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Carmel2

Carmel2

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I have tried the search on this site as I know there are posts on the subject, but to no avail.

We think may have a rat or mouse on board, no droppings but a bit of chewed upholstery. We are going to set a few traps and I was going to use peanut butter, any other advice appreciated.
 
if you have one on board there may be others queueing up to arrive. Rat cones on the shore lines? Use plastic water bottles cut in half and threaded onto lines.

Peanut butter is fine, so I prefer chocolate or raisins as they are less messy to set up. Do be careful of the bodies: they are possible carriers of all knids of nasty diseases, especially in the urine and faeces which are often expressed after death. Rubber gloves job. :)
 
chocolate, rats lurve chocolate!

When we had a rat on board (pre cats!) we used glue traps, humane traps and the traditional snap traps. The b****r waltzed on and off the glue traps, managed to get out of the humane traps and eventually got caught in the snap. If you find its nest don't disturb it, put the trap near it and hopefully you'll soon be rid of him.
 
sarabande said:
Use plastic water bottles cut in half and threaded onto lines.
Click to expand...

I once painstakingly pushed half toothpicks all over a plastic drinks bottle to make a spiky rat deterrant - the rat calmly walked over the bottle pushing the spikes in as he went! Large funnels are better but you need to make sure they stay central on the line and don't fall. Better still - get a cat!
 
It's not a problem I've had, I'm glad to say, but I've heard remedies and failures from others. Rats are evidently highly averse to human scent, so whatever you put out, don't touch it: handle it with surgical gloves.
I know of one boat on which Ratty assiduously avoided every treat put out for it, only to die after breaking into a bag of rat poison so old the owners had completely forgotten about it. Presumably, in the intervening years, the scent had disappeared.
Good luck.
 
Found a load of droppings in the Engine bay, a neighbour has given us a trap which is laden with P Butter plus 2 tubes with P Butter and rat glue inside......Lets hope the little 5hit likes crunchy PB
 
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When we had what looked like chewed supermarket bags in a locker, we thoight we had visitors. Turned out to be AB Supermarkets' bio-degradable bags doing their stuff.
 
We have a mouse invasion deterent, who sleeps on the passerelle, meows a lot! Local cat who adopted us, lovely wee thing!
 
I find the best way to catch furry ones is to put a bit of bread in a milk bottle with a stick lodged so it runs up to the top. They run up the stick, drop inside, then cant get out again. I used to catch lots of mice that way. the other way is to balance an empty plastic bottle on the edge of a worktop with cheese at the bottom end but tied by string at the top to the worktop. When the mouse goes for the cheese the bottle falls off and they are left hanging in mid air.
 
Rat cones on the shore lines? Use plastic water bottles cut in half and threaded onto lines.

You are joking, right? Rat cones need t be at least 12" to 18" diameter to be of any use, and fixed in a way that they spin should said rat decide to jump/spring onto them on its way up the line. Plastic water bottles may just stop an old 3 legged mouse but anything else; not a chance.

Spring loaded traps with sharpened edges work, as do good quality sticky pads, forget the anything humane FFS, its a rat or mouse and it will do some damage if you don't get rid of it ASAP!

I would advise against the use of cricket bats or shot guns as they can do damage to the hull and furnishings!

Good luck in getting rib of the little bug*er though.

 
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Rat glue on a bit of cardboard got the little b*gger than joined us for a sail from Fuerteventura to Gran Canaria a few years ago. Last seen surfing south toward the Cape Verdes on its cardboard raft. The bait was chopped up pear as it had been nibbling those in the fruit bowl - its amazing how apt 'ferreteria' seems in this situation
 
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