FINCHforum

After a year without incident I now have a rat problem in my aviary. I buried chicken wire around the base "thinking" it would keep any critters out, and not realizing rats burrow underground. But now they have killed some of my birds etc. Does anyone have any ideas on how to combat this problem? I've been using traps but they don't seem to be working very well. I'm so frustrated and depressed over this. Thanks,
Heather

Rats are difficult to deal with. Several members have had problems with rats lately. Yes, they burrow underground--they can also squeeze thru fairly small spaces. Inside your aviary, you are limited, as you can't set traps unless they sell some 'no kill' types for rats. Chicken wire probably is not tough enough to keep out rats, they can chew thru thin wire. Some people install a wire mesh floor to their aviary, others run the wire mesh down underground and flared out for at least a foot, I think, or maybe it is more like 2 feet.

if you are able to remove your birds from the aviary for a couple of weeks you could put down some baits and also use a few traps

Hello, There is a post a little further down on this page "general questions" titled Mice by Hoji. Lots of info on control, her mice turned out to be rats and she did catch them. There is lots of info given by members on there. Good luck.

We caught all the birds two nights ago (about 50) and brought them indoors in cages. They are a bit cramped, but alive and that's the important thing. Some of my poor birds were killed and now we're on a rat hunt. Within the next week we will be pouring concrete in the aviary to replace the dirt floor. It's been quite a tragedy, but hopefully the concrete will keep the rats out.

Good luck and may those rats R.I.P.

Good luck on your hunting expedition. Seems like a lot of people are having rat problems lately.

Hopefully the concrete will resolve the rat issue for you so your birds can be put back in their aviary.

Yes, quite a few people are having the same problem within the past few weeks. I guess I'm lucky that I have my birds inside despite the mess they make.

I don't know your plan on the floor but if you plan on having live plants in aviary make sure you keep in mind one member thinks the rats were getting into aviary tunneling up thru the plants ,just a thought. Good luck

Thank you for your words of encouragement! I know my Euroopean Goldfinch will be very happy to be back outside. He hates being cooped up. He's definitely a loner.

For those of you who want a dirt floor in your aviary you can do what my niece did when she built an out door rabbit habitat. she fond some galvanized mesh that had 1/4" squaresand was made with12 gage wire and put it down 18" deep so her rabbits could burrow. It was still good when she moved 3 years later she took it with her.

James