Anyone have a good fix for keeping rats out of the garage? As the weather is warming I'm finding more evidence of them, either droppings or chewed pieces of material/rubber. I junked a couple bunch seats I was storing after I found they were infesting. I've even seen evidence of them in my wife's off topic daily driver, on the intake manifold specifically. I've gone through most of the stuff at home depot to no avail, and being California I don't think you can even buy rat poison anymore. Any helpful tips?
Those plug in things are supposed to work well. @jnaki has given good info on them. I’m a sadist though, I like to see them dead…
Find where they are getting in. This may take some quiet observation. Stay in the areas where you know they are in the quiet. Listen and watch. Look around outside everywhere around the perimeter of the building. Roof vents etc. It is possible to make a rat proof building. It just takes time and a good look.
Peanut butter and plastic snap traps work for us in Az. Those are pack rats in the yard, though. Not sure if that’s the species you’re dealing with.
I had a neighbor who had rats in thier yard, didn't take long before we had them. I had to deal with the municipality to have the neighbor clean up, part of the process was me getting a citation for having an active bird feeder ( what the birds left, the rats ate). Once I thought this thru, they ( local govt) were right, I was providing a food source, I'm not saying you are, but rats are resourceful and will find what they want , when they want it. I then did an inventory of my yard etc, and realized I was providing plenty of places for the rats to hide etc, I did a detailed clean up of my yard , secured the trash cans etc. Was glad to been done with them.
A five gallon plastic bucket, piece of 1/8 welding rod and a plastic pop bottle and a jar of dollar tree peanut butter will pretty well clean out mice and probably rats. The only cost being the peanut butter if you work it right. Drill two holes on opposite sides near the top for the wire, drill hole in the center of the cap and bottom and bottom of the bottle, slip the wire through the bottle work it in the holes of the bucket. Then coat the bottle with peanut butter and put about six inches of water in the bottom You may have to set a board up as a ramp or place it where they can get to it. Then make sure you remember to empty it way to hell and gone from the house and garage. I go along with what Rbrewer said. If you have stuff sitting around outside that might attract them or even tall grass that they can hide in clean it up.
I used spray foam from Home Depot to seal up the areas around the garage door where the critters can get in. Also put out some bait traps. Haven't had any visitors in a while.
What @Dan Hay says about sealing all entry points is good advice. A full grown rat can fit through a hole the size of your thumb. When I was remodeling my house the entire back was open to the elements for a while. There was a hole in the raised floor of the kitchen that a 1/2" gas pipe used to come through. One afternoon I was chasing a full grown rat and it disappeared through the gas pipe hole without even slowing down. I use Victor brand rat traps. The knock off ones made by Tom Cat and others don't seem to work as well. I bait them with hard salami. It sticks to the trap so the rats have to work at it to eat it which sets off the trap. Sometimes I can reuse the salami 2 or 3 times. I've had rats that licked the trap clean of peanut butter. I no longer use rat poison. My terrier mix got into an old rat's nest that had some left over poison in it. Luckily she survived but it took a code 3 run to the emergency vet and a bill north of a grand and that was over 10 years ago.
I had seen something on TV years ago that said rats love beer but can't vomit? This was from a pest control guy in New York. He said it was one of the best control products. Just put out some beer in a dish (really not sure how much it takes), they will drink until they die. Let us know if it's true.
Rubber snakes laid around the shop. Rats hate snakes. Old trick I learned from an old farmer. Oh and plastic owls. That's why you see farm houses with plastic owls about the property close to the house. .
Lots of good advice already here. I don't get rats but I get mice, I use sticky traps and I check them often. Put them along the walls, mice like to run along the wall's edge for some reason. Sealing up any possible entry points is another really good idea. If you can, close the doors of your shop/garage during bright daylight and block out any windows, turn out the lights and look for any light coming in. Also, tall grass apparently makes mice and rats feel safe, keeping the grass around the building trimmed down low really helps as well. Stay vigilant. It can be a real hassle, but mice and rats can do a LOT of damage if left unchecked.
I did what Mr48chev said years ago. They work GREAT! Lots of YouTube videos of them. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=5+gallon+bucket+mouse+trap
Those bucket traps do work good for mice, but I'm not so sure a rat will get up there. They are quite strong compared to a mouse. On the farm years ago they would nest in the auger under the floor of the grain bins. When the bin had been empty for while someone would stand above the opening with the 12ga. while someone turned on the auger. They would come flying out of there, some chewed up, and a bunch running to test your skill with a shot gun
Bouncey sheets or whatever they are called ( laundry drier sheets ) buy the dollar store ones and put them all around the garage , cupboards , cars etc . not only does it keep them away it makes the place smell good .
A little FYI trivia to baffle-your-buddies........ Mice like to run along the walls because they are pretty-near blind. (Hence..."three-blind-mice") As they run along the wall their whiskers are dragging along the wall sorta guiding them.......Like 'curb-feelers'!!!!! 6sally6
IS there ANYTHING Bounce dryer sheets WON'T repel???! They keep gnats away from you too...put one under your ball cap! 6sally6
Lots of good advice here already. Rats are way smarter than mice. If you do the spray foam, put some steel wool in there first. If you want to see where they are walking sprinkle some flour on the floor in the suspected area. Snap traps work, but rats avoid new objects for 30 days, so you need to keep at it. In our farm machinery we use dryer sheets and snap traps. In our area you can buy warfarin bait, make sure you supply a source of water. Rats look for food and bedding, if you can reduce that, they may move on. We also spread ajax around the wheels of a vehicle if it is going to sit for a while- they don’t like to walk through it and they lick it off their paws, can’t be good.
We had a group move into our attic. Peanut butter in rat traps got 5-6 plus a mouse. We adopted a cat too. I know he killed one because I saw him carrying it. No problem since the cat.
Pervert Hahahahaha !!!!! Years ago my daughters wanted hamsters for pets . When we went to the pet store the lady tried to convince me to get a rat as they are really smart , trainable , will do tricks and are smart . I looked at one hiding in a little crate inside it’s cage , I thought …. Cute bugger . Sure pull it out of the cage so we can take a look . She reached in and pulled it out of the cage . As she did the little bugger wrapped his tail around her arm …… nope , nope , nope . Not for me put him back . im not a fan of rodents , even squirrels ( not out squirrel ) and chipmunks if not for their fluffy tails and the way they hop they are just fancy rats !!
Yup!! in my bachelor days I would shoot mice in the house with a 22 and bird shot. Its household approved, no blood or guts, not even a mark on the carpet. Now, like @seb fontana I have a bad ass cat. Friggen mass murderer he is.
We had rats in our attic. Got rid of them with a combo of poison and crunchy peanut butter on snap traps. The poison kills them and then they decompose which doesn’t smell like roses! Sticky traps prolongs their suffering and then someone had to take them outside and drop a 12” square paving stone on them. I prefer an outright kill. Rats are silent while squirrels run around like it’s a bloody party raising hell.. We couldn’t find the access spot until my daughter spotted one sneaking in just above the eaves trough. Steel wool, wire mesh, and then 1/4” plate screwed over the opening. Now if they want to get in they better bring a tiny cutting torch!
I used to shoot mice in the house with my 22 pellet Crossman. It made tidy work of it. Had a guy down 2 houses from me in town that was a proverbial pack rat, had only walking paths thru his house. He passed away and the family showed up just long enough to walk from living room to kitchen and back out the door. Next day had a tractor there tearing the house apart room by room. 2 days later I had a huge rat, new it had to be huge before I saw it as the second nite I heard him in my kitchen, my large Tom cat goes running in there when he heard it. 30 seconds later all hell breaks loose and my Tom cat came out of the kitchen at 90 mph and sliding sideways on the living room floor into the wall and into the bedroom. I knew then it had to be huge! The next night I had put a sticky rat trap out were I knew he snuck thru behind the oven. About 2 a.m. I here him raise hell, thought I had him. Next morning I check and he had his tail stuck and chewed it off. Next night that smart bastard covered the entire sticky rat trap with candy wrappers and did an excellent job of it too! So my bro stops by the next nite and we wait, trusty .22 pellet gun by my side and my bro armed with a flashlight. Sure enough I hear him covering the new trap with wrappers. We sneak in and my bro gently grabs the lower drawer on the oven with flashlight in hand, I have aim and ready, my huge tomcat peeking out of the doorway of the back bedroom. 3, 2,1, jerk the drawer down and "POP!" nail that suckered! My bro grabs it by the back leg and lifts it out, it's dead, THEN my tomcat runs up there and totally encompasses it and starts giving it hell, we just laugh. I think to myself "where was you when he was alive!" It looked like a cartoon moment. .
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