Mice bait - what's best?

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davlee
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Joined: 18 Jun 2015, 14:14
Location: Richmond, S.A.

I have tried many different types of traps with many different baits, but they rarely go near them.
Due to this I began using Ratsak 4 weeks ago. Every day/night they eat about half of what I put out. Clearly the "Double Strength" Ratsak isn't doing a complete job as I thought it might. I am surprised they haven't been wiped out in 4 weeks of use.

Any recommendations for something more effective that the mice will eat as readily as double strength Ratsak.

Luckily they haven't been able to enter the aviary but I see them on the outside quite often.

Dave
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E Orix
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Joined: 29 May 2009, 23:30
Location: Howlong on NSW/Vic Border 30km from Albury
Location: Howlong NSW

I use Tomcat or similar waxblocks either red or another make which is green.
Go to EBay and you can buy 1.8 kg container for under $50 from memory.
If a mouse drags the bait out into the open it doesn't seem to effect my birds
and it does kill the Rodents.
I prefer wax baits over pellet type as they are harder to move around by the Rodents and will not
break down if they get damp.
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collector_and_buyer
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Joined: 07 Jun 2012, 22:21
Location: young

It's not that it isn't doing its job,you obviously have a BIG problem with the amount of rodents you have there.Keep baiting and you will eliminate them,but,you will probably have to keep up a maintenance programme .Ratsak works fine as does most other poisons.
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E Orix
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Joined: 29 May 2009, 23:30
Location: Howlong on NSW/Vic Border 30km from Albury
Location: Howlong NSW

To follow on, I bait all year and now is the time to really concentrate on your poison program. As the weather becomes cooler the mice will move to warmer places with food to sustain them such as our aviaries.The more you kill now the less to breed and disrupt next seasons breeding.
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finchbreeder
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Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 20:00
Location: Midwest of West. Aust. Coast
Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast

Just topped up my baiting program. One of the disadvantages of being largely surrounded by bush.
LML
LML
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Stu
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Joined: 05 May 2014, 17:33
Location: Upper Hunter

As a suggestion try a different active.
The active in Double Strength Ratsak is Warfarin which is known as a first generation rodenticide.
The animal needs to consume large amounts of this product to be affective making it a 'safer' product to use, but possibly taking longer to get results.
Is 4 weeks enough for this product?
Baiting is not an instant fix in most cases, and depends on how many of the target animals are actually consuming the baits at the same time.
If only half the targets are consuming the bait then only half are going to be initially controlled while the other half continue, thus more target animals.
If the mice you are trying to control were confined to your aviary then I would think 4 weeks should be enough but if they are outside and coming from the neighbours a couple at a time? Probably not.
It is stated that some animals can become resistant to rodenticides, particularly those noted as First Generation Rodenticides. This is over generations of use though.
Maybe try a product containing a second generation active (whether you exhaust your Ratsak first is up to you).
Bodifacoumas as in Fast Action Ratsak, Talon and Tomcat II Tomcat pellets.
OrBromidioline available in Tomcat green pellets and most wax blocks.

As for traps, peanut butter easy to apply and use on most traps.





The bait/brands listed mean nothing to me, just a guide as to what people might be looking for.
With all baits/poisons/chemicals know what's in the product your using and what it actually does.
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mr skeeter
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Joined: 13 Nov 2013, 07:15
Location: Melbourne Vic

i put bait out all year round every 6 weeks i top up in my shed as no rodents can get in my aviaries if they could i would look at getting out of bird keeping thats how much i hate them, cheers mick
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Agapornis
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Joined: 10 May 2015, 23:31
Location: Sydney

HI ALL

I will take you back in time about 40 years ago when well known Parrot breeder Joe Mattinson who lived on a couple of acres
down at Fairymeadow near wollongong south of Sydney, and Joe had all his aviaries teared into a steep hillside section of his
property, and dealing with the rat problems he had, he set up a small generator every so often and connected a hose to the
exhaust of the generator and the other end went into the obvious rat holes around the aviaries and blocked off any other visible

holes with a couple of sand bags where the rats may have escaped the fumes and basically killed anything in the network of holes
to eradicate the rats and or mice. So any of you that have a fairly servere problem with mice or rats living in this sort of ground
bunkers, you might like to try this every so often, and if you have a petrol driven Brush cutter or Whipper snipper will do the job.

A little modification to the attaching of the hose to the exhaust outlet is all you would need to do to stop the hose from melting
by fixing a metal sleeve or a heat resistance sleeve in or over the exhaust first, to reduce the heat onto the hose is all that's needed then let the whipper snipper just sit and idle on the ground for what ever time you think is sufficient depending on the size of the problem.

Obviously common sense has to be used in monitoring your birds and no fumes are effecting them so all outlets where the vermin
may escape from properly sealed and 20 to 30 minutes of running the whipper snipper or maybe your lawn mower would be sufficient.

Alternatively there is a truck load of contraptions and baits out there to choose from and caution on how you use them must be of
the upmost importance around your birds to prevent you accidently poisoning some of your birds.

Bait stations are a bit of a risk with the chance of mice or rats taking some poison into an aviary even if the bait station is outside.

Hope some of you find the above idea is a way you may control the vermin in severe cases.

Regards Agapornis.
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spoton
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Joined: 12 Feb 2011, 11:18
Location: Lockyer QLD

Hey mate, I use Tomcat and other wax blocks (put them in the "bait stations" so that the risk of birds accessing the baits is limited). I also use a number of live trap cages baited with 'peanut paste / butter dependant on what you call it.

Strange to say but the peanut butter/paste is the best mouse attractant I have ever seen.

Happy mousing!!!
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fitzmooney
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Joined: 18 May 2014, 02:40
Location: Esperance

I use those little rocking tubes baited with peanut paste and then feed them to the chooks on the front lawn and watch the comedy.
They love them.
Last edited by fitzmooney on 01 Apr 2019, 15:16, edited 1 time in total.
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