rat chews through food can ?

[Baba Buoy]

No, don't worry about it. Rats are lazy and go for the easiest source of food first.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Baba Buoy

No, don't worry about it. Rats are lazy and go for the easiest source of food first.

So would that be the earlobes or the testes?

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Can the rats read labels?
How would they know a can contained food?

My dog can smell dog food through a can. A can of lentil soup is way less exciting. Bears too, apparently.

[barcoo]

Remember the early bird gets the worm but the second rat gets the cheese

[Cat-a-tonic]

Don't know about food cans, but I've just found 4-5 rats in my mainsail which was flaked down into a canvas sail cover on the boom. They've chewed a number of quite large holes in the mainsail. The boat is moored to a pontoon so the old traditional rat deterrants on the mooring lines would not stop them - they can just jump aboard or scramble over the fender socks/lines. Any sensible ideas out there for rat deterrants to avoid a repeat chewing party on my repaired mainsail?

[undercutter]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

In the event that you do get a rat aboard, he will go to the trap because of the scent of the bait before he will have a go at any of your preserves and indeed before he will begin to gnaw on the boat's structure.

TrentePieds

I picked up a rat in Sorong and it took me 3 weeks to get him. he did a lot of damage in 3 weeks. I tried a live trap and he wouldn't go near it. Maybe he had been caught in a live trap before. I tried a spring trap and missed him the first time I baited it and after that he wouldn't go near it again.


I finally got him on a glue board but it was a horrible way to go. They love cup a soups so just stick one in the middle of the glue trap(s), use a few butted together, and Bob's your Uncle.


He was sure one smart Rat, but then 'he' was probably a she.

[hpeer]

Had squirrels make a nest in our main the season we left our boat in New Bern. I love squirrel stew even more now.

We are , hopefully l, on the down side of a rat infestation we picked up here on the ya d in Grenada. I had to leave the anchor down, with just a small cord coming out of the gauze pipe. I think they got in that way. The yard found it a couple of days before we arrived, had “exterminators” come in and “clean” the boat. They were near as messy as the rats.

They trapped 3 and then, much to my chagrin, put out poison. Poison killed 2 and thankfully I got both corpses before anything truly revolting occurred, but only just. I trapped a 6th in a back breaker and then got #7 in a glue trap.

I would smear the back breaker trip lever with peanut butter, and they would lick it clean without tripping. I put the glue trap in the middle of 4 back breakers thinking if he got caught In the glue the breaker would finish the job. But the glue itself did the trick.

The GE 6 breakers, a glue trap, and a trash can trip trap set up. I left some PB on a chocolate cookie and that was untouched. If this goes on for a week I’ll declare victory.

We found a nest, with a corpse, under the floor boards. Just crammed full of stuff. A while t-shirt, other rags, plastic trash bags, a cell phone charger, sundry nuts and bots and screws he had retrieved from the bilge.

Yesterday I found an ant colony trying to establish itself under a coil of rope I threw there a few days ago.

In Delaware City, DE one year we had free frogs living in our cockpit.

[senormechanico]

Maybe some folks would try it, but not me.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat-on-a-stick

[Cat-a-tonic]

I was thinking more of deterrants to stop them coming aboard rather than how to kill them once they've boarded.



I discovered them whilst using a jet-spray and that certainly certainly expedited their disembarkation but I can't stand guard with a loaded jet-spray all the time.



Anybody got any recipes for stuff they apply to their warps, fender lines etc. that puts them off boarding?

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Maybe some folks would try it, but not me.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat-on-a-stick

My wife, who is Chinese loves to eat rats. She is very scared of mice however. You see rats squashed on the streets early in the morning where she used to live. The local restaurants grab them. Another product she was fed as a child was placenta as her mother worked in a hospital. There's no waste in China, not much round here either!!!

[Nicholson58]

I’d be more worried about sharing my boat with rats. The admiral goes Bat ballistic if we see a roach.

[Fuss]

Originally Posted by arch007

I have been storing food in cans and wonder if rats can chew through the can to get the food ?


I also store stuff in glass jars (mason glass jars).


Are all these safe from rats ?


Basically for long term food storage I have vacuum packed jars and cans.


Do I have to worry about rats and put jars, cans, etc in enclosed protected containers ?


Thanks

When leaving for an extended period, put the can opener out in the galley

[KTP]

I don't know if it would work very well on a boat but by far the best mice and rat trap I have ever used is the cheapest and simplest thing.

Fill a 5 gallon bucket about 2/3 full of water. Sprinkle about 2 cups of sunflower seeds (unshelled raw like for bird feed) on top of the water. They will float on top and make it look like the surface is some Golden Corral rat and mice buffet. Place a 2x4 or other board or ramp against the lip of the bucket...maybe about a 2 foot long ramp so it isn't super steep.

That is it. They will be dead in the bucket that night. They only are able to swim about 10 seconds before they give up, so it is fairly humane. They can't get any purchase with their feet to jump out because of the water.

Have caught 11 in one night in a barn. Had a mouse in our apartment, set this up at 9pm, emptied the bucket the next morning and had dead mouse in it.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by picklesandjesse

My wife, who is Chinese loves to eat rats. She is very scared of mice however. You see rats squashed on the streets early in the morning where she used to live. The local restaurants grab them. Another product she was fed as a child was placenta as her mother worked in a hospital. There's no waste in China, not much round here either!!!

You should cross post this to the “SHTF BOAT” thread.