Recently we have seen some rats in the barn. Not mice, the barn cats take care of these, but real big nasty rats. And the cats don't seem to be bothered by them. Is there any way to get rid of them rats that is risk free for cats?
This is what I have always done. But with barn cats, you will have to carefully figure out where to place them so that the cats never come in contact with them or have any interest in the smell of the bait.You could try the classic spring rat traps. Would just need to find somewhere the cats can't accidentally set them off. Rats usually move along walls and tight spaces anyways.
I've known people who use the bucket trap (mostly in chicken coops) without the water, and relocate the rats (assuming there are only a few vs. many.)Try a bucket trap.
Get a large, 5-gallon bucket and a wooden stick. Use the stick to make a ramp that leads up to the rim of the bucket. Put some peanut butter at the top of the ramp then fill the bucket with about six inches of water.
Rats will be attracted to the peanut butter. They'll walk up the ramp to get it and fall into the bucket. Bye-bye rats!
The nice things are that there isn't any poison to hurt your cats or other animals. You don't have to reset the trap except to check it and make sure there's bait. Every day or so, just take out the drowned rats and put a bit more water inside.
I've seen videos on YT where a guy caught more than a dozen rats with a bucket trap in just one night!
In Pennsylvania, it is illegal to relocate wildlife. Even rats. Also, you'd have to take them far, far away...miles...or else they will come back.I've known people who use the bucket trap (mostly in chicken coops) without the water, and relocate the rats (assuming there are only a few vs. many.)
Attica1962 any updates?
This is a very good point I never considered. We've had the unfortunate experience of having to do just that with aggressive and/or destructive raccoons that won't move on. I hate it, but it is what it is.In Pennsylvania, it is illegal to relocate wildlife. Even rats. Also, you'd have to take them far, far away...miles...or else they will come back.
The problem with that is that rats and other wildlife are territorial. Animals that already live in a given territory territory will harass any newcomers to deny them food and shelter. They might even kill the interloper, outright. Taking a rat or other animal out of its own home territory and leaving it in the territory of another animal is likely to be a death sentence.
This I learned from an Environmental Educator who works for the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources. I live near a State Park that has a Visitors and Education Center. It was during one of their public lessons that the subject was brought up.
Anyhow, the educator said that, if you MUST trap animals from in and around buildings like barns, the best thing to do is humanely dispatch them and leave the carcasses out in a remote field or woods where other (hopefully more desirable) wildlife can feed on them. At least, that way, they can return to nature instead of going to waste.