Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

More specifically if I lay ratsack and a hemorrhaging rat falls into a GB or worse the FT trying to slake its final thirst will it kill the fish?

I'm not worried about me because the levels would be so low and the active ingredient is actually a medicine (anti clotting agent) but I am worried about my fish.

When they take the baits, don't they eat and run? Then die somewhere that's hard to get them out of and stinks up the place?

I think the amounts that'd get in from a hemorrhaging rat wouldn't be enough to take out the fish. However, I'm no expert on the matter.

Rat sack is (meant to be) great in houses because it causes them to hemerage which makes them thirsty so they leave the house to find water and die outside somewhere.

In a GH containing an AP system it is possible/probable that they will go for a final swim.

Ahh, I didn't know about the thirsty bit.

If they go for a swim, then I'd imagine all their belly could end up in the water. Might be more of a risk there. But again, I don't know how much of a risk.

How bad is the rat problem?

I've just purchased two electronic rat traps as I wasn't happy with the rat poison risk to my AP, dog, neighbours dogs, native wildlife and stinky rats in the roof problems. time will tell if they work though!

had tried baits for 6 months and most of the time they were not eaten!

What type of Ratsak do you have? The double strength variety uses Warfarin which is less likely to cause problems than the other poison used in the fast acting Ratsak. I don't think either would be much of an issue if a rat fell in a tank, mainly because most of the posion would have been digested and in my experience using Ratsak I've never seen one actively bleeding and never actually near a water source. The problems with secondary posioning usually arise if a dead rat is eaten which I can't imagine trout fingerlings doing, lol.

It'll be a few days before the rat dies after eating the posion, so you've always got time to try and cover your fish tank after putting bait out anyway if it's at all possible.

Rat problem is pretty bad. All my cabbage seedlings are gone and now the kale is disappearing.

Warfarin is the toxin I was talking about and I have found them outside all bled out. Rather messy.

Mind you after Gungalla's commetns about blood and bone...

You have a pretty big fish tank don't you? I'd be thinking with a high volume of water and the Warfarin based poison you'd be ok even with a bleeding rat, but the risk is understandable. I'd probably be ok with it risking it with a big tank.

Even if you use poison the rats can come back to eat food in the days after consuming it and attack your plants, is it better to try traps, snap traps, glue traps and the like? Snap traps are pretty instant but getting them to go after the bait in one might be difficult with lots of tasty plants around. Glue traps can work as an alternative because they catch the rats where they run, but it generally leaves them alive on the trap so you'd have to knock them on the head afterwards. Not as quick as a snap trap and dispatching a struggling squeaking rat isn't pleasant.

How about a cat? Or a .22 rifle with rat shot?

My concern would be more directed to rain and the possible leaching of toxins through the beds into the system. I can't confirm for sure but I put ant baits in my GBs once to try and control the aphid situation and after rain I lost some fishies. I can't say for sure if it was the cause but I couldn't find another reason at the time.

I didn't think Stuart would be putting the bait in the GB's themselves, just the grow house where the setup is located?

Rat/filed mice can also hide the bait under your pebbles and it would be even harder to find it on time.
it's strongly poisonous to fish too and I would not suggest to anyone to even handle those torture device anyway.
ELECTRONIC DETERRENT is the best option in most cases..... rather than a slow death or some other nasty situation for us to handle!
Stuart...I'm confused..... you go all about the toxicity of PVC then use this poison in your system?

I'm with arbe on this, a gun will do the trick as long as the rat isn't on the growbeds at the time

Are you any good at setting wire snares?

Just spoke to an old member Boris the other day, he lost all his fish and thinks it was because of rat baits near the system. being carried into the beds, pooing in the beds etc...