Welcome guest, is this your first visit? Create Account now to join.
  • Login:

Welcome to the NZ Hunting and Shooting Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.

Night Vision NZ Ammo Direct


User Tag List

+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 25
Like Tree8Likes

Thread: Hi all, new in here, Rat advice please?

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    Horowhenua
    Posts
    55

    Hi all, new in here, Rat advice please?

    Hi all, new here.

    Been shooting a few rats at my brothers property, lives on a farm which has more than it's share of rats, which are getting into his home, and making tunnels everywhere. He is not allowed to use poison, anyway he has pet cats and chickens which seem to peck at the baby rats, not to mention farm dogs running around.

    Does have a gas powered trap which basically explodes their heads, got around 50 so far with this.

    Have a few questions hopefully someone much wiser than me can help me with!

    Any tips on attracting Rats, example food? Seems bread, chook and cat food do "okay" so far. Would love to know of anything irresistible to rats.

    Have read Rats don't see Red. Tried chucking red cellophane over the bright spotlamp which helped a little, may try it on my small cree torch, as I'm only shooting up to 15 metres max. Using .22 slug guns around 20 ft lbs, too much I guess, but it's what we have. Using heavier grain pellets, certainly make one hell of a thud when they hit them.

    I realise they have intense hearing and sense of smell, seem to be quite a hard prey to get, as they move so fast.

    Any hints or tips from you guys? Keen to get as many as we can, as there are plenty of them round.

    Cheers for any hints or tips.

  2. #2
    SiB
    SiB is offline
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Invercargill
    Posts
    1,921
    Welcome to the forum!

    Can’t really advise re rats. But I’ll be following w interest!!

  3. #3
    ebf
    ebf is offline
    Mushroom juice ! Hic ! ebf's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Above the Hutt
    Posts
    6,872
    Howdy Altair, welcome

    Is the gas powered trap a Good Nature one ? I've had good success with one of those at a client.

    Rodents (at least those around our house) love peanut butter
    Viva la Howa ! R.I.P. Toby | Black rifles matter... | #illegitimate_ute

  4. #4
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    Horowhenua
    Posts
    55
    Hi, not sure on the brand, blue plastic, takes the small gas cylinders. Didn't take much notice as I'd rather shoot them...lol but I know it was $200 odd last year?

  5. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    Rotorua
    Posts
    178
    +1 on the peanut butter.

  6. #6
    Banned
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    North Canterbury
    Posts
    5,462

  7. #7
    Member Max Headroom's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    Southland
    Posts
    4,124
    Do you know where they live? if you can find holes (very common at the farm dead hole) then you might be able to find a way to kill a lot on site.
    RIP Harry F. 29/04/20

  8. #8
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Location
    Tioga County
    Posts
    351
    I like the Goodnature traps. I think part of the success with those is finding what food they enjoy and then using that as bait. They are a bit pricey but they hammer blow about two dozen mice or rats before needing a new co2 cylinder. If the rat problem is that out of control you will need several of those traps to get it under control. Nice thing I find with the Goodnature traps is they kill faster than they can reproduce.

  9. #9
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Porirua
    Posts
    1,335
    https://youtu.be/i2PSDVsZ38U
    This guy breeds them so he can show you how to catch them.
    Remember the 7 “P”s; Pryor Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

  10. #10
    northdude
    Guest
    Its not really a poison but google home made poison for rats theres one that uses bicarb soda i think that just fills them with gas

  11. #11
    Member Marty Henry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Tararua
    Posts
    7,047
    Peanut butter and plaster of paris 1:1 makes an effective rat killer its not poison they die of constipation so if it was put in drainpipe rat run traps would be safe around other animals.
    dannyb likes this.

  12. #12
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    Horowhenua
    Posts
    55
    Thanks guys, some good ideas in here. Yep there are holes all over. The peanut butter and plaster of paris sounds pretty painful, have a workmate I'd try that on...lol
    Off to buy Peanut Butter today, also read they like chocolate so maybe Nutella too, and having it up on a post will allow good shots.
    Cheers guys, appreciate your ideas.

  13. #13
    Member time out's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Tauranga
    Posts
    820
    I see a few rats but mostly they are dead in a trap - I don’t often see new numbers on the Goodnature registers but sometimes have a look if I go past - I have ten around the Park that I trap and changed all the gas bottles recently after six months in service - register numbers were 3, 8, 12, 3, 17, 11, 12, 3, 9, 4 - 80 odd rats for a near $2000 investment - but they save me going to traps in ugly spots
    I have tested the GN A24 alongside a standard trap many times - the rats will almost always go for the standard trap
    Best investment is a Victor Pro trap in a box - $30 each or buy the trap for about $7 and make the box - maybe $8
    I recently saw a tiler working on a new house up the street - shooting rats at lunchtime on a 50m dirt bund round one side of the site - it looked like it was shot with a shotgun - it was full of rats he was using a Weihrauch .22 gas fired slug gun with a rotary mag - he got five while I was there - some jumped high and ran away - but he couldn’t get on with his real job - he just loved shooting rats - I put a GN A24 there for one night and didn’t get a single hit - a waste of time
    I like GN Possum Paste as a lure on traps but I am running a few boxes around the street at present and bloody ants take the bait over night - so have reverted to peanut butter mixed with rolled oats - about 70/30 ratio - the ants get the PB but leave the rolled oats for the rats - it seems to work - cinnamon lure is powerful for rats but peanut butter is pretty good - and low cost
    Name:  20190411_092141.jpg
Views: 262
Size:  414.7 KB

    Name:  20190411_091756.jpg
Views: 252
Size:  273.4 KB

    Name:  20190506_165001.jpg
Views: 280
Size:  1.48 MB

    Name:  IMG_2649.JPG
Views: 244
Size:  640.1 KB
    kukuwai likes this.

  14. #14
    Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    christchurch
    Posts
    17,964
    22 cal air rifle. glue a small rifle primer on the tip of the slug. one shot kill but they smell like hell

    or the good old trick of a rubbish bin full of water up to a foot of the lip, throw some chaff and grain on top of the water and the rats jump in expecting food but drown instead
    dannyb likes this.

  15. #15
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Stewart Island Rakiura
    Posts
    222
    You'll get a few with the Goodnatures but you need to back that up with maybe 6 or more Victors. We use core flute tunnels over the traps so kiwi and other birds wont reach the traps. Peanut butter and Nutella work well so does bacon fat etc. We even tried Schmakos the dog treats.
    When there is a big infestation which sounds like what you've got you need to check traps daily and rebait.
    Shooting will get you a few also but you need to keep up with the trapping to get on top of them. I personally wouldn't use the bi-carb of soda thing as its very cruel and takes ages for the rats to die.

 

 

Similar Threads

  1. .260 Advice
    By dnsn in forum Reloading and Ballistics
    Replies: 65
    Last Post: 17-08-2017, 04:56 PM
  2. any advice?
    By Shahin in forum Photography and Video
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 24-06-2017, 07:33 PM
  3. A bit of .22 advice
    By HuntGatherRepeat in forum Firearms, Optics and Accessories
    Replies: 81
    Last Post: 20-01-2017, 12:01 PM
  4. advice please
    By rs200nz in forum Firearms, Optics and Accessories
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 12-06-2015, 11:12 PM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
Welcome to NZ Hunting and Shooting Forums! We see you're new here, or arn't logged in. Create an account, and Login for full access including our FREE BUY and SELL section Register NOW!!