Thread: Rats infestation in huts

I am a light sleeper and so rats in huts make for a very average time. Just take a fly and camp a bit away from the hut. If need be just use the hut during the day or if the weather is crap.
One hut I stayed at last year, first trip I put out quite a bit of bait. Went back two weeks later and stayed for a couple of weeks.
There were 2 DoC 200 traps outside and I caught 26 rats over that time.
Goes to show how many rats can be around.

We were on the way to Westport for a 4wd trip a few years ago, and few 4wd's in convoy at night and it was a 'mast' year for the Rata. Man....the mice crossing the road was mind boggling. I was tail end Charlie and the guy up front was on the uhf describing what was happening. I was driving over squished mice and still cleaning up the hordes that were still crossing the road!.

Originally Posted by NIMROD

Some good advice there.
And you can do your bit for conservation by helping keep our backcountry pristine and carry in a bucket of Rat Bait.
But don't just spread it around or toss it under the hut, It'll only get carted away and stored in just one or two nests.
Nail it to pieces of firewood and leave it in dry sheltered places.
Or if you visit a campsite regularly.... Leave a couple of Victor #1's, that you've pre hair triggered, permanently nailed around the camp perimeter.
But don't leave them set when you walk out. That's just too cruel if you catch a possum and it lingers for days in the trap.
In just one camp over 2024, I caught 26 rats, 1 mouse, 5 hedgehogs, 7 possums and 1 cat
The easy thing is, it all happens while your sleeping

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ya still a weapon mate!

Yeah.... most back country users have hilarious stories to tell of rats in huts.
Mine is when staying in a rat infested Urewera hut and had my knife belt hanging on a nail in a stud.
I was least amused in the morning to see a rat had gnawed on the stitching of my $400 Bill Nikl Knife sheath

put my hearing aids on the floor next to my bunk. Rats took them during the night.
Never seen again.

Sounds like the rats are upgrading, they will be able to hear everyone coming now with their bionic hearing

Heard a yarn from some scientist types doing some work on the Auckland Islands. They dug a small long drop for the two weeks that they were there for. The chaps were quite perplexed to find no paper or crap left after an hour or two after doing it. Rats were so hungry they ate it all. Let alone the tents prove no match for ratty and mates chewing through tent and into packs and sleeping bags. Worst two weeks of there life by all accounts.

Don't worry we will be predator free in 2050?

I'm not sure poison is a good idea, theres a good chance you can kill someones dog.

Originally Posted by stickle7

Don't worry we will be predator free in 2050?

Originally Posted by stickle7

Don't worry we will be predator free in 2050?

and more laughs and chuckles that comment above should be in the funny section

The rats on a washing line love it

I've stayed in 15-20 different south island huts and never seen a rat, maybe 1-2 mice. Most have bait on boards or traps.

Seen and killed a few possums, a cat in Kaikoura and doing my part for Forest & Bird by shooting the odd deer

I've never come across rats.at huts before, only mice and possums. If I'm staying at a hut I always carry a mouse trap and peanut butter. On a trip to Cass Saddle hut last autumn I killed 6 mice in one night... The hut was full and I had to sleep on the floor, the blighters were scampering around my head all night. Set trap, wait, snap!, fling deceased mouse into a corner, reset trap and wait for the next one. Didn't get a lot of sleep... 😄

Stayed in a hut on Stewart island some years back. Had to tie my sleeping bag down to stop the rats carting me off. Another bloke had a bite out of his face. Nasty experience for him.


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