How do I get rid of rats before they are a problem?

[golden rabbitry]

So a few days back I noticed rat droppings by my feed. How do I get rid of them before them become a problem? I've heard many tales of rats taking babies and other issues like that so I'm slightly concerned this might lead to issues.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I always leave rat poison packages out [where pets can't get in them]
I also like rat traps with peanut butter as bait.

 

[Preitler]

I use snap traps, covered with a wooden box with rather smallish holes when outside to prevent that bunnies or birds get in. They are smart though, I also use a DIY marten live trap when they figure out to avoid the snap traps. Nuts, bread, nutella, neapolitan wafers used as bait. Be sure the traps have quite some punch, I've got some that are just suitable for mice.
I pretty much have just single rats moving in now and then, but last fall one killed 4 kits out of a litter of 5.

A wildlife camera is a very useful tool to see if there are such critters, or which (turned out to be a dormouse once) and what they do.

 

[hotzcatz]

About a week before a litter is due, I'll put rat baits out. I put them where they can't be reached by bunnies or any other critter other than rats. A month or two ago the orchard behind our house finally got mowed so now all the rats that used to live in there have moved down to our area. Since some babies were due and I'd seen rats running about, I put out twice as much. It was gone in half a day so I put out twice as much again. That also vanished quickly. It was 'Eau de Dead Ratte' for about a week, but filling in all the holes I could find helped a lot with that. Now the babies are safe. At least, from rats.

 

[Softie]

So a few days back I noticed rat droppings by my feed. How do I get rid of them before them become a problem? I've heard many tales of rats taking babies and other issues like that so I'm slightly concerned this might lead to issues.

Rat wire should keep babies safe.

 

[golden rabbitry]

Rat wire should keep babies safe.

I got a cat and moved into a new barn so rats are gone! totally proofing with rat wire tho

 

[hotzcatz]

The nesting hutches are entirely rat proof wire since otherwise we can lose entire litters to rats even after putting out the baits. Once we lost a litter to ants of all things. It's sometimes pretty hard to keep baby buns safe.

 

[KelleyBee]

The nesting hutches are entirely rat proof wire since otherwise we can lose entire litters to rats even after putting out the baits. Once we lost a litter to ants of all things. It's sometimes pretty hard to keep baby buns safe.

So, do you encase the entire cage with a special wire to keep out rats?