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Michelle Jean
Kamloops, BC, Canada
I was wondering if anyone has suggestions to get rid of rats! This invasive species has taken over our feeders even during daytime! I am afraid I will have to stop feederwatch and remove my feeders!!!!! The rats won’t enter the traps we set, and I don’t want to accidentally trap any birds!
Other
Category: Other
Black Roof Rat
Hi Michelle, If mammals become a nuisance, the best tactic is to make your feeders inaccessible – fencing or baffles might be helpful here. Another option is to string a cable between two trees and suspend your feeders above the reach of the hungry critters. If these approaches are impractical, you may have to remove your feeders temporarily until the animals move on in search of food elsewhere. Rest assured, it’s absolutely fine to skip FeederWatch counts when needed. If the rats are coming to spilled seed beneath your feeders, try altering the types of food you provide, such as “no-mess” blends, or keeping to just suet, thistle (nyjer), mealworms, fruit, or other foods less likely to spill on the ground.
Thank you Holly, I appreciate the advice! I will see what I can jimmy up to deter those little critters. I wouldn’t mind so much if they were squirrels… last night I heard something chewing the joists in our attic and I just know it was a rat. Squirrels don’t chew houses, at least I don’t think they do. The rat seems cute to me. It’s not their fault they don’t have fluffy tails!
For whatever reason my local birds will only eat shelled black oil sunflower seeds (no mess). and Suet. They won’t touch anything else and it all ends up wasted, on the ground as offerings to the rats. Maybe I’ve spoiled them. I’m thinking maybe a different type of feeder would work better to keep the seed off the ground. A hanging feeder is not accessible to my bigger birds like the Jays, and doves. It just swings too much (and ends up spilling the seeds – as the Jays have learned). I think the only thing I can do is to remove my feeders for a while. I’m a bit concerned to do this because it’s going to snow tonight and get colder, are my birds reliant on the food I provide? I would be sad to ‘cut them off’ . Maybe I’ll wait a few days. My husband was not overly impressed with the rat in our attic as you can imagine, so this is definitely something we are going to have to deal with soon!
Called exterminators, put a baffle on our feeder pole and a mesh tray beneath the feeder to catch what falls. We’ll see how it all works. Birds adjusted quickly to the new apparatus, squirrels and rats can no longer get to the feeder directly.
I too have rats at my feeders. I had to switch foods to no mess, and suet, sweep daily, use peppermint spray and pellets and put baffles under my fences to keep them from coming in. Also had to rearrange the stones around my pond to remove habitat and rearrange stones in my bird patio to sweep up old sunflower seed and minimize cracks. Also tried outdoor ultrasonic. I have cut the population down to 2 rats in front, none in back, but I still have them. I no longer see rat holes, but I see them in front on the bird patio at dawn and dusk. I do not know what they are eating – I think they wait until the birds come in the am and drop a little seed before the ground feeders come and eat it because it has been swept up before dusk. I need owls.
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