Getting Rid of Rats Nesting in Christmas Palms

[Bmi48219]

We returned from vacation Sunday and I noticed a bunch of Christmas tree palm leaves on the ground. Cleaned them up but couldn’t figure why they were there.
No nest visible. Tonight I saw more leaves on ground (they weren’t there this afternoon) and what looks like shredded up coconut fiber lying on the mulch I had just raked back around the tree. This time I noticed a nest in among the palm fronds.
Aside from burning the nest down, or setting traps around the tree trunk, does anyone have experience with evicting these vermin from the tree and this earth?
Edit:
Please don’t suggest shooting them, our township is pretty sensitive about discharging firearms. And I don’t have a pellet rifle either.

[country gent]

Im not a big fan of poisons but a mixture 50 50 of baking powder and cornbread mix is suppose to kill mice and rats with out hurting pets and other wildlife.

[Winger Ed.]

If you can't shoot 'em, even then it's hard to get them all--
poison, traps, or a couple of cats is about all there is left to pick from.

[BLAHUT]

jiff cornbread honey mix and baking soda - 50/50, safe for all except rats and mice, put in a plastic quart container with a cover and 2" hole drilled in one side, change every week, more in wet weather. Kills mice and rats fast. I do not like poison, kills them and if you can't find them, stinks, but the critters will be gone and it is a cheap solution. Just me know how it works for you ??? This only kills rats and mice, will not hurt anything else, even if they should eat one of the dead critters.........

[MrWolf]

"And I don’t have a pellet rifle either." I am really happy with my Air Venturi Avenger in 25 cal with a 3d printed silencer/moderator (not printed by me but cost like $20). Good enough cause to get one as you should have no problems getting pcp tanks refilled.
Ron

[Wayne Smith]

Do any of your friends own a rat terroir? Can you borrow it for a couple of days? If not I'd go the poison route. It's what the experts use and it's cheap.

[Bmi48219]

….." I am really happy with my Air Venturi Avenger…. Good enough cause to get one as you should have no problems getting pcp tanks refilled.
Ron

I’ve been on the fence about a pcp for eight months now. Between the cost of primers, the significance of Sunday and now this, it appears the stars are in alignment about such a purchase.

[rbuck351]

At the range you would be shooting the rats, a cheap springer in 22 cal would work fine. However, I recently bought a Benjamin Discovery that will shoot under an inch at 50 yds. The suppressor was another $20/$30 and makes it very quiet.

[Texas by God]

Tie a bar of Just One Bite rat poison high out of dogs reach on the palm tree trunk.
It embalms them to death and they don’t stink if they do end up in a wall.


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[country gent]

The problem with poisons isnt just keeping it away from pets but also the dead an dying rats as they are carrying the poison as well.

[fiberoptik]

[QUOTE=fiberoptik;5589394]I have what I think is the best way of dealing with rats [emoji232]. Take a plastic barrel and notch the top on both sides. Cut a dowel a little longer to go across it. Shove a pop can into it in the middle and smear peanut butter on it. Place a board as a ramp up to the dowel.
Now.…
Rats run up, want pb, cross on to dowel, fall in barrel. Once they start to build up in #s, they get hungry. Soon begin to eat each other. When you get down to 1 rat, release him! You now have a trained rat that will hunt down & eat his own for you!
[emoji41]


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[poppy42]

If you can't shoot 'em, even then it's hard to get them all--
poison, traps, or a couple of cats is about all there is left to pick from.

Cat don’t kill rats in Florida! Rats kill cats! At least not when you have an infestation which is what you have! Destroy everything you can! BURN! Get a ladder, get up high and put poison in the Palm fronds, keep the area as clean as you can! No bird seed! Garage uncovered, pet food out side, etc. keep at it! There is no quick fix! They have probably been up in the trees for quite a while! You just didn’t know it.
After 30 years there and lots of lost cats I know! Oh and forget the homeo pathic remedies that are safe for all the rest of the animals they will not work! Not when the rats a living and nesting in the trees and feeding on the fruit from the palms! Do what I suggested and you stand a chance!

Good luck! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt to prove it!

[poppy42]

[QUOTE=fiberoptik;5589394]I have what I think is the best way of dealing with rats [emoji232]. Take a plastic barrel and notch the top on both sides. Cut a dowel a little longer to go across it. Shove a pop can into it in the middle and smear peanut butter on it. Place a board as a ramp up to the dowel.
Now.…
Rats run up, want pb, cross on to dowel, fall in barrel. Once they start to build up in #s, they get hungry. Soon begin to eat each other. When you get down to 1 rat, release him! You now have a trained rat that will hunt down & eat his own for you!
[emoji41]


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There’s only one problem rats can eat through plastic!

[poppy42]

OP I lived in Florida for over 30 years before I moved to Virginia. There are lots of good suggestions posted so far but this is a different species of rats they live in the palm tree and they will infest them! When you see signs on the ground that means you have a lot of them up in the trees! When you start seeing signs on the ground it means their habitat above has been outgrown by them! As a retired arborist I dealt with them many many times. Usually with people that raised birds or chickens. The things I suggested above will work. If the poison is up in the tree contained in some kind a little enclosure that only the rats can get in it’s not gonna hurt the other wildlife. As long as you pick up the bodies found on the ground. And get somebody in to trim your palms!

[wilecoyote]

...yes, there are special boxes where to place the poison bait for rats without allowing access to other animals. here they are mandatory and very widespread.

[Lloyd Smale]

tractor supply yesterday had Bengiman pump ups for 35 bucks. thats supper at a cheap resteraunt for one

[farmbif]

those are some very crafty opportunistic critters and they reproduce faster than rabbits. I had them at my place in florida too. the only two things I found to work are good old fashioned spring loaded rat traps baited with peanut butter and those sticky boards traps. take a few sticky board traps and punch holes in the corners and wrap then around the tree or trees with some wire as high as your comfortable on a ladder and another ring near the base. those things jump and fly as well as any squirrel. if there is the smallest place along your roof or your soffits get blown off in a hurricane you better put lots of rat traps and rat poison in your attic because they love to nest in insulation. been there, done that.
pellet gun works wonders too, but they are kind of like roaches, just because you might only see one there are probably a dozen or more close by.

[firefly1957]

I have no experience or advice on the tree rats but wish you well on your journey to rid your area of them .

A friend in a Michigan city had terrible trouble with rats he went the poison route he did not realize just what all are rodents he ridded the area of rats, squirrels, rabbits .... Oddly that seemed to explode the Opossum and skunk population causing further grief!
His first trials was trying to get the city to help they laughed at him even refusing to sight a nearby property for code violations that was one cause of the rat infestation. He is currently fighting a significant stink bug problem from a neighbors yard ....

[ascast]

[QUOTE=fiberoptik;5589394]I have what I think is the best way of dealing with rats [emoji232]. Take a plastic barrel and notch the top on both sides. Cut a dowel a little longer to go across it. Shove a pop can into it in the middle and smear peanut butter on it. Place a board as a ramp up to the dowel.
Now.…
Rats run up, want pb, cross on to dowel, fall in barrel. Once they start to build up in #s, they get hungry. Soon begin to eat each other. When you get down to 1 rat, release him! You now have a trained rat that will hunt down & eat his own for you!
[emoji41]


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This works very well. Use a steel 50 gallon if need be. I have used this set up for mice, city rats, barn rats and red/gray squirrels. Ad a few gallons of water to the bottom so they must swim. They will not eat through it. This type of trap is brutally effective. You just need to find an irresistible bait. Your pellet approach is a joke and cats are 100 times more laughable - like Tom and Jerry.

good luck

[country gent]

Nesting in trees makes a lot of predators unusable but maybe falcons, hawks, owls, or other birds of prey. They would probably stay as long as the food supply holds out then move on.

Some farmers around here would catch a corn snake or two for in their barns every so often to control rats and mice, a barn owl moving in kept mice and rats way down also. A natural way of controlling them

[Rapier]

You might get yourself a rat snake, just turn it loose, next to a rat tree. They are 24/7 rat catchers, quiet and safe. Just make shure your house is sealed, because the rats will be jumping ship, looking for a new home..

Our Indigos, three famalies, keep the mice and rats down real well. Plus they kill poisonous snakes.

Learn to like snakes, of the correct make and model.

[Bmi48219]

The ‘nest’ I found wasn’t there when we left for vacation the 30th of May. The tree(s) are Christmas palms that are planted in three trunk clumps. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/adonidia-merrillii-picture-id174230557-1152x1536.jpg
The branches (technically a ‘leaf’) have a row of leaf-like blades on either side. The nest was made of these leaf-like blades chewed off the stem and wrapped into a rough bowl in the center of the tree crown.
When we returned from vacation I noticed dozens of the fresh cut green blades on the ground around the tree. The blades on the ground turned brown in a day. A day later I found more green blades littering the ground around another Christmas palm in front of the house. That was when I noticed the nests.
The nests of these blades were green one day and turned brown the next so I figure they had to be recent constructions.
Christmas palms are self-cleaning in that the leaf assemblies (stem and blades) turn yellow and fall off the crown as they grow. There isn’t much to trim but I regularly cut off any that get close to the house or screen enclosure, and thin the leaves out if they are too dense, more to allow sunlight through. I alway cut off the seed clusters when they appear.

So the ‘nests’ weren’t there long, and I removed them yesterday when I radically trimmed the trees. The leaf-blades used to build these nests are 12 to 18 inches long. I can see where they were chewed of the leaf stems to be used in the construction.
I can’t find rat or any other excrement around the trees.
I’m going to try the poison route, I can build bait stations to keep it out of the reach of birds and our dogs. I don’t care if squirrels get it, they leave chewed up pine cones all over our pool screening roof. Going to give the Jiffy corn bread/baking soda mix a trial too, just for the heck of it.
I’ve been seeing rats running around the golf course roughs the past few months and think that’s where these originated. One chewed several small holes through our pool screen at ground level a few months back. He succumbed to a sticky trap.

[rbuck351]

I use a night vision scope and a 22lr for skunks. If I had a tree full of rats, I would switch my scope to a 22 cal pellet gun and have my own live critter shooting gallery if a firearm is not allowed.

[fiberoptik]

Lot of guys use night vision on .22 cal or bigger high powered air rifles at night. Some use blow guns. Loads of fun!


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[deltaenterprizes]

[QUOTE=fiberoptik;5589394]I have what I think is the best way of dealing with rats [emoji232]. Take a plastic barrel and notch the top on both sides. Cut a dowel a little longer to go across it. Shove a pop can into it in the middle and smear peanut butter on it. Place a board as a ramp up to the dowel.
Now.…
Rats run up, want pb, cross on to dowel, fall in barrel. Once they start to build up in #s, they get hungry. Soon begin to eat each other. When you get down to 1 rat, release him! You now have a trained rat that will hunt down & eat his own for you!
[emoji41]


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Very effective!
There is a video of that on YouTube where the guy uses a 55 gallon drum with about a foot of water in it!

[DougGuy]

I’ve been on the fence about a pcp for eight months now. Between the cost of primers, the significance of Sunday and now this, it appears the stars are in alignment about such a purchase.

I have two Benjamin PCPs my favorite is a 22cal Benjamin Marauder pistol with the shoulder stock, and a Leaper's UTG 3-12x44 AO scope. I drilled the t-port out to .143" and it greatly adds THWUMP to the 22cal pellets. This thing will normally group 1/2" across the yard, 25yds or so, it's fun to shoot and bad news on tree rats.

My other PCP is also a Benjamin Marauder rifle with some serious mods in the custom aftermarket valve and t-port I only get 6-8 shots from a 3,000psi fill with a heavy pellet but this is skull penetrating power on coons and coyotes, and is quiet. Same Leaper's scope on this one as well, these two combos work really well.

You can hit the tree rats with a stock 22cal gun, but you are pretty much relegated to head shots if you want them DOA. With the added energy the tweaks give it, head or anywhere in the torso puts them down.

One more thing about Crossman/Benjamin support, if you get one that doesn't group, or leaks, call them up get a RMA they will replace it with a new one if they can't fix it.

[Tripplebeards]

Buy a bunch of conibear 110’s. I just bought a couple for $4.50 ea. They took care of a few nuisance muskrats digging under a tree on my property and they also removed a few squirrels that were biting off branches and apples from the apple tree in my yard. The conibear’s will hunt 24/7 till they are all gone.

[Winger Ed.]

If ya get on youtube and search 'rat traps', there's some great ideas for large capacity home made ones.
If nothing else, the videos of them are as about as much fun to watch as the ones on 'squirrel launchers'.

[Finster101]

I had the same problem a while back. Bird of Paradise trees along the fence line was the rat nest home. A little time and a Crossman 760 cured the problem.

[jonp]

Why not put a 2-3ft wrap of roofing tin around the tree about 3ft up. When they come down they won't be able to climb it again.

[jonp]

Buy a bunch of conibear 110’s. I just bought a couple for $4.50 ea. They took care of a few nuisance muskrats digging under a tree on my property and they also removed a few squirrels that were biting off branches and apples from the apple tree in my yard. The conibear’s will hunt 24/7 till they are all gone.

You can also use a bodygrip but a live trap baited will work great on rats, skunks, possums etc. Put the back against something and put a towel over it. Bait it then wait. Do it right because rats are smarter than coyotes and you might only get one shot at it

[poppy42]

You can also use a bodygrip but a live trap baited will work great on rats, skunks, possums etc. Put the back against something and put a towel over it. Bait it then wait. Do it right because rats are smarter than coyotes and you might only get one shot at it
conibear’s/body grip traps are illegal in Florida!

[jonp]

conibear’s/body grip traps are illegal in Florida!

They are? Ok, then.

[fiberoptik]

They are? Ok, then.

Careful; wouldn’t want them to rat [emoji232] you out!🥸🥸🥸


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[.429&H110]

I wrote here about my rat colony fun.

Big grey rats moved into a big agave root ball.
Reminded me of my old apartment in Lawrence.
Fine old mill town Lawrence MA, good place to be from.

In AZ rats are included as "any mammal".
Can't hunt within 1/4 mile of any house

So I notified the neighbors, all in favor, said hell yah.
Old Crossman pump up .177 wiped out 11 big grey rats.
Big critters, 6-7" nose to butt, wife wanted a European mount.
Put the bright light of reason on them and pop.
Product placement right under their ear, DRT.

Then I tied the agave to the Toy and pulled it.
Was a huge hole under it, a real snakey place...

If the sheriff had seen me in the dark with a long gun, mighta ended different.

[farmbif]

a 5 gallon bucket. two holes cut near the top edge where you can slip a piece of 1/2" or 3/4" pvc pipe through. you can glue a couple pvc caps on the ends so the pipe spins freely in the two holes. fill bucket 1/4 top 1/3 with water. put peanut butter in the middle of the pipe right over the center of bucket. you can even give critters a ramp to get to the pvc pipe. ive built a couple of these traps and they never disappoint. the biggest problem you might have is where to dispose of all the rats you will drown in the bucket.

[FISH4BUGS]

Find someone like these folks
https://www.facebook.com/blitzadoodledoo/

[BLAHUT]

Grandpa used the bucket with a can and water, I used a bucket with can/water. Gif honey, cornbread mix with baking soda, mixed 50/50, will kill the rats and mice, nothing else.

[45_Colt]

Lots of great stories and results on hunting rats here. I do have one my self, way back in my young years, the family residence began to be over run with those critters. The were abandoning a house across the street that was being torn down, arg.

Heck, 'ole man called the township and someone came out and baited the place. NOTHING, worthless.

So, I had access to a small have-a-heart trap and put it to use.

Drown the first sucker in a plastic bag. But in the long run this wasn't going to work. So ended up mostly filling a plastic trash can with water. Being on a well, the 'ole guy wasn't happy. BUT, when he saw my results was ecstatic. Should have seen the look on his face when I lifted the trap out with the dead SOB in it.

That and the can was always there, didn't need to be filled each time.

Oh, within a week or so the rats were gone. I was happy (no dodging rats taking the trash out). And the 'old guy was sleeping and relaxing to his hearts content.

45_Colt

[Recycled bullet]

Rats are so disgusting. Kill them All.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve learned from experience that poison works best for me. Today’s rat and mouse poison isn’t lik it used to be. It’s a type of blood thinner that requires it to be consumed over time. That way you don’t have to worry about a pet eating a dead rat, like you did years ago.

[45_Colt]

Yes, warfarin, the animal that eats it bleeds to death. Problem is, pets will eat the bait, and they too die. I know this as I have lost a pet to warfarin based bait. It was ugly.

Best way is to either trap them live, and release any that aren't what you wanted to trap. Or ID them them and shoot.

45_Colt

[ulav8r]

Warfarin, I take 38-40 mg a week, depending on INR testing.

[GregLaROCHE]

Yes, warfarin, the animal that eats it bleeds to death. Problem is, pets will eat the bait, and they too die. I know this as I have lost a pet to warfarin based bait. It was ugly.

Best way is to either trap them live, and release any that aren't what you wanted to trap. Or ID them them and shoot.

45_Colt

Yes, but it needs to be eaten regularly for a number of days. I usually put mine in the middle of a piece of pipe, where only the rodents can access it, or in an area where friendly animals will never be able to get to it.