Rats - AAaaaRGH!

[Niki_K]

I noticed a mouse in my smaller flight aviary the other night, so I opened the door of the aviary, chased him out and into the jaws of my waiting German Shepherd. No problems since! Fortunately, my pup now associates tracking/catching mice with endless praise and treats, so she's been in hunter mode ever since!

[Fincho162]

For yer rat might I suggest Rat Blitz as its back on the market and very, very effective...........in biscuit crumbs so some care where u place it.

Also for attracting said rodent head to the home brewing shop and grab some conc. Aniseed Essence............

[SamDavis]

Thanks fincho, will try both.

Still no rat caught. Last night's carnage appears to be just king quail. Found 3 bodies in the open and no doubt more out of obvious view. This evening I'll use their remains as bait in traps. I've no idea how many king quail were in this aviary - at least 20 at a rough guess and I've found about 6 quail bodies so far. I intended to get rid of all the king quail but this is a bit extreme!

Hopefully I'll have the afternoon free so I intend to dig up the concrete/rocks within the shelter area as it's the most likely place the bludger's hiding.

[E Orix]

Sam
As I mentioned earlier please try at least one trap baited with some sort of meat you may be surprised.
Maybe a discarded chop bone with a scrap of meat on it. Wild rats will eat meat rather than grain if they are given a choice

[SamDavis]

Sam
As I mentioned earlier please try at least one trap baited with some sort of meat you may be surprised.
Maybe a discarded chop bone with a scrap of meat on it. Wild rats will eat meat rather than grain if they are given a choice

Will do. Roast beef last night so will use some leftovers and will also try some raw meat.

[SamDavis]

Got the @##$%^ bastard!

Sledge hammer and shovel - started ripping into the concrete following the small burrow entrance I spotted last evening. Went in about 2 foot or so then he bolted out. Spent an hour or so chasing him around the aviary throwing the shovel at him - suprisingly I actually hit him a few times. Eventually he nipped into a nest box and I managed to cover the hole. Held the whole box underwater for his last minute or so on the planet. I'm normally not good at killing any animal but I must say I kind of enjoyed this one!

Found another 8 quail, 2 plumheads and 2 more painteds - all killed but only one had been eaten a bit. Seems killing is (was!) more a sport for the bugger. Just did a rough count of the remaining birds and there's 1 painted cock (out of 1 pair and 5 fledglings), 2 adult longtails (out of 3 pair plus heaps of fledglings plus chicks), 2 fledgling plumheads (out of 1 pair plus fledglings plus chicks), 5 OBs (out of 6 plus a few fledglings), 4 stars (out of 4) and 2 pair of quail (out of heaps). Amazing the damage a single rat can cause in a few days. Interesting to note that the Stars are the only species I don't think were nesting and they all managed to survive.

I've got a few spares of most of these species in my holding cage except for painteds (7 cocks in the holding cage!) At least this aviary's had a good clean out and plants pruned (which I've been meaning to do for years).

[garyh]

Great to hear,bet the concrete took a damn hiding,just a thought ,check to the end of the hole in case the he was a she,good luck,garyh.

[ColouredFeathers]

Good point garyh and great to hear you got the rat

[djb78]

Good going Sam, Gary has a point I would be filling the hole up with water just to make sure.

[jusdeb]

Good job

Its funny you know , I have baits in every avairy now and traps in most ...all the baits are being eaten but the only trap that catches mice is one walk in that houses a pair of PC lorikeets .

I catch at least one a day using the same trap and the same bait as all the others