I have a garage that rats can get into, and I want to store a few cubic metres of boxes in it. Does anyone have any bright ideas how to stop the rats nesting in the boxes? I had a car in there that I wasn't using, and they made nests on the engine.
tanyash,
Feb 20, 4:20pm
Poison ?
shanreagh,
Feb 20, 5:27pm
These might e a bit more expensive than you were thinking but if you put them on a pallet then had the pallet wrapped professionally would that keep them out? transferring the contents of the boxes to plastic bins? getting old metal lockers and stacking the boxes inside them. these are sometimes available at recycle shops old wardrobes etc. plus poison plus stop up all the holes where they might be getting in.
punkinthefirst,
Feb 20, 7:30pm
Go all out and get rid of the rats. They'll chew through plastic, wood, and even thin metal. Lay baits, set traps (and kill them, don't let them go!). Check out around the outside of the garage for rat holes, too - they have a nasty habit of making "cities" under the concrete garage floor, from where they are almost impossible to eradicate. Pest controllers can gas these burrows for you. Ask at an Agricultural Supply store for the best baits. the grey plastic traps (wired to something weighty to stop still-live rats carting them off - though they do kill most of their "customers") are pretty good - bait them with good peanut butter or Nutella. Baits need to be fastened to something to stop the rats carting them off and storing them. Good luck.
trade4us2,
Feb 21, 12:43am
I've used a hundred rat baits and traps. They stop for a while, but the rats live in the bush and by the sea. Some old metal cabinets might work.
mrfxit,
Feb 21, 2:13am
Totally agree. Lots & lots of bait traps. KEEP filling the baits on a very regular basis. Keep the local area free of rubbish piles.
The flow of rodents will slow & pretty much stop (mostly) but it takes a few months & you need to keep the baits updated from time to time, (just not as often as 1st time) Concrete block slab walls & roof with a well fitting steel door are about the only things that stop mice & rats from getting in over time.
Best bait combo I have found is Smooth Peanut Butter blended with bait powder.
Best kitchen benchtop bait I have used was an old frypan with a good layer of very well used cooking fat (not oil) & mixed with powder bait
macman26,
Feb 21, 2:38am
We got an old chest freezer a neighbor was throwing out for all our animal feed.
punkinthefirst,
Feb 21, 3:12am
We did that one year - stored all the left-over calf feed in there, with heavy weights on the top to keep it sealed. When we opened it up the next spring, it was SEETHING with mice. They had chewed entry tunnels up the sides through the insulation, into the underside (plastic part) of the lid, and into 10 bags of calf pellets, and bred happily there in a nice warm, well fed environment. Fortunately, our cat was a good mouser. We didn't feed him anything else but self-caught mouse for about six weeks - just dropped him in the old freezer several times a day. When he was hungry he "asked" to get in there - cat heaven! So much for freezers being good places to store animal feed!
bluefrog2,
Feb 22, 3:16pm
Poison bait, and keep baiting at regular intervals. I think the only thing rats won't get through is a steel box with no gaps.
sooby,
Feb 22, 7:55pm
I've heard of one family that had rats eating everything even eating the kids crayons & leaving multicolored droppings!
Family finally had enough & bought rat poison, then had to go away suddenly - the rats didn't wait & found poison still in shopping bag where it was left & ate thru packaging to get to it!
Moral of the story - nothing is going to stop rats so follow bluefrog2's advice
tardis537,
Jun 4, 2:47am
All the storage in my garage is in cheap metal cabinets I get here on trademe. Keeps vermin out and sawdust from my woodworking off my other gear. The cats keep the vermin at bay - except when they silly animals bring them in the house to play.
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