How to stop rats??

[MonkeyLearn]

Hi Everyone,

I've had problems with rats for quite a long time but now that I've started expanding my power tool collection I would like to protect them. Over the years I've tried a lot of thing with some things staying while others didn't work at all. I'll start with the ones that worked, obviously we started with basic rat traps, putting them almost everywhere (Including the house roof as they had started to migrate), I also removed all sources of food by putting the chicken, duck and dog food in metal barrels instead of plastic. This did slow them done but then they started going after our outdoor plants, I then did a bombing round of poison in the roof of the house as the dogs tend to wander the shed and didn't want them eating the pellets. That worked really well as we haven't had any in the roof since (Also for those who might be worried I know that my two dogs don't eat rats if they find or kill them{as they are sight hounds} so they wouldn't get poisoned).

Our issue then lied with the insulation in our shed, by this time they had tunnelled in it so the only reason they were staying was for the nice home. At the moment we are getting rid of the insulation and we are planning to replace it. My issue now is how stop them, from getting back in. The gaps they can squeeze are between the tops of the wall and the roof. I've done a lot of research and some people swear by steel wool, while others swear by different caulking. I just wanted to get some some opinions on these and maybe some new ideas.

Thank You in Advance,

MonkeyLearn MonkeyDo

[Jason]

Good luck with detering the rats @MonkeyLearn. It must be a very frustrating problem for you.

Let me tag a few helpful members in @Prof, @royq and @JDE who might like to kick off this discussion for you. 

I would also encourage you to check out these previous discussions on the site as there's some great tips contained in them:

• Evidence of rats in ceiling

• Electric rodent repeller

• Keeping mice out of the house

• How to deter rats in the garden?

Looking forward to hearing what measures have had success for you.

Jason

[Brad]

I have them visit the sheds even though they have nothing to eat there so interested in hearing about rat proofing as well.

[Prof · Accepted solution]

With multiple inlets through the  gaps in the corrugated roof (I assume) steel wool would be your answer..

You could also do what I did to stop mice coming into the house by putting some peppermint oil onto cotton wool..

What I would do is to apply some to the steel wool before putting under the roof...

Mice hate the smell of the oil, but I don't know if it would affect rats the same way...

Certainly worth a try..

[JDE]

It wont stop them getting in but we posion them outside. We use lenghts of stormwater pipe cap it at both ends and drill a hole in the middle of the caps big enough for rats. Baits go inside. 

JDE

[Aussie-Garden]

I do similar to @JDE. 

We are constantly battling mice in the yard (thankfully not inside) and because we have 2 dogs as well as free roaming chickens, we put square baits in sealed containers or a capped  poly pipe with a hole just big enough for them to squeeze in. Works a treat!

[MonkeyLearn]

Thanks @Prof  will give this a go

[MonkeyLearn]

Great idea @JDE will try this for sure

[MonkeyLearn]

Thanks a lot @Jason all of these were very helpful. I will update this once I have all the insulation out and test everything out

[Prawns]

Careful if your mice get into the bait station then die outside the bait station where a free roaming chook might wander rattle. Just as a friendly headsup my chooks absolutely love eating mice they find (dead or alive, Ive knocked a couple mice off myself in the past and fed them to my chooks but they catch their own as well) Bit of a downside with chook ownership mice and rats are always seem a bit of a issue as they chase the scratch.  Ive always had the odd mouse here as all my neighbours have chooks, now Im a chook owner myself I see alot more lol. Best of luck at least minimising the issues guys I feel for you having similar issues myself