Rats!

[hollywood8118]

Yesterday I made a trip into the engine room and discovered that I have a RAT issue. The bastards moved in over the last month and have made an epic mess. I have been working on the exterior and inside the cabin but had not poked my way below. No sign anywhere in the main cabin and surprisingly little smell in the E.R..
Had to move the boat to a mooring for a week as the marina is replacing our docks.
Cleaned up some of the mess and added an assortment of rat catching devices .
Any other thought on what to do?
Never in my boating history has this happened before
Hollywood

 

[OldDan1943]

Rat guard on the dock lines. Make sure you attach them in the correct manner.

 

[STB]

Check your wiring.

Some people take flat pizza plates, punch holes in the center, and run their lines through them, or similar. It reportedly keeps rats from coming in by running along the lines.

I also suggest securing /all/ food items in the fridge. They aren't just in the ER. They go hunting!

 

[mvweebles]

Had it happen 10 years ago or so. I'd left a laz hatch ajar for ventilation. Damage was pretty bad. Little shits gnawed on wallpaper and left turds and piss everywhere. No infrastructure damage but was a PITA to cleanup.

Only guidance I can offer is figure out how they got in and stop them. Those disc thingies might work on ships, but pretty sure most boats have a dock near enough that a rat could easily leap. At least that's my take on watching squirrels make death defying leaps.

Good luck. Sorry to hear of your troubles.

Peter

 

[CharlieO.]

Get a big snake.

 

[Delfin]

That is a genuine bummer. My guess is that they are so noisy that if you can't hear them at night, they're gone, but I'd definitely set bait out just in case. They do so much damage so quickly I hope all is ok.

 

[rgano]

I found rat evidence on my Grand Banks 42 moored in my covered slip behind the house. I opened the doors and set off six of these.

https://tinyurl.com/4hut3jx5

I was assuming the rats would bail out and not die in some remote corner of the boat as they might with a conventional poison, and that's pretty much the way it went. Never had issues in the years after that, but I kept the doors and hatches closed.

 

[Timicrinn]

Lay down the big M-9 snap traps to remove the bodies. Find out what they are eating then lather up the traps…but do not set. Once you get them feeding off the trap…set it…snap their azz

 

[Comodave]

We always move absolutely everything that could be seen as food, even soap, etc. a friend left food on his boat over the winter and had mice, we think, in the boat. It was up on jack stands with no lines or power cables to crawl onto to get in the boat. They chewed through the Tupperware containers and pooped everywhere. We never did figure out hoe they were able to get into the boat. The sides of the boat were just bare smooth fiberglass. So don’t leave anything that could be construed as food onboard when the boat is in storage.

 

[rgano]

I heard of a trawler where the rats stood on their hind legs to gnaw off the bottom spoke of the wooden helm wheel.

 

[OldDan1943]

I heard of a trawler where the rats stood on their hind legs to gnaw off the bottom spoke of the wooden helm wheel.

Every seen a wharf rat? Big as a cat …..

 

[rgano]

Every seen a wharf rat? Big as a cat …..

I have walked across the grain wharf in Fortaleza, Brasil at dusk. You don't have to tell me how big those things can get - nutria size! We never left the ship in less than a gang-sized group.

 

[Hippocampus]

Have had occasion to wet store in the tropics and also be in a slip for a week or so.
We where taught to
Spray Bop or another strong insecticide on all dock lines. Repeat the application after any rain +/or week. No cockroaches which were endemic to that yard.

Rat guards or thick non water soluble grease. We used the plastic flexible bird spikes and wrapped them around a section of the lines held down with wire ties. Was what we could find. Don’t know if that worked but no rats and other boats had them.

 

[PM]

Pull the cork out of the bottom of the boat. I have heard rats leave a sinking ship..

pete

 

[Choices]

Set off a ton of flea bombs. That will force them out. Put them everywhere.

 

[Bmarler]

I’ve never had a rat problem on the boat, but there have been neglected boats around that have issues with them. In my little shop upland from the boat I’ve had them a couple of times. I got this trap called a rat zapper. Put bait inside and when they go in to check it out it electrocutes them. Some of those suckers are huge.

 

[Larry M]

We had rats once. We tried the sticky strip traps. There’s a tailless rat out there somewhere who abandoned ship. We got the last one with a traditional spring rat trap baited with peanut butter and a piece of hard cheese. We were lucky with no damage to anything.

Good luck on your hunt.

 

[BBS]

Dealing with this problem right now. Was gone from boat for about 3 weeks and came back to a mess. Most of the oil absorbant pads on the boat were moved/torn up; some shredded for "nesting" material. Lots of droppings in ER and Laz; no sign in cabin. Anyway, put out the above glue traps......12 caught so far. I still can't figure out how they got in..???

 

[Dougcole]

I had them about 3 or four years ago. I foolishly stored an unopened foil bag of dehydrated chum powder in one of the FB lockers under the seat. They made quite a mess.
I cleaned everything up with bleach, got rid of the chum, then used the big plastic snap traps with the tooth jaws, six of them baited with peanut butter and a piece of slim jim. The two most effective traps were in the locker where the chum was previously stored. Took two nights but I killed off all of the rats, nine in all, six the first night.


Laying in bed then hearing a loud SNAP from the fly bridge followed by desperate scrabbling was oddly satisfying and disturbing at the same time.


They have not returned, thank God.

 

[Mako]

Don't use bait. You don't want dead, decomposing rats on your boat. The smell will take months or more to go away, not that I know first-hand about that

Sticky traps are great (tie them down) except it's freaky trying to grab a rat that's jumping all over the place trying to escape. Wear welders gloves.

 

[KnotYet]

Don't use bait. You don't want dead, decomposing rats on your boat. The smell will take months or more to go away, not that I know first-hand about that

Sticky traps are great (tie them down) except it's freaky trying to grab a rat that's jumping all over the place trying to escape. Wear welders gloves.

Poison baits have the added disadvantage of killing the rats' predators, leading to more rats.

 

[Mambo42]

I can only concurr with not killing the rats onboard, the smell is horendous and you will not be able to use your boat for a long time.
If a fogger works then I would opt for that, but in that case make sure they have a way out. Good part of a fogger is that it does not cause any damage to any of your systems and a couple of hours of ventilating will make the boat safe again.
In any case get the rats off the boat at all cost. I have had rats in my MGB convertible when I was on holiday. They completely ate the electrical system in less than 4 weeks, had to change all the wire harnesses. That is not something you want to have happen on your boat.

 

[dannc]

The Dashew's mentioned getting rat(s) on board in South Africa. They had a heck of a time getting rid of them. If I remember right, the rat(s) ate wiring that killed the engine which could have led to the boat sinking as they tried to get into a South African port.

Rodents in a house are bad enough...

Later,
Dan

 

[Dougcole]

This is what worked for me, using peanut butter and slim jim for bait. The rats died where they were trapped, no dragging into some obscure corner.
https://www.amazon.com/Large-Powerf...ocphy=1015141&hvtargid=pla-526832577745&psc=1

 

[Larry M]

Be careful of pot lucks or cooking on shore when anchoring out. We’ve seen it few times where after dinner the leftovers or cooking utensils get put into the dinghy as we sit around the fire telling lies and drinking from brown bottles. Later that night the hitchhikers make there way onto your boat.

 

[wa7pug]

Have also heard that you can use mothballs in bilge if you set them on something so they do not get water soaked. I used to have rat/mouse problems; started doing the mothball thing when I stored boat in winter. That said, does not kill anything ... they just don't like the smell ..... may not work for everyone but works for me for past 6 years.

 

[dannc]

This is what worked for me, using peanut butter and slim jim for bait. The rats died where they were trapped, no dragging into some obscure corner.
https://www.amazon.com/Large-Powerf...ocphy=1015141&hvtargid=pla-526832577745&psc=1

Peanut butter as bait has worked for me as well.

I like the traps that kill the rodent. Tried a live trap once but it was not easy to see if a mouse was inside. Did not notice the trap had a mouse until the bugs showed up. I want the critter dead but I don't want it to suffer which is why I won't use glue strips either.

Later,
Dan

 

[OBXSkipper]

For Rats peanut butter and multiple snap traps. Never had them onboard but have had them in a workshed. You need to adjust the trap so it basically has a hair trigger. When you are finally ready to set your traps put some peanut butter on top and bottom of trap,smear it around and wipe it clean. Next you must use nitrile type gloves with a smear of peanut butter on them, wiped clean. Human scent on any trap makes a difference. In homes mice/rats travel baseboard along walls set traps in a similar area onboard. Hair trigger is very important, half the time I'm setting a trap down it will spring. Check and move and re-bait after 48 hrs . They are very smart critters, we have roof rats in our area.

 

[PM]

My sister uses moth balls on her pontoon when it is in winter storage. It takes all summer for the smell to leave.

pete

 

[OldDan1943]

The mice on the farm ignored the peanut butter but really loved the cheese.