Can antechinus be poisoned with rat bait????? I have several baits out as we live in the middle of the bush & have lots of rats. But now I've just discovered that the nest under my pots & pans draw is actually an antechinus mum with 3 gorgeous babies!!! I put a block of bait in the draw & was puzzled why nothing has touched it the past week. Does this mean they don't eat the bait??? Or do I need to take up all the baits? I'll be doing this anyway while waiting for an answer but will need to put them out again at some point as the rats eat the wiring & everything else if left unchecked. Help please - I'd be devastated if I hurt these dear little things. Helen
Re: Antechinus HELP!!! not what you want to hear, but probably yes i really hope someone can say different
Re: Antechinus HELP!!! I didn't know, so I asked my wife: " I would say almost certainly that if an antechinus ate rat bait it would harm them. It harms dogs and other mammals so I can't imagine they would be any exception. Rat bait is just a poison that causes internal bleeding so I can't imagine how any animal would be immune to it effecting them. "
Re: Antechinus HELP!!! The noxious weeds inspector turned up here today. He's a young guy with an ag science degree. I ran it past him & he said they catch live prey & are not attracted to rat bait, luckily for me. I've taken up all the rat bait as a precaution anyway. I'm well aware of it's effects on mammals. I've had 2 very large vet bills for dogs that have managed to get hold of it one way or another.
Re: Antechinus HELP!!! antichinus dont touch baits - the ag bloke confirmed that to stop your dogs - - get a block of wood - 60cm X 30cm - and put a small guage bird mesh tunnel over the wood mine is high enough so that a large rat can easily fit in but my dogs cant get their heads in to get at the bait - not so sure about my chooks so I dont leave them out when the bait is set I use the water proof blocks and nail it to the centre of the wood - in the middle of the tunnel i dont think theres much point of a photo - the mesh wont show - - use the iagination and hopefully you can think of what I am trying to describe if you have small dogs or worse still daschunds - make the wood longer and the tunnel lower -
Re: Antechinus HELP!!! Helen, I don't know how large your rats are down there, but have you ever tried a non-toxic bucket rat trap? Just google 'bucket rat trap' and you'll get descriptions of various types, drawings and photos. With the right kind of bait, maybe they wouldn't attract your Antechinus? Sue
Re: Antechinus HELP!!! Eco 4560 - the carpet snakes are being very helpful (not). See my other post entitled carpet snakes & chooks . I can't believe they only eat 1 rat a week!!! paradisi - I use a similar technique. I wire the block in the centre of a piece of large poly pipe - long enough to be too long for the longest nose!!! The 2 vet bills were for "freak accidents", one of which we still can't explain. We didn't have any blocks on the place but the blood tests said warfrin poisoning. Sue - do you mean a bucket with water in it & some sort of attractant? When I was at Djanbung there was a mouse plague in the student accommodation & that was the method of choice to thin them out. Only problem was all the "young persons" staying there were too squeamish to empty the buckets & in the heat of summer it quickly became a very nasty situation. Being old enough to be "Mum", the job fell to me to dispose of the offending science project. So I have some rather bad associations with the bucket method & would rather avoid it if possible! I think you'd need a very large bucket for rats wouldn't you?
Re: Antechinus HELP!!! Sorry Helen - I didn't put 2 and 2 together and come up with your story about the snake with the belly ache! Fancy it spitting out a perfectly good chook, but ignoring a nice juicy rat. Sometimes the universe just doesn't seem fair.