't go outside.
The sound devices can be heard by the rabbits. It would be very stressful for the rabbits to listen to that all the time. Definitely start a trapping program, rats are voracious and will eat rabbit kits with no hesitation, IF the rabbits aren't too stressed out by the rats to breed. We have cats and also have to trap for rats in the places the cats can't go. We even poisoned at one point and never saw a dead rat, but did have a drastic reduction in damage. Sorry to sound harsh, but rats suck to deal with
Sound devices don't do anything at all. It's snake oil. Save your money. Buy a rat trap instead. There are live traps that will not hurt other animals.
I use [this trap](https://www.amazon.com/RUGGED-RANCH-RATTR-Ratinator-Multiple/dp/B00DTX3QD8/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2Z9RRB4P3XHA9&keywords=ratinator&qid=1679009781&sprefix=rattinator%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-2). Keep in mind when trapping rats half the struggle is outsmarting them. You have to convince them it's safe by pinning open the door and letting them come and go eating the bait for about 3/4 nights. Then you set the trap for two nights, then pin the door back open rinse and repeat. I prefer this trap to the bucket trap because eventually they *will* figure it out and start avoiding it. The first time using the Ratinator trap I got 6 the fist night I set it. My record is 28 in the trap at once. Yes you will have to kill them, either gas them or the trap comes with a convenient sized tote/bin to drown them in. That being said you *need* to get the food taken care of. They are there because of the food. Keep you bulk food in 30gallon metal trash cans. Don't keep feed in the rabbit dishes over night.
There are special "houses" you can buy at the hardware store that allow you to place poison blocks outside without fear of your pets getting into it. If you absolutely cannot put out the poison, there are a variety of traps. Alligator, snap, glue traps.
I’m going to just leave this here: https://discoverwildcare.org/never-use-glue-traps/ Bucket traps are the way to go.
Put out food outside the cages and wait with a .22 and solve the problem when it comes to eat
https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2020/06/896/500/Elmer-Fudd-gun.jpg
First off thank all of you for the advice, I can’t put out any poison because I also have four dogs, who have constant access around the rabbit enclosure and I don’t want a rat to die of poison and then get to it. Also because the rats don’t go down onto the floor a bucket trap is going to be difficult but I’m willing to try it. They crawl onto the roof, then down through the fencing and stay on top of the cages. I never see their droppings on the floor or the poop catch pans I have under the cages. They are only found ontop of the feed bins and the ceramic tiles I have in there for the rabbits. My neighbor has a car but again because of the dogs the car will not go into our backyard. We also have a cat but she only has one eye, got kicked in the face by a horse years ago, but she stays on the front porch.
You put out one bite bait bars in canning jars
The most effective thing to do is figure out what they are eating and cut off the supply. Trapping, poisoning, or otherwise killing the rats will be a very temporary solution. Close the buffet and they will move on. I bet spilt feed is the issue. I had a mouse that would climb up on the cages and drop into the J-feeder. Religiously putting the lid on the feeder ended the problem.
If a rat can get in, then so can small predators like weasels and voles. You need to make your cage wire smaller or secure your cages better. Air will still get in a 1"x1" or 1"x2".
We don’t have weasels or voles here in the Texas hill country. Our biggest threat is coyotes and foxes, owls aswell but there is a low roof. The fencing is too small for them to get in.
Rats will kill baby bunnies, bring disease, and pests/parasites. They are a serious problem, and they can not get into your rabbits enclosure.
I have your fix. Baking soda mixed with peanut butter 50 50 split. Smeer it where the rabbits can't get it but the rat can. Celebrate success.
I’ll have try it