Procedure
- With a pair of scissors, cut the plastic disposable cup into a shape as shown below. This would be the container or bin to hold the rat poison bait. The lowest point of the cut part should be around one inch high. This will keep the bait from scattering and dropping to the ground when the rat feeds on the bait.
- Punch drain holes at the bottom of the cut disposable cup. These holes will allow water to drip out in case rain water enters the receptacle. The holes don't need to be perfect nor look nice. These are rats, anyway. But the holes do need to be big enough for water to drip out freely. I used a candle-heated nail to melt the cup's thin plastic and poke holes.
- Punch two holes near the top part of the cup. The two holes should be big enough accommodate a tie wire or a thin wire. These holes will allow a tie wire to pass through for securing the cup to an anchor.
- Shown below is the finished rat poison bait holder.
- Insert a thin wire or a tie wire through the two holes in the rat poison bait holder as shown. Be sure the wire is long enough to tie or wrap it to an anchor.
- Tie the rat poison bait holder to an anchor. Here, I took advantage of an L-shaped brace on the beam for tying the rat bait holder. I tied the thin wire tightly to the anchor and then simply twisted both ends.
The twisted wire should be tight and secure. A feeding rat may rattle the rat poison bait holder and shake it off from the anchor. It may then drop to the ground and waste the rat bait.
- Here's the secured rat poison bait holder as seen from below. Notice how it is positioned directly below the roof gutter so it may be protected from the rains. Whether coming or going, a rat would surely encounter the bait in the holder.
- Pour Racumin Ready-Made Bait granules into the rat poison bait holder. These are like rice grains that rats are accustomed to. Put in just a little and don't overfill. You can add more later if the rats are heavy feeders.
- Here's the bait holder waiting to feed the rats. Notice how the transparent cup makes the bait grains very visible to the rats.
Results of the Rat Poison Bait Strategy
Thus far, it's been very promising. I've installed two of these rat bait holders on the two beams of the garden arbor - one on each beam. For two days, the rat bait holder have been emptied by the rats. I'm replenishing the rat bait daily. Yes, they must be voracious feeders.
So far so good. I've not seen any dead rats yet, but I'm expecting to see lesser rats roaming our garden soon.
(See Part 4 for the continuation of this article)
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