rodents--following up previous suggestions

(Rats and mice) Hi, people have written in about rodent control before and suggested working baking soda or plaster of paris into meal. Maybe I've gotten the ratios wrong. That hasn't seemed to have notable results here. I've looked into getting a barn owl box but they aren't common in the area. I am also trying to set up attractive areas for snakes. Anyway any suggestions much appreciated.

michaelson alexander wrote:(Rats and mice) Hi, people have written in about rodent control before and suggested working baking soda or plaster of paris into meal. Maybe I've gotten the ratios wrong. That hasn't seemed to have notable results here. I've looked into getting a barn owl box but they aren't common in the area. I am also trying to set up attractive areas for snakes. Anyway any suggestions much appreciated.

Buy one of those traps that catch the rats alive and release them far away from your land, maybe one of these

Thank you. Did buy many similar traps previously when it was just mice before the rats moved into the compost but the mice seemed to stop frequenting them after a while. I don't know if natural selection works that fast but the traps did stop working.

Before I got cats, 3 infrared triggered rat zappers worked quite well. And probably less painful than normal snap traps.

Baited them with peanuts, buried them in the garden.

I should mention there's dogs there too. But there might be one place that could work. Thanks.

michaelson alexander wrote:Thank you. Did buy many similar traps previously when it was just mice before the rats moved into the compost but the mice seemed to stop frequenting them after a while. I don't know if natural selection works that fast but the traps did stop working.

Did you try changing the bait and placement? With rats you need to develop trapping skills, rats are intelligent. Use gloves when handling traps so you don't leave a human smell. Put bait out with unset traps so they get used to the traps. That sort of thing.

Kill traps (properly set) are more humane than plaster of paris (traps in tunnels will ensure a kill, traps without tunnels often catch animals by the leg or tail).

I read somewhere to use quick-dry cement instead of plaster of paris...

Our beagle mix dog and big cat catch both mice and rats (and voles and moles). The dog also points out copperheads in the yard and armidillo, possom, skunk and woodchuck...not deer or rabbit for some reason. I think the cat is well worth having in spite of the occasional lizard and bird she kills.
I've always felt like live traps were just passing the problem on to someone else and killing by plaster of paris or whatever just seems cruel.
Our dog is a very efficient preditor and so is the cat although she gets into playing with her food a bit too much sometimes. I also think just the presence of the dog and cat (both outside anmals) keeps our rodent population down.