I just started building my retirement home (Nevada desert) and I found out that I have pack-rats living under my conex shed.

I started seeing rats crap this past trip and decided to put out some poison. The poison did no good, they took the poison bait bars and made couches out of them.

They steal everything from screw drivers to empty Pepsi cans. This is my first time experiencing these types of animals. My neighbor told me they are hard to get rid of. They wont eat poison and they avoid traps.

They are eating the wiring in my motor home. I'm only at the job site on the weekends. How the hell can I get rid of these damn things?

If you have experience with these little thief's, please post it up. I am desperate.

Thanks,

Rich

Rich, I have delt with the same kind of problem in the past. We raised exotic birds for about 15 yrs. With all the seed and food avialable to the rats it was a constant problem. I my experience they travel a certain path, usually close to the wall. We had good success useing large -long glue traps ,placed agianst the walls and a baited teeter totter over a barrel of water with ramps leading to it (preferred bait peanut butter soaked paper towel inside a ladies stocking) Good luck !!! :yes: It's a nasty job.

I have heard good things from people who used the "teeter totter" method. One tip with that is to use antifreeze instead of water. Pickles them and keeps the smell down.

glue traps worked for me, but i was only dealing with mice. bastards got in by chewing the rubber plug on the passenger rear floor pan.

Will they drink beer like most mice and such will?

Then use the tub and teeter-totter method on them.

pdq67

glue traps are fun!

Keep the hoods up on the car/motorhome (they prefer the dark). We used to set their nests afire and shoot 'em with a .22 (not so good under the house) Constant destruction of the nests (we used a rake under the house) poison, poison and more poison, traps (glue and regular) and noise seem to keep them in control. We had the problem of them living in the woods also so eradication wasn't possible but we kept them out of the house, mostly.

How about building a Moat? :)

well, i would get a small caliper gun or even a pellet gun would probably take car of them.

70 bucks a piece at the Humane Society by the old Burlingame drive in . Camaro friendly and efficient . When I see a rat it is already dead...the Humming Birds don't even come around anymore because the brindle cat snatches them out of mid-air!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/ChevyThunder/th_DSC01039.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/ChevyThunder/DSC01039.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/ChevyThunder/th_DSC02470.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/ChevyThunder/DSC02470.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/ChevyThunder/th_DSC00996a.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/ChevyThunder/DSC00996a.jpg)

We had possums, after trapping and all other attempts to get rid of them failed I soaked rags in amonia and tossed them around under the house and sprayed amonia around the outside of the house... Thought I was going to die from the fumes doing it but it didn't stink us out of the house at all.

The amonia was a substitute for fox urine which was only available on the internet :D, the fox is the natural enemy of the possum who will leave town if they think a fox has taken a pee near their nest. It worked like a charm, maybe it would work for your rat infestation...

Mr. Tibbs I was thinking of the cat idea to but after seeing your pics especially the one with the cat in the car I started tossing and turning. I have been battling a bout with cat pi$$ on the passenger seat. I have tried everthing, shampoo, pet odor eliminator, Fabreeze, Ozium spray and more shampoo, cloth seats. I finally took the seat out and did a final shampoo and sprayed the seat down with Brute. Now car smells like Brute which is better than cat pi$$ but you can bet I don't leave my window down anymore. If I ever found a cat in my Camaro now I would, OOPS no I wouldn't. HEE HEE HEE

I have been battling a bout with cat pi$$ on the passenger seat. I have tried everthing, shampoo, pet odor eliminator, Fabreeze, Ozium spray and more shampoo, cloth seats.
Next time try Odor Mute ,Always worked well for me. I'm the former owner of two pet stores :thumbsup:

Thanks Mike.

It's a shame that you are two hot out there in the desert for a couple of 5' long Black Snakes!!

A mating pair of them would take care of the little varmints in a heartbeat.

pdq67

Will they drink beer like most mice and such will?

Then use the tub and teeter-totter method on them.

pdq67

I used the teeter-totter method in front of my beer fridge in the shop but it didn't work to well as my brother n law climbed right out of the tub and he ended up getting the beer anyway :sad:

Dealt with Packrats before when I was younger with a farm.
They are an annoying nuisance, Cats can't control them too big and would hurt a cat our Elk Hounds loved to eat them. Large glue traps and persistance, but what worked best was getting to the nest and I've also
heard somewhere that Ferrets would work.

Todd