Rats

[Los Suenos]

How to get rid of rats on a boat? Poison? Traps, trying both if them.

[Fanfare]

Poison and traps both work. However, the stickey adhesive traps merely leave you with a lot of bare-chested rats running around. Probably cooler for them in the summer.

The important thing is to find how they are getting into the boat and close this off. Sometimes this means keeping all the doors closed even when on board. I had to put hardware cloth, a metal mesh with about half inch apart welded wire squares, over my engine room vents. Unfortunately this traps the ones already on board so they can't leave. Big spring traps are better after this as the bodies are easier to retrieve. Sometimes with poison they go into holes to die. You can imagine how bad this could be on a boat.

[magnawake]

I would try traps. I know with poison it is supposed to decompose the dead rat after it kills them, but I cant believe it wouldnt smell a little, or alot. I just want for every dead rat to be accounted for. First, Where are they coming from? How did they get there? If you kill the ones on your boat, whats to say more might climb aboard. For my house, I had some mice which I used snap traps, glue traps and they worked great. Just a few small mice can cause a lot of grief. Good luck and keep us posted. Remember....LOTS of TRAPS.

[Boatsb]

Overdose the boat with peppermint oil. So bad it smells like a gum factory. They do not like the peppermint and will leave on their own. Then there are no dead rats to stink.

[Karl]

I would not use poison. A friend of mine used poison and it worked, but the rats found recesses of his boat to die in and it took a lot of work to excavate them while putting up with the stench. I would use traps.

Besides sealing off their access to the boat, I personally have made sure there is no easy sources of food to attract them. After a cruise, I either take all loose food off the boat or place it in the frig or micro. Not sure that stops them, but I do not have a rat problem. Not yet...

[MikeP]

Totally agree re no poison; use traps - the spring traps that kills them NOW. We used poison in a house many years ago and ended up with dead rat stink for months. Poison is a really bad solution IMO.

[Mike36c]

NO poison, just very large medieval spring traps loaded with peanut butter. Don't forget to wire (leader wire) the trap to something nearby, I've seen big ones limp off trap and all. Bacon is another great bait but as mentioned above seal off where you think the critters are getting in.

[Vincentc]

Let me say amen to no poison.
Our great dane found and ate rat poison in my mother in law's store room. Thankfully, I caught her chewing something unusual and found the green tablet and realized what she ate. Called the vet and he advised to give her hydrogen peroxide. She threw up several tablets. The vet gave her vitamin k shots and prescribed vitamin k tablets. She survived without incident; however the experience was stressful and expensive for her owners.

Undetected, the poison may kill your pet in a very gruesome way, bleeding to death in a visible manner.

Rat poison can cause big problems. and I would not recommend it.

Regarding traps, I have used the plastic clam shell looking traps (Lowe's has them) with good success, baited with peanut butter and dry dog food.

Peppermint sounds interesting, perhaps preceded by incense, if you are old enough.

Regards,

[bigbill]

make sure you read the trap instructions.....rats run along walls, not out in the open. so put the traps against the walls where the rats are known to move. also set the traps against the wall with the bait end against the wall, NOT long ways against the wall. dont use poison, boy do they stink when they die....ask me why i know so much about this subject.

[George]

once you kill the rat, you need to prevent more from getting in

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