Looking for some confidence in protecting my plants from wood rats. Lost a tomato plant due to a wood rat chewing the main stem. Have any of you faced this issue? What have you done? It seems they have a home right next to the plot and I'd like to find a solution before they get the best of me.
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Wood Rats
- Thread starter Lebniis
- Start date
they've destroyed many of my girls over the years. they can wipe out a garden of very large plants in short order. i tried rat traps and they got carried off. i'm not endorsing the following method but i will state i've lost entire crops in less than a week to these rodents. big chunks of rat poison big enough so birds and mice size creatures don't eat. these rats are extremely ferocious and have actually attacked people in their own homes in the area i live in. they can cut down 10-20 over 6' tall plants in one night and don't miss a plant, get 'em all. if you haven't dealt with this nuisance you probably are skeptical about the magnitude of this threat to your girls.
i know this practice needs to be done carefully so poison doesn't enter into the ecological system and everyone including me hates the concept.
i know this practice needs to be done carefully so poison doesn't enter into the ecological system and everyone including me hates the concept.
Smoking Gun
Active member
You could always find the burrow and set traps that catch the rats live. You can then transport the rats somewhere far away from your plants.
K
KSP
Depending on where you are it could be Allegheny woodrats. They have special conservation status in states they occur in although I think they are apparently secure in KY/VA/WV. I think it was once a candidate for listing with the feds as endangered but don't see it on the list now. Just saying 
S
SeaMaiden
One word--TANGLEFOOT. Apply it to the main stems of all your girls, go thick and go high.
Also, people should be aware that where there are wood rats there is a very special bug that you can end up bringing home with you. This bug can make your life MISERABLE.
It's called a kissing bug, and it looks like pretty much any other assassin bug. Assassin bugs are our friends, right? Yeah, but NOT this bug! They are slow-moving, fortunately, but once they find their way into your clothes or bed(ding) you're going to have to be diligent to get rid of them. The bites are always doubled, two bites at the same spot. They cause hard, red, hot swellings that are often as sore as a bruise.
I experienced these things last year, and they got into our bedroom. I spent months trying to figure out what the hell was biting me, and then one day as I was doing some cleaning I noticed that these assassin bugs were living under the mattress cover. Found spots of fresh blood and BINGO! A light bulb went off in my head and I started searching. Fortunately, they're incredibly easy to eradicate.
That was how I discovered that not all assassin bugs are our friends, and what troubles a wood rat may bring.
Also, people should be aware that where there are wood rats there is a very special bug that you can end up bringing home with you. This bug can make your life MISERABLE.
It's called a kissing bug, and it looks like pretty much any other assassin bug. Assassin bugs are our friends, right? Yeah, but NOT this bug! They are slow-moving, fortunately, but once they find their way into your clothes or bed(ding) you're going to have to be diligent to get rid of them. The bites are always doubled, two bites at the same spot. They cause hard, red, hot swellings that are often as sore as a bruise.
I experienced these things last year, and they got into our bedroom. I spent months trying to figure out what the hell was biting me, and then one day as I was doing some cleaning I noticed that these assassin bugs were living under the mattress cover. Found spots of fresh blood and BINGO! A light bulb went off in my head and I started searching. Fortunately, they're incredibly easy to eradicate.
That was how I discovered that not all assassin bugs are our friends, and what troubles a wood rat may bring.
pellet gun with laser and flashlight. way more fun than poison. i reccomend gamo varmint hunter 1200 fps
dont kill skunks . bad mojo. i myself like skunks. i had to live trap and relocate many skunks when i had a farm. i used to play with the babies i caught . so fucking cute.never got sprayed playing with em either. my dog on the other hand loved to play with them and seemed to like the stink. hence me relocating prob 50 skunks over time easilly
the rats can only gnaw up about 12" or less most times. chicken wire around the bottom 18" should be enough. i can't backpack chicken wire into my od metro guerrilla grows or else they would go around every one of my plants. that's why i had to go the very undesirable route per my earlier post.
M
mr.shiva
tangle foot works pretty good. Last year i killed some in traps but ended up killing more birds than rats so not using them anymore. Be happy you dont have voles.
darkstar270
Member
soak some dog food in antifreeze...works great for skunks as well...
My buddy tried that one. The skunk crawled under his deck and died, so he ended up having to rip apart the deck to get its rotting body out.
S
Sat X RB
try placing dog shit around yr plants. works for all chewing creatures here in Oz.
M
mr.shiva
interesting, no shortage of dogshit around here.
hell ya . thats what i am talkin bout. no laser? lol if you dress in full camo to hunt rats you might be a redneck. ha ha
yerboyblue
Member
Catch a natural predator to wood rats, like a cougar. Then sprinkle it's urine around the plants.
please show me how to catch a cougar as long as it doesnt involve tying a struggling bleeding screaming animal to a tree. i want to get it on film. lol
. even if you caught the cougar collecting the pee would be very challenging
