My husband has been feeding carrots to the wild bunnies for a few years. We have a big overgrown field where bulls and cows were and they kept the field kind of short. We now have field rats we want to get rid of without hurting our wild bunnies. What to do?
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Rats cannot burp. Put a lid of soda down The rabbits wont be harmed.
Your area looks so peaceful.
Rats are a huge nuisance. Our house backs to a townhouse complex that has large trash bins and several summers ago between their garbage issues and us feeding the birds we had a rat problem. They were coming into our yard and feeding and starting to build homes.
We did lots and lots of research and had professionals tell us there are two ways to get rid of them. Totally eliminate all food sources and/or trap and remove/kill. They recommend a combo of both. We were told that no trap (even the humane ones)/kill program can guarantee that it won't harm other creatures. They refused to put that in writing.
Our solution was we talked to the managers of the townhouses and they got lids on their dumpsters and we stopped feeding the birds.
You may also need to look around the property for other food sources (we had a lot of wild berries and such that we pulled out) and try to get those cleaned up.
Also close off any nesting grounds--we learned during this ordeal that there was a gap under the back of our shed where they had started nests or borrows or whatever they call their living places.
After all of this work and changes, within a few weeks the problem critters had gone away.
I hated kicking the can down the road so to speak, but I could not in good conscious risk hurting other creatures to get rid of the rats.
Truthfully, as much as I hate rats, I also did not feel good about killing them either. Oh, the other thing they (the exterminators we contacted) is that sometimes the rats spring the trips, get the poison (if you go that route), get out of the trap and die on your property. They warned of the stench and the flies. OMG...that set me over the edge. NO THANK YOU!
We took the high road, and if you do so, sadly, this will mean your hubby will need to stop feeding the wild bunnies and you will need to do some other clean up work around your property.
I hope you can find a happy medium and eventually that he can care for the wild bunnies after the rats go away.
Oh my, I just read there was another suggestion to use soda. This is totally my opinion and my morals....but I beg you not to go that route for 3 reasons (we asked about this when we had our problem).
1. It attracts ants and that is a whole other issue.
2. If it works (some exterminators said it did, some said it didn't) that if it does work you will have rat carcasses all over your yard and that can cause its own set of issues.
3. While it is killing them it is a very painful and inhumane death. I could not do that to any animal, but that is just me.
Problem creatures, absolutely. Not in my yard, yep, I am a NIMBY with that NOT IN MY BACK YARD (N I M B Y), but there has to be a better way!
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