Rodent bait station mounting

I have a property where rats are seen running along the top of the wood fences, probably nesting near a nearby big ficus tree and only 30 feet from a river in Fort Lauderdale.

I use those rodent bait stations called "EZ KLEAN" with those green blocks you load into a metal pin like shish kebab. I put them on the ground and they have been fairly successful and I reload those bait every three months or so.



However, when the lawn guys come they use the blower and many times the plastic bait boxes get tossed around, flipped over, buried in leaves, and sometimes get lost.

Would it be OK to not place them on the ground, but mount these boxes vertically on the wood fences? If so should I mount them low near the ground, or high near the top of the fences where they run along?

 

Most bait traps are most effective on the ground.

What if you stood a paver block in front of the trap to keep it from being blown around.

 

Those are not traps. They contain poison and has an entrance and exit hole on each side of the plastic housing.

If they are more effective on the ground, is it because it needs to be low? or is it because they need to be positioned horizontally?

 

I use a paver block on top of the bait box. Hasn't ever moved.

 

I also wanted to mount them higher because the blower when blowing loose grass clippings and fallen leaves they basically get blown into the holes and totally jamb up the entrance and exit holes.

 

On the ground along the fence is the most heavily travelled rat route in terms of rats per hour. If you mount the box vertically the chance the rat will choose that pole to climb up is much smaller so your catch rate will be lower.

Or you could fasten the box horizontally to the top of the fence, which is the second most heavily travelled route.

The inside of the box is probably slick enough that the rat could not continue climbing a vertical box to the other hole to exit and may well exit where he came in without eating anything.

 

Bait stations can be mounted vertically on walls and sometimes they are though usually flat on the floor/ground/paver block is more common.

Do you know what kind of rats you’re dealing with? I suspect it is either Norway rats or roof rats. Never dealt with roof rats in this part of the country, but they are the type that would run along top of a fence rather than at the base of it, although both species will exhibit both behaviors.

I would consider, at first, leaving some on the ground but anchored with a paver on top of or if underneath, it needs to be screwed into paver which makes it a royal pain to clean out. Then mount some vertically on posts but with the entry/exit holes on the down side so that rainwater will run out away from the bait. Keep them close to the ground. Finally, I would mount some near or at the top again giving consideration to rain water drainage. I would try to not directly intercept their paths as that may deter them. Remember, rats are neophobic, meaning fear of anything new. Mice are not. Also realize that the rats shyness of new things will mean that results won’t happen as quickly as we want so don’t make an early judgment. This is one reason I would want some on the ground, in familiar locations to them. If acceptance on top of fence is satisfactory in the future, then you could elevate more of them.

Sidenote: I’m surprised that the bait you're using stays fresh for about 3 months especially given the Florida humidity. If it does, great.

 

An update.

I mounted the bait stations different ways as an experiment.

I left two on the ground.

I mounted two on the fence, vertically, about 12" off the ground. Where it would not be tossed around from the blowers.

I mounted two on the fence, even higher, about 30" off the ground, where it would not be tossed around from blowers and tall enough where no grass clippings or leaves would be blown inside the chambers.

I found the bait were being eaten no matter where I mounted them. After a month I opened the boxes and they are obviously being consumed. The ones on the ground seems to deteriorate more from the rain and have lots of roaches inside.

So now I mount them all higher about 24" off the ground.

Now to my next question.

The bait I am using is called "TOMCAT" and it's a green color bait which from the specifications it says the active ingredient is Bromethalin.

I know the actual bait stations only rats can get inside.

Today I saw a neighbor's dog (unleashed) roaming around in my front yard and I went outside and saw that it was playing with a dead rat. I assumed the rat died from ingesting the bait, but my question is, if the dog (or cat or squirrels...) had chewed on the rat will it be harmed by the poison in the dead rat's body?

 

Good experiment. I looked up bromathalin on the internet and found that it is not an anticoagulant and is toxic in lower doses than the anticoagulants. It’s hard to tell by the information if the secondary poisoning of bromathalin is worse than anticoagulant. Secondary poisoning is a possibility though not common. I’ve not experienced it over the years in pets though it is appearing more realistic that birds of prey are susceptible to this and anticoags. This will be an issue in the near future I’m thinking.

No antidote for bromathalin either as there is with anticoags. There should be a MSDS that came with the product. If not, search the brand name on line and make sure you have the EPA registration # handy for the search. There should be contact info for the manufacturer. Calling them could be informative as secondary poisoning is an issue. They may be able to calculate what a lethal dosage would be for a dog of a certain weight which would put it in terms that we can understanding better. The variable is that we won’t know how much the rat consumed, but it won’t be much. The rat may have ingested more than the minimum lethal dose.

If you want an alternative, consider bromadiolone (for example: Contrac blox) as it is an anticoage, single feed rat poison. I’ve used both over the years and like both.