A Damn Mouse

[Kenomac]

If you don't catch anything the first night, forget the sticky paper and small traps, you have a rat & need to catch it ASAP. Rats will make a gross mess of all the out of sight areas in your boat if you don't. They poop and pee everywhere creating a very real health hazard.

[mbianka]

Rebel Heart:

Thinking outside the box here: You could view them as on board spare rations. Tell the wife it's a delicacy of the region. Kind of like a corn dog on a stick.

If that does not work download some Lou Monte music onto the IPOD:
Lou Monte - Pepino, the Italian Mouse - YouTube
Play it REAL LOUD! Either you or the mouse will leave the boat after a short amount of time.

[sy_gilana]

Get one of these...

But seriously, get that mouse, it can make you lose your boat.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

If you don't catch anything the first night, forget the sticky paper and small traps, you have a rat & need to catch it ASAP. Rats will make a gross mess of all the out of sight areas in your boat if you don't. They poop and pee everywhere creating a very real health hazard.

I'm not pussyfooting around here man! If you can come up with another tactic for finding and killing it tell me.

[Kettlewell]

Don't worry, if he's onboard you will hear him chewing away on something. They make a lot of noise--or what sounds like a lot at 2 am. They do come and go, so he may be on shore leave for awhile.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Don't worry, if he's onboard you will hear him chewing away on something. They make a lot of noise--or what sounds like a lot at 2 am. They do come and go, so he may be on shore leave for awhile.

That's what I'm hoping. It's a mighty quiet boat at 3am in a slip. Usually.

I'll put a mechanical trap under the dock steps as well just in case the a-hole or his friends are chilling around there.

[Vasco]

Two years ago a cruiser got a rat on his boat in Georgetown. Don't know how he got it as he was always on anchor. Every day on the morning net he would give an update on his progress on catching it. One day he thought it was trapped in the engine room, next day it had escaped by gnawing through a hose, next it ate his refrigeration wiring. Every day we eagerly awaited the next episode. It destroyed a lot of wiring but he did finally catch it. They are tenacious and difficult to trap.

[CapTim]

More random advise.. this past summer a couple of rats came in from somewhere.. the marina set out some rat traps on the support boards under the fixed docks.. caught two or three in a few days, haven't seen any sense. Mine was one of a few boats the rats visited, though it looks like the marina cleaned them up fast enough that they didn't nest anywhere other than whatever boat they came in on.

With any luck, you'll have it as easy as we did!

--Tim

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

That's what I'm hoping. It's a mighty quiet boat at 3am in a slip. Usually.

I'll put a mechanical trap under the dock steps as well just in case the a-hole or his friends are chilling around there.

Just to let you know...I had a Rat in Hawaii in the house that my Jack Russell chased out twice and the little bast**d kept returning. That's when I finally used the P-butter and old fashion rat trap. I saw that he had taken up residency in a pocket door. I was staring at him and he at me. I was able to pull the door out and squeeze the trap in. The next day, the trap caught him by the tail. I wasn't sure how to get him out of there since he was very much alive. I stuck a broom handle in the slot to try and maneuver him out and lo and behold, the dummy wrapped his arms around the handle and I lifted him out and into a water bucket...burial at sea.

[motion30]

I caught a rat in a sticky trap, he chewed his leg off and went along his merry way, blood stained the white carpet

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I'm not pussyfooting around here man! If you can come up with another tactic for finding and killing it tell me.

We had a rat infestation when we returned from a month in southern California last year; my wife had stopped feeding the birds, so the rats who had been eating some of the bird seed decided to move into our basement.... gross, almost as bad as the squatters we had last month.

You need to go at this "shock and awe" style, any exterminator will agree. Get the large spring type rat traps, they look like mouse traps on steroids 20 times the size. Get 10 or 12 of them to start and set them using maybe three types of bait... bacon is best followed by tuna, peanut butter then dried prune insides. Tie the bait onto the trap trigger using heavy thread, then secure the trap to something solid with tape or string. Set the traps using pliers and a screw driver, they really hurt and can break a finger if they snap down on you (I found out the hard way). You want the traps to only spring if the rat touches the trigger and not if the trap is bumped. Set the traps at a 90 degree angle to the rat's path which is usually along walls, look for urine stains. If you don't get them in the trap the first night, you'll have a real problem on your hands, especially if you find several traps where the bait has been eaten but the trap not sprung... don't ask me how they do it. Some rats are smart enough to spring the traps then eat the bait, or actually eat the bait without springing the trap; the trouble then becomes, they sometimes won't go near the traps again. At that point, the only way to get them is with poison.

Be sure to use latex gloves when handling the traps to avoid putting human scent on the traps.

Good luck.

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Would it be possible to stay somewhere else for a few days and go bug bomb style of attack?

[s/v Beth]

No, Mexican rodents go for peanut butter, it just has to be the type they sell down there. But maybe he moved aboard to taste something more exotic. I'd try a California roll.

[rognvald]

O.K., Rebelheart, now you will come face to face with your uninvited guest(s). This is the size we found in the alleys of Chicago. Undoubtedly, the Mexican variety is equally healthy. Get them off your boat ASAP. They are destructive and carry many diseases. By the way, this video shows the intruder was caught by Noelex's sticky paper before he got to the trap. Maybe a dual assault is the best bet. Good luck and good hunting. Muerto a Miguelito Raton! Big Rat in Glue Trap - YouTube

[minaret]

Glue traps are cruel and ineffective, especially for rats as opposed to mice. The rat zapper is pretty lame, it has to be entered from a single opening and rats don't like to do that. Old school rat traps cost less than a dollar each and are relatively humane and effective.