In need of a suburb varmint gun

[SoCalDave]

Neighbor has rats that come out just before dark to eat the avocados/fruit at my other neighbors house and I need to take action. Needs to be rather quite as well.
Need some RDP brain trust here, shoot them, drown them, poison them, etc? What works in a residential area? Maybe @Bigbore500r has some advise?

 

[rivrrts429]

The only plausible solution is...

 

[Bigbore500r]

Neighbor has rats that come out just before dark to eat the avocados/fruit at my other neighbors house and I need to take action. Needs to be rather quite as well.
Need some RDP brain trust here, shoot them, drown them, poison them, etc? What works in a residential area? Maybe @Bigbore500r has some advise?

Hit them with the full force of man combined with the will of god......
NO MERCY

 

[Nordie]

Gamo

 

[Bigbore500r]

Neighbor has rats that come out just before dark to eat the avocados/fruit at my other neighbors house and I need to take action. Needs to be rather quite as well.
Need some RDP brain trust here, shoot them, drown them, poison them, etc? What works in a residential area? Maybe @Bigbore500r has some advise?

You can plink them off here and there, but the real problem lies with your neighbor having an infestation. And you are only seeing the ones that "Choose" to come visit you, theres 10x more where those came from!

My suggestion is to set a bunch of traps near you tree base, and fence line where you see them coming, the old fashioned wood / metal spring snap traps with peanut butter bait. I would also set up a few poison boxes (commercial quality, the kind you see outside restaurants) and find an exterminator that will actually sell you or load them up for you with real rodenticide, as this will knock the population down. The boxes need to be quality so other animals / dogs etc can't get in there. You'll want those along the fence line between your home and theirs.

I can tell you that keeping a few of those boxes stocked and placed in a good location makes a world of difference in keeping the problem at bay.

Finally - if your neighbor is SANE - talk to your neighbor and see if you can get them on board with calling an exterminator, or figuring out where their issue is and handling it. Pray to god they aren't rat lovers.....

 

[77charger]

Gamo pellet rifle and poison blocks set out at night.

 

[stoker2001]

Gamo pellet rifle and poison blocks set out at night.

BIG5 store,get one with silencer/moderator,very quite,powerful and accurate

 

[Havasu blue label]

Sticky pads on the wall and clean and your black stone more frequently

 

[sprintcvx]

This is always an option

 

[HB2Havasu]

Where I live there is tons of fruit trees in the neighborhood, so all you can do is try to keep them under control. Yore not going to kill them all. This is the only thing I found that they will consistently eat. Just make sure to place it somewhere Fido can't get to it. It will kill him too.

 

[Taboma]

You can plink them off here and there, but the real problem lies with your neighbor having an infestation. And you are only seeing the ones that "Choose" to come visit you, theres 10x more where those came from!

My suggestion is to set a bunch of traps near you tree base, and fence line where you see them coming, the old fashioned wood / metal spring snap traps with peanut butter bait. I would also set up a few poison boxes (commercial quality, the kind you see outside restaurants) and find an exterminator that will actually sell you or load them up for you with real rodenticide, as this will knock the population down. The boxes need to be quality so other animals / dogs etc can't get in there. You'll want those along the fence line between your home and theirs.

I can tell you that keeping a few of those boxes stocked and placed in a good location makes a world of difference in keeping the problem at bay.

Finally - if your neighbor is SANE - talk to your neighbor and see if you can get them on board with calling an exterminator, or figuring out where their issue is and handling it. Pray to god they aren't rat lovers.....

Living in a rural area and having avocado and a few orange trees, plus neighbors feeding birds, rats and field mice are a common nuisance. Having lived here for over 30 years, I've tried everything at one time or another.

First off, deal with you home, seal up any and all penetrations, don't leave your garage doors open at night, or day if like me, you've got rattlers. My garage / shop man door has a screen to prevent unwanted visitors. Keep the trees and bushes off your home's walls and roof.

Shooting rats with my silent .177 pellet rifle sounds fun, although works better with squirrels because they're actually out during the day, and I'm not going to sit out at night to shoot any damned rats. The only rats I've seen during the day are the "Walking Dead" who've eaten poison. I had a neighbor who used to sit out front and shoot those. In 30 years, I've seen maybe two rats during the day and shot ONE with my pellet rifle. Shot a shit load more ground squirrels, those bastards flat fuck shit up.

Snap Traps can work, but they also trap those cute little brown Towhee birds that hunt food on the ground and seem to have a taste for peanut butter. Finding those in your rat trap, is kinda a bummer for me. I like them, they eat bugs and earwigs.

The type of poison we USED TO GET, from the San Diego county Ag Dept was awesome shit. Those pellets in a tube so cats or dogs couldn't get em, they killed slow enough so the sneak rats could test it --- rats will eat a tiny bit, then wait for a bad reaction, then return if they feel fine. But that bait would kill them later, after a single feeding. These blocks we get now, at least here in CA are WORTHLESS SHIT. I've fed rats for months on this crap, they beg for more.

The other night a Great Horned Owl sat on the corner of my 2nd story deck and ate a rat. In the morning I found the rat's entrails still hanging on the deck wall. As I cleaned up the owl's mess, what I found was, the guts were filled with chunks of the blue poison blocks. I really hope the owl didn't consume any, because obviously, the owls eat the rats --- and the bunnies, small dogs and cats as well --- Oppsie.

Occasionally I've put out my Victor electric rat / mouse trap baited with some P-butter. I've killed both rats and field mice in it, but can only use it when it's not damp out, otherwise the high humidity will trip it --- they're not made for outdoors, but will work.

Good Luck, currently I'm still fully engaged in a battle with gophers --- and my ground is way to hard for that cool GopherHawk trap I bought.

 

[azsunfun]

cat

 

[azsunfun]

old school

 

[MK1MOD0]

I have a Benjamin piston rifle that fires about 1100 FPS with the 22 pellet’s. and something like 1500 FPS with .177. This thing wreaks mice and rats !

 

[Badchoices03]

There was field behind my house since we moved here 15 years ago, but of course all good things come to an end, and now they are building track homes there...that being said when they started breaking ground last year, it was pushing a lot of field mice to our backyard....I tried pretty much every trap or poison available at Lowes/Home Depot, and the only thing that would consistently get them, was just the old school wood snap-trap....well that and my German Shepard, shes an excellent hunter and would kill them and drop them right by our sliding glass door as a gift...my wife didnt like those gifts very much.

 

[SBMech]

(Mother Hen) : Be very careful about shooting into someone else's property in this day and age. Even as brash as I am, I'd want permission first.

They have some serious silenced air rifles these days, I am sure you could find something appropriate fairly easily.

I'm betting one of these would do the trick :

 

[bilz]

I had descent luck with this as a deterrent. Odoban is an ammonia based, eucalyptus scented disinfectant we found at the home depot. I put it the engine compartment. You can smell it as you pass the truck. Rats are not supposed to like strong scents. Seems to be working. I also spray the fence line. Not sure if that helps, but it masks the lazy ass neighbors that don't pick up after their dogs.

 

[77charger]

Living in a rural area and having avocado and a few orange trees, plus neighbors feeding birds, rats and field mice are a common nuisance. Having lived here for over 30 years, I've tried everything at one time or another.

First off, deal with you home, seal up any and all penetrations, don't leave your garage doors open at night, or day if like me, you've got rattlers. My garage / shop man door has a screen to prevent unwanted visitors. Keep the trees and bushes off your home's walls and roof.

Shooting rats with my silent .177 pellet rifle sounds fun, although works better with squirrels because they're actually out during the day, and I'm not going to sit out at night to shoot any damned rats. The only rats I've seen during the day are the "Walking Dead" who've eaten poison. I had a neighbor who used to sit out front and shoot those. In 30 years, I've seen maybe two rats during the day and shot ONE with my pellet rifle. Shot a shit load more ground squirrels, those bastards flat fuck shit up.

Snap Traps can work, but they also trap those cute little brown Towhee birds that hunt food on the ground and seem to have a taste for peanut butter. Finding those in your rat trap, is kinda a bummer for me. I like them, they eat bugs and earwigs.

The type of poison we USED TO GET, from the San Diego county Ag Dept was awesome shit. Those pellets in a tube so cats or dogs couldn't get em, they killed slow enough so the sneak rats could test it --- rats will eat a tiny bit, then wait for a bad reaction, then return if they feel fine. But that bait would kill them later, after a single feeding. These blocks we get now, at least here in CA are WORTHLESS SHIT. I've fed rats for months on this crap, they beg for more.

The other night a Great Horned Owl sat on the corner of my 2nd story deck and ate a rat. In the morning I found the rat's entrails still hanging on the deck wall. As I cleaned up the owl's mess, what I found was, the guts were filled with chunks of the blue poison blocks. I really hope the owl didn't consume any, because obviously, the owls eat the rats --- and the bunnies, small dogs and cats as well --- Oppsie.

Occasionally I've put out my Victor electric rat / mouse trap baited with some P-butter. I've killed both rats and field mice in it, but can only use it when it's not damp out, otherwise the high humidity will trip it --- they're not made for outdoors, but will work.

Good Luck, currently I'm still fully engaged in a battle with gophers --- and my ground is way to hard for that cool GopherHawk trap I bought.

Squirels are destrcutive no doubt when i go to my friends property in tulare i spend time shooting them,But them fuckers are smart too.They are out in force when you are in the patio but grab the rifle walk out with it they know and hide.Put it away they get up on the wood pile chirp and taunt you.They say they have rats too not as many but never seen during day might see one as it gets dark.

 

[SoCalDave]

cat

Wife has two and the rats know it. It's been a year or more since they have brought offerings to us as those little fukers are smart and stay off our property now. Hell they'll go as far as to climb the service pole and take the phone cable to get around our place.

 

[azsunfun]

Wife has two and the rats know it. It's been a year or more since they have brought offerings to us as those little fukers are smart and stay off our property now. Hell they'll go as far as to climb the service pole and take the phone cable to get around our place.

those tightrope varmits are a trip never seen that before , visiting daughter in sac first for me

 

[SoCalDave]

Yeah I've seen them RUN across a 100' RG6 cable and not skip a beat. There is one that comes running across the peak of his garage roof for about 25' and does a superman leap off the end into what I don't know but it is crazy to witness.

 

[Bigbore500r]

Yeah I've seen them RUN across a 100' RG6 cable and not skip a beat. There is one that comes running across the peak of his garage roof for about 25' and does a superman leap off the end into what I don't know but it is crazy to witness.

Wait till you see one climb straight up the stucco wall of your house like spiderman......
I've seen it all lol

 

[stokerwhore]

 

[Taboma]

Squirels are destrcutive no doubt when i go to my friends property in tulare i spend time shooting them,But them fuckers are smart too.They are out in force when you are in the patio but grab the rifle walk out with it they know and hide.Put it away they get up on the wood pile chirp and taunt you.They say they have rats too not as many but never seen during day might see one as it gets dark.

Squirrel boot camp --- those fucks for sure know whenever I'm armed. The only day I had really good luck was when a bunch were carrying on in a row of large boulders at the back of my neighbors lot. So I went all stealth, snuck out to my grove, stayed hidden at the base of an avocado tree and they hadn't seen me. I popped about three that day, and each time one would drop the others would look around like -- " WTF Bob, get up, hey Bob, , Bob ?? "
I've got a paver patio off my grove shed, they undermined the damn pavers and now a whole section caved in and must be re-done.

 

[2Driver]

The home store stuff really isn’t too effective.

This stuff in a few locked bait boxes will take care of it. It dehydrates them into thin crispy shells. I have 6 bait boxes around the house and rarely have a rodent anymore.

 

[HAVASUSUN]

The home store stuff really isn’t too effective.

This stuff in a few locked bait boxes will take care of it. It dehydrates them into thin crispy shells. I have 6 bait boxes around the house and rarely have a rodent anymore.

View attachment 1014120

That is what I use as well. It has been the only thing that has consistently worked. Her the big heavy traps for it and in no time you will be rat free

 

[TITTIES AND BEER]

(Mother Hen) : Be very careful about shooting into someone else's property in this day and age. Even as brash as I am, I'd want permission first.

They have some serious silenced air rifles these days, I am sure you could find something appropriate fairly easily.

I'm betting one of these would do the trick :

177 is what we have with a scope

 

[was thatguy]

I had a scoped pellet gun at my old property.
As fun as it is you’ll never make a dent in them that way.

 

[Taboma]

The home store stuff really isn’t too effective.

This stuff in a few locked bait boxes will take care of it. It dehydrates them into thin crispy shells. I have 6 bait boxes around the house and rarely have a rodent anymore.

View attachment 1014120

That's the same as Tomcat All Weather Blocks, same Bell Labs product, same active ingredient, same size, color, only a different name. I'm glad you're having good luck with it, my rats seem to enjoy dining on it night after night, demanding the bait station be refilled.

 

[Taboma]

177 is what we have with a scope

When I can find the squirrels preoccupied with play time and not watching me, my scoped Gamo .177 is really quiet so I can usually pop a couple before they scatter.

 

[JDKRXW]

There are all kinds of quiet .22 shells you can get at Cabela's and they're ALL way quieter than my pellet gun.
Some even have some plastic shot instead of a bullet.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Might have to get a Gamo. My full auto BB gun is almost as loud as a nail gun. It works awesome though.

 

[2Driver]

That's the same as Tomcat All Weather Blocks, same Bell Labs product, same active ingredient, same size, color, only a different name. I'm glad you're having good luck with it, my rats seem to enjoy dining on it night after night, demanding the bait station be refilled.

I’m no expert just followed my pest control guys recommendation as they use it for commercial application.

Contrac‘s active ingredient is Bromadiolone, I don’t know shit about it but nothing escapes it’s wrath at least in my area. If I refresh the bait boxes there are instantly dead or recent kills in the following days. If I forget to refresh the boxes for a while then refresh them, within 2 days you can smell the dead around the property. I’ve gone from 1-2 mice/desert rats in the pool a week to 4-5 a year.

Interesting, before I used it I set a hava-heart trap near a new pack rat nest and caught him, so I reset it and caught the other one. 2 years later I was up to 50 in the exact same place. Thats when I switched to the contrac stuff. Maybe you have some kind of super rat.

 

[Taboma]

There are all kinds of quiet .22 shells you can get at Cabela's and they're ALL way quieter than my pellet gun.
Some even have some plastic shot instead of a bullet.

I've shot plenty of .22 snake shot around here, and none of those are even remotely as quiet as my Gamo .177 pellet rifle. That includes the other sub-conic rounds as well. Plus they won't cycle, so the jam up my 10/22, so I had to buy revolver I essentially just use for rattlers shooting snake shot.

 

[thetub]

adopt a couple of gatos. problem solved

 

[Taboma]

I’m no expert just followed my pest control guys recommendation as they use it for commercial application.

Contrac‘s active ingredient is Bromadiolone, I don’t know shit about it but nothing escapes it’s wrath at least in my area. If I refresh the bait boxes there are instantly dead or recent kills in the following days. If I forget to refresh the boxes for a while then refresh them, within 2 days you can smell the dead around the property. I’ve gone from 1-2 mice/desert rats in the pool a week to 4-5 a year.

Interesting, before I used it I set a hava-heart trap near a new pack rat nest and caught him, so I reset it and caught the other one. 2 years later I was up to 50 in the exact same place. Thats when I switched to the contrac stuff. Maybe you have some kind of super rat.

I only WISH I knew, but I do know Contrac and Tom Cat are exactly the same, just different names. I know some swear by them, beats me. But I was concerned finding it in the eaten rat guts, just glad the owl left it and seems he didn't eat the bait. Not sure what it does to owls, but I certainly don't want to kill them.

EDIT -- I was mistaken, read the Australia info on Tomcat, not the US --- I've retracted this in a 2nd quote below --- OOPS.

 

[Taboma]

adopt a couple of gatos. problem solved

My game cams have picked up some new cat hanging around, he's got a collar but nobody I know has one. Problem is, he's barely missing the normal nightly coyote security rounds, so he's skating on thin ice. Nope, unless it's name is BOB, those gatos don't seem to last long before the get invited to yote dinner.

 

[samsah33]

Jack Russells as well, got lost on you tube a few weekends ago watching terriers ratting... Ya, great for rats.

 

[Paradox]

Gamo pellet rifle and poison blocks set out at night.

Definitely the Gamo. .177 cal. 1,200 FPS with the right pellet. Comes with a big silencer (legal on an air gun) and a Weaver scope mount. Riffle is cheap and, if you were inclined, you can get a cheap gen 1 night scope with a Weaver mount.

Perfect for rats. Just watch the ricochet factor.

 

[was thatguy]

adopt a couple of gatos. problem solved

Bingo.
We always kept 3 at a time.
Problem solved.

 

[clarence]

Vudoo Apparition, JP APAC, Nightforce ATACR 5-25X56, TBAC 22 Take Down

 

[Jed-O]

C'mon Dave, get yourself a lever action Henry rifle with a Walmart scope and some bird shot then drill the little fuckers when they poke their heads out. If the neighborhood pricks bitch tell them you'd be happy spread castor oil all over your yard and drive them to their place.

 

[Taboma]

I’m no expert just followed my pest control guys recommendation as they use it for commercial application.

Contrac‘s active ingredient is Bromadiolone, I don’t know shit about it but nothing escapes it’s wrath at least in my area. If I refresh the bait boxes there are instantly dead or recent kills in the following days. If I forget to refresh the boxes for a while then refresh them, within 2 days you can smell the dead around the property. I’ve gone from 1-2 mice/desert rats in the pool a week to 4-5 a year.

Interesting, before I used it I set a hava-heart trap near a new pack rat nest and caught him, so I reset it and caught the other one. 2 years later I was up to 50 in the exact same place. Thats when I switched to the contrac stuff. Maybe you have some kind of super rat.

I need to quote this a 2nd time and offer an " Oops I screwed up" retraction.
When I compared your Contrac to Tomcat, the mistake I made was not noticing that the Bell Lab product information I was reading was for AUSTRALIA, not the USA. Hadn't noticed the tiny little Australian flag up in the corner.

You're right, Contrac is the anti-coagulant Bromadiolone, so essentially about 5 days after consumption, they bleed to death internally. Bad for wildlife or accidental consumption by pets, as such, it's a " Professional " product. Tomcat in other parts of the world, like Australia, uses the same exact formula and is a product of Bell Labs as well.
However, in the USA, Tomcat (Which is also sold in Home Depot etc) is owned or licensed by Scotts. It uses Bromethalin which starves the brain of metabolism and they die of cerebral edema.
This chemical is supposed to be less of a threat to wildlife who consumes the rat, because the rat itself isn't toxic as in the case of Bromadiolone, unless of course the bird or animal ingests the rodenticide itself, such as your cat or dog getting into it. In the case of my owl, it seems he left what remained of the Bromethalin block in the stomach or intestines behind -- I hope.

So maybe my rats are either brain dead and wandering off lost into the wilderness, or standing around dumb founded getting picked off by birds of prey, who knows.
I have noticed I'm not seeing rats on my game cams of late, so maybe the shit has worked ????

 

[2Driver]

I need to quote this a 2nd time and offer an " Oops I screwed up" retraction.
When I compared your Contrac to Tomcat, the mistake I made was not noticing that the Bell Lab product information I was reading was for AUSTRALIA, not the USA. Hadn't noticed the tiny little Australian flag up in the corner.

You're right, Contrac is the anti-coagulant Bromadiolone, so essentially about 5 days after consumption, they bleed to death internally. Bad for wildlife or accidental consumption by pets, as such, it's a " Professional " product. Tomcat in other parts of the world, like Australia, uses the same exact formula and is a product of Bell Labs as well.
However, in the USA, Tomcat (Which is also sold in Home Depot etc) is owned or licensed by Scotts. It uses Bromethalin which starves the brain of metabolism and they die of cerebral edema.
This chemical is supposed to be less of a threat to wildlife who consumes the rat, because the rat itself isn't toxic as in the case of Bromadiolone, unless of course the bird or animal ingests the rodenticide itself, such as your cat or dog getting into it. In the case of my owl, it seems he left what remained of the Bromethalin block in the stomach or intestines behind -- I hope.

So maybe my rats are either brain dead and wandering off lost into the wilderness, or standing around dumb founded getting picked off by birds of prey, who knows.
I have noticed I'm not seeing rats on my game cams of late, so maybe the shit has worked ????

haha yeah it’s confusing. I’d like to find that chemical cheaper and locally though. They say a cat would have to eat 20 effected mice to effect the cat. Who knows the stuff is nasty and I always screw lock the bait boxes. I just found a dehydrated rat today laying by the box.

 

[Taboma]

haha yeah it’s confusing. I’d like to find that chemical cheaper and locally though. They say a cat would have to eat 20 effected mice to effect the cat. Who knows the stuff is nasty and I always screw lock the bait boxes. I just found a dehydrated rat today laying by the box.

I'm sure you're aware of the potential hazard when you screw off the box lid --- To my surprise, one day I removed the lid and was quite shocked when a rattler was staring back at me. Since that day, I tend to give it a lift prior to opening just to see if it's gained any weight. I'd rather not do that again. Chatting with a pest control guy, he mentioned finding snakes in there as well. Guess they smell a rat and go inside to wait for it's return.

I'm pretty sure the really good poison we'd get from the county Ag Dept was what Contrac is, it worked awesome. I've been able to get a few non-Ca poisons, like the gopher poison I'm using from a place in TX, I'll have to check to see what they have for rodenticides.
When I check in Havasu at Tractor Supply, it's the same shit as CA.

 

[2Driver]

I'm sure you're aware of the potential hazard when you screw off the box lid --- To my surprise, one day I removed the lid and was quite shocked when a rattler was staring back at me. Since that day, I tend to give it a lift prior to opening just to see if it's gained any weight. I'd rather not do that again. Chatting with a pest control guy, he mentioned finding snakes in there as well. Guess they smell a rat and go inside to wait for it's return.

I'm pretty sure the really good poison we'd get from the county Ag Dept was what Contrac is, it worked awesome. I've been able to get a few non-Ca poisons, like the gopher poison I'm using from a place in TX, I'll have to check to see what they have for rodenticides.
When I check in Havasu at Tractor Supply, it's the same shit as CA.

I had the exact same thing ! LOL how I wasnt bit Im not sure. i shake them and use a stick now to flip them open.

 

[Taboma]

I had the exact same thing ! LOL how I wasnt bit Im not sure. i shake them and use a stick now to flip them open.

Tends to be one of those moments to remember I walked past that same bait station yesterday, gave it a look as I considered checking it, and decided, NOPE, not in the mood for that shit today. In truth, after that encounter, and after removing and dispatching the unwanted visitor, I put the damned thing on the shelf and made some bait tubes that aren't large enough to turn into an apartment. I only put it back into operation fairly recently, if I find another surprise, I'll return it to the shelf and stick with the smaller tubes.

 

[pronstar]

Get yourself some minks [emoji106]

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[Taboma]

Get yourself some minks [emoji106]

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Ha Ha --- reminds me of the brilliant "Mongoose" plan man came up with for the island of Hawaii in an attempt to rid the place of the vile rodents that had escaped from the merchant ships.
Only miscalculation was, the Mongoose hunt by day and the rats are out at night, now they've got TWO problems, although I do think it's cool seeing the occasional Mongoose running about. Seems the native ground nesting birds of Hawaii were not pleased.

 

[pronstar]

In all seriousness, methinks simple is the best

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