The City of Seattle has a Rat Patrol that will come out in response
to rat problems (in the Seattle Blue Pages under "Rats.") When I
lived in a ground-floor condo next to a green belt, and rats got into
our crawl space, the Rat Patrol provided Bait Stations all along the
edge of the Park.

The Bait Stations are locked boxes that the rats have to crawl into
to get the bait, therefore they are safe around birds and squirrels.
The bait is a tasty anti-coagulant that, as noted, causes the rats to
bleed to death.

These can also be purchased on-line by anyone - I keep 2 in my back
yard to control the rats which are attracted to my bird feeders from
the neighbors yard where they live in the ivy. When I first moved
in, hordes of rats would swarm my feeders at night. Now I rarely see
any, and only have to refill the Bait Stations every 4-6 months.

On the down-side, you have to be extremely careful when handling the
bait so as not to spill any which might then be eaten by wildlife (I
refill my boxes in the garage.) The other thing to remember is, that
if a predator eats a poisoned rat before it dies (e.g. while it is
staggering around) then it too will become poisoned - this goes for
pet cats and dogs as well.

>^..^<
Cheers
Julia N Allen
Seattle
DrJNA at comcast.net



On Dec 2, 2007, at 9:58 AM, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> That's a great idea, Jeff. Barn Owl nest boxes are provided in many
> areas of oil palm plantations in southeast Asia for rat control. I
> haven't read about the effectiveness of it, but it has been going
> on for some time, so someone must consider it effective. Now we
> just need to figure out a way to get rid of the oil palm
> plantations. Hmm, an interesting conundrum if the owls, by killing
> the rats, are making it possible for the oil palms to succeed and
> eventually wiping out the rain forests of southeast Asia.
>
> In response to Murray's question, there is standard rat poison that
> people can use in their yards, not to mention rat traps that are
> often effective. So there are time-proven ways of controlling rats
> on a yard-by-yard basis, and perhaps the ports do this. (If rat
> traps are set, they must be taken in before any birds begin to
> feed, even before dawn.) But they are only temporary measures, as
> the rats will always come back, and I think it would prove beyond
> the community's resources to control them in cities. I don't know
> what their protocol for ships arriving at the ports, but you can't
> control rats by controlling their immigration, as they are
> essentially everywhere. Hopefully the FWS can do something on Rat
> Island.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> On Dec 2, 2007, at 9:44 AM, Jeff Gilligan wrote:
>
>> Since Norway rats will never be eliminated from the mainland of
>> Washington, I suggest exploring the possibility of providing Barn
>> Owls with nest boxes in areas with rat concentrations. As I
>> understand Barn Owls, they are not territorial (or at least not
>> very territorial) and will nest in concentrations where there is
>> sufficient food supply. This has occurred to me in regard to the
>> rat population along Portland?s waterfront. Perhaps in this way
>> rats numbers can be controlled. Additionally, if it is effect, it
>> might serve as an instructive tool to the general population about
>> the benefit of birds, and the maintenance of a balance among species.
>>
>>
>> On 12/1/07 10:30 PM, "MurrayH at aol.com" <MurrayH at aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Dr. Paulson: Your posting came at the same time as an article in
>>> the News Tribune of Nov. 28th. Evidently wildlife scientists are
>>> planning to eradicate the rats on the Aleutian Islands' Rat
>>> Island. The muscular Norway rats typically have 4 to 6 litters a
>>> year and , according to the article, riddle the island with
>>> burrows, trails, droppings, and chewed vegetation. They
>>> evidently feed on eggs and chicks of nesting puffins, auklets,
>>> and storm petrels.
>>> I don't know if it's verifiable but the Rat Island
>>> assault, beginning as early as next October, involves the use of
>>> a blood thinner causing the rodents to bleed to death ?? Maybe
>>> O.K. for Rat Island, but anywhere in our WA Ports of Call? Can
>>> someone suggest what we can do?
>>> Hopefully,
>>> Murray
>
> -----
> Dennis Paulson
> 1724 NE 98 St.
> Seattle, WA 98115
> 206-528-1382
> dennispaulson at comcast.net
>
>
>
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