Rats have eaten ant traps

We installed the flow ant traps around 12 months ago and they have been very effective in preventing ants getting onto the hive. I noticed today that the oil wells have been chewed away by rats to get to the vegetable oil. They are now essentially useless. I know they are only $25 but if the rats are going to destroy them I may not bother. This happened to a friend also. I wonder if anyone else has had this experience.

Hi Matt, I don’t bother trying to trap ants. I see the odd few on & in my hives, but they don’t bother me.

In your situation, I just wonder if something like sump oil would do the trick at preventing rats from trying to get to it, in order to eat it.

Thanks Jeff
I also have vegetable oil in the integrated pest tray of an ecrotek bottom board that is where our split is housed. There are chew marks in the plastic of the bottom board where they’re trying to get to the oil there too. Maybe time for ratsak!

I used mineral oil (AKA medicinal liquid paraffin) in my traps. Not nearly as interesting to wildlife, but may help them out with constipation if they try to eat it! :rofl:

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Hi Matt, doing whatever it takes to rid your yard of rats, especially the Rattus rattus variety will help in solving the problem.

I catch them alive before drowning them, which I think is more humane than poison. Plus it would avoid non target animals from getting poisoned.

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Hi Matt, try adding a bit of cinnamon to the oil, ants hate cinnamon and so do rats. You could also try peppermint oil. Good luck and I’d love to hear if this helps :slight_smile:

You could also try to put a poisonous (or at least something that will make them sick) liquid instead of oil (the rats will die when if they attempt to drink it).