Who Has Gassed Rats / Voles or Other Underground Pests?

TX_Diver

WKR
Joined
May 27, 2019
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2,597
Inspired by the uncatchable mouse thread, I'm looking for some suggestions on getting rid of whatever is digging under the shop out back and making a giant mess. Some sort of rats or voles or other critter are digging under the shop out back and the bucket trap hasn't caught any yet.

Has anyone used something like the Underground Exterminator (hose that hooks up to car exhaust) or the Victor Quick strike (flare type deal that emits a gas)?

We have chickens, dogs, sheep, and kids so I don't want to use poison tablets or snap traps.

I am renting and don't have access to the shop they are burrowing under but it's not occupied and just stores a few trailers, and the land lords spare vehicle. I have to assume there are a few tunnels that come up inside the shop too that I wouldn't be able to block.



If any of these work or people have other suggestions I'm open to ideas.
 

xsn10s

WKR
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May 3, 2022
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466
My neighbor does this professionally on the side for farmers. He hooks up a hose to gas motors and runs them in fields. He is never without work this time of the year. I used the cyanide smoke bombs and they never worked for me. After a half a year trying to get a gopher with various traps the GopherHawk worked for me. But under a shop I would use the one where you hook up to a car. That was what I was going to try next.
 
Joined
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Those rodent smoke flares you buy anywhere seem to work well. Probe and find runway, dig open, get it smoking and shove it in runway one in each direction. Cover with a piece of wood.
 

AG8

Lil-Rokslider
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Apr 23, 2020
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Tried all of the above. GopherHawk was the only thing that worked for me. Bought the underground exterminator, didn’t seem to phase them. I thought it was going to be the magic bullet. Maybe I didn’t do it right or didn’t give it enough time. I think for it to work well, you have to use something that doesn’t have a catalytic converter. The victor quick strikes were better than the amdro gopher gassers but only seemed to cause them to relocate temporarily then return. Several times I just found the spent flare dug up and thrown back out of the hole.
 

*zap*

WKR
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N/E Kansas
I have gassed moles.....it works but you need to invest in time and gas bombs....be sure not to collapse the far side of the tunnel when you insert the gas bomb, then cover it with some dirt. I carried a 5 gallon bucket of dirt when I did it for csr's.
The moles come back eventually (job security) because the neighbors do not eliminate them and then the csr's get pissed. I tell them for $150 I cannot kill all the moles in town... :love: would you like this done a few times a season or would you like to have moles?

When I trapped them I charged $75 per mole carcass.....one carcass could be worth $300..... :love:
 
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Used to use road flares in ground squirrel holes. Get it as deep as you can and fill the hole behind it. Cover all holes nearby with rocks or dirt and sit back to watch for smoke coming out of holes you missed or them digging their way out to run off. Have a dog handy to chase down the escapees.
The rest either die of smoke inhalation or oxygen asphyxiation from the flare burning for so long.
Otherwise, run a hose in the tunnel until it’s completely flooded out. They usually wont return to a collapsed muddy hole vs starting over somewhere else.
 

KurtR

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South Dakota
So one night we were out in a garage working on race cars and a rat came in there and pissed a guy right off. So they took a propane tank with a weed torch and put it in one of the holes and turned the propane on. He threw a lit cigarette in another hole and the following explosion heaved the floor in the garage had fire shooting out of holes he didnt know where in his yard and his wife called the cops because she though a bomb went off. A little bit of beer may have been involved there were never any more rats haha.
 
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TX_Diver

WKR
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Tried all of the above. GopherHawk was the only thing that worked for me. Bought the underground exterminator, didn’t seem to phase them. I thought it was going to be the magic bullet. Maybe I didn’t do it right or didn’t give it enough time. I think for it to work well, you have to use something that doesn’t have a catalytic converter. The victor quick strikes were better than the amdro gopher gassers but only seemed to cause them to relocate temporarily then return. Several times I just found the spent flare dug up and thrown back out of the hole.

This thing?

 
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TX_Diver

WKR
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May 27, 2019
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2,597
I really really want this


Even if it doesn't solve the problem it would sure feel like I'm fighting back

If this wasn't a rental and the holes weren't under a structure that does look like a much more interesting contraption!!
 
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TX_Diver

WKR
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May 27, 2019
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@AG8 Most of the tunnels seem to go under the shop but I'll go take a look and see what I can find. I could probably figure out a way to rig that up.

Thanks!
 
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ihookem

FNG
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Jan 21, 2024
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Allenton , Wis
I had rats under my wood pile. They were mostly there cause I had egg layers and they ate the food at night.. I took a hose the size of my tractor muffler . Stuck one side on the muffler and the other in the whole for 10 minutes.. They went away for a few months, or I didnt get them all . By winter they were back. A trail cam showed at least one, but likely 2... There was an Alberta clipper coming in the next few days ,so The night before the week long cold front came in ,, I took all the food away.. They likely starved, but if they decided to set out looking for food, they likely froze to death. They never came back but I had to keep the food away.
 

Iowafarmer

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 5, 2023
Messages
150
Inspired by the uncatchable mouse thread, I'm looking for some suggestions on getting rid of whatever is digging under the shop out back and making a giant mess. Some sort of rats or voles or other critter are digging under the shop out back and the bucket trap hasn't caught any yet.

Has anyone used something like the Underground Exterminator (hose that hooks up to car exhaust) or the Victor Quick strike (flare type deal that emits a gas)?

We have chickens, dogs, sheep, and kids so I don't want to use poison tablets or snap traps.

I am renting and don't have access to the shop they are burrowing under but it's not occupied and just stores a few trailers, and the land lords spare vehicle. I have to assume there are a few tunnels that come up inside the shop too that I wouldn't be able to block.



If any of these work or people have other suggestions I'm open to ideas.
I’ve used these with some success I’ve heard anhydrous ammonia hose in the burrow works very well never tried it myself
 

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Peregrine

FNG
Joined
Mar 26, 2024
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Inspired by the uncatchable mouse thread, I'm looking for some suggestions on getting rid of whatever is digging under the shop out back and making a giant mess. Some sort of rats or voles or other critter are digging under the shop out back and the bucket trap hasn't caught any yet.

Has anyone used something like the Underground Exterminator (hose that hooks up to car exhaust) or the Victor Quick strike (flare type deal that emits a gas)?

We have chickens, dogs, sheep, and kids so I don't want to use poison tablets or snap traps.

I am renting and don't have access to the shop they are burrowing under but it's not occupied and just stores a few trailers, and the land lords spare vehicle. I have to assume there are a few tunnels that come up inside the shop too that I wouldn't be able to block.



If any of these work or people have other suggestions I'm open to ideas.
Kind of need to identify the pests. Some rodents do not have the ability to expel gastric gases (fart) and a mixture of 50% baking soda, 25% cocoa powder like you make hot chocolate with and 25% powdered sugar. They I get it and the baking soda off-gases and those guys expose. Works gray in my shop.
 

bliner

FNG
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Messages
53
There are some good ideas here. I have a rattlesnake den on my property and hadn’t thought of gassing them, but may try that. I tried flooding them out, but there are just too many tunnels, so the flow from a hose doesn’t do anything.

I was thinking about setting up some tannerite to pressurize the tunnels and hope that kills them. Then I talked to a buddy whose grandpa dynamited a rattlesnake den on his ranch. Supposedly, there were a lot of snakes that weren’t killed, but it blew their rattles off. Definitely don’t want that!
 

bbrown

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Mar 9, 2012
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Laporte - CO
While we are talking about it - we have a small skunk that moved in under our chicken coop that is proving difficult to catch or to convince to move along.

Other than setting the coop on fire does anyone have any tips or tricks to get rid of him?
 
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TX_Diver

WKR
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May 27, 2019
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2,597
While we are talking about it - we have a small skunk that moved in under our chicken coop that is proving difficult to catch or to convince to move along.

Other than setting the coop on fire does anyone have any tips or tricks to get rid of him?
Great Pyrenees did the trick for us on that one. He stunk for a few days though 😂

He lives outside so not a huge deal
 
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