Hey everybody.
We keep geese and pigeons.
Today I saw a rat in the garage.
We feed the birds, chipmunks and squirrels...also have a couple of hawks.

How can I get rid of the rats without harming any other wildlife?
I do know of a poison I can put out that only rats will eat, but I don't want him running out to the field to be caught by the hawk and end up poisoning the hawk.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

There are humane traps (live) but you then have to dispose of the creature your self.
Just about anything I can think of would harm your chipmunks , they are same size and very curious.

We use sticky traps...Kinda, probably what Cinda is speaking of...We had one trap disappear! I would imagine the little guy ran off...Trap and all...

How about the old fashioned snap traps? No poisoning involved.

What bait would Rats want that chipmunks not want?
Do chippies eat cheese?

Humm, don't know if they eat cheese. The chipmunk here eats seeds and nuts. But then it also eats some of my ripe tomatoes.

The snap traps would get the chippers too I think...I don't know what I could put on them that only the rats would want...do chippers eat tuna you think?

The important thing is that rats are nocturnal for the most part, and chipmunks are out in the daytime exclusively. So if you can put out traps at night, and whisk them in first thing in the morning you should catch only rats. Baiting with peanut butter works really well for us. I'm a night owl, and put the traps out when it gets dark, about 8pm here. Then I collect them before I go to sleep at midnight if my husband is out of town - he's the early riser of the two of us. Still, I do catch a rat or two most nights. They come to our bird feeders . . doesn't everybody??

Yes, please don't put out poison unless you can be sure to contain the poisoned rats! My daughter's cat ate a poisoned mouse and almost died - twice! We still can't find out who is putting out the poison but it's sure an irresponsible way to go about getting rid of rats. Her cats are now confined to indoors, sadly.

Rats will eat meat; I don't think chipmunks will.

A squirrel trap works wonders.
I catch both mice and rats in mine.
Bait with peanut butter, or carrots.
If catch non-target animal, set free, if rat or other pest, drown in fish pond, feed to cat.

stone said:
A squirrel trap works wonders.
I catch both mice and rats in mine.
Bait with peanut butter, or carrots.
If catch non-target animal, set free, if rat or other pest, drown in fish pond, feed to cat.

Now that is an excellent idea.

That's what we've decided to get...a live trap. If it's a rat though we'll poison it in the trap and safely dispose of the carcass.

Thanks everybody!

Not sure how you are gonna get a trapped rat to eat poison...

Easier to toss the trap in a pond or something.

My fish pond started out as a bit of sheet plastic lining a hole in the sand... eventually I invested in an actual liner.

I can't toss a live animal in to drown, we got some poison cubes they can't resist, it'll eat it.
Our first pond we used an old water bed liner....