Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Can anyone advise how to humanely get rid of a family of fruit rats that are nesting in our palms

Are they doing you any harm? Couldn't you just leave them where they are?

I use a humane trap that can be bought in many hardware shops, rat goes in after bait, chicken skin is good. The trap is triggered and the spring-loaded door drops. I then take the rat miles away into the forest for release.

Groucho, Rats have very efficient homing instinct How strong is your Mozi net?

Get shot of em they are rodents they, if left in situ can kill your tree by gnawing away at the bark.

MnM wrote: ↑

Wed 05 Jul 2023 9:01 am

Groucho, Rats have very efficient homing instinct How strong is your Mozi net?

No they don't... once they find a food source they rarely venture >30 metres away.

KAR has a lot of cats wanting a home. They will get rid of your rats............

I'm in the same predicament as every year the fruit rats decimate my Phoenix Palm fruit at ripening and I don't want to go down the poison route of the inhumane sticky pads.
I've got my quota of cats but they can only catch the rats that come down from the heights as the cats don't appear able to climb palms. Owls, we need more owls

A real shame unless they are causing a real problem, when I first came here they used to run the grape vines in many a restaurant. I being naive was told they were called the cyprus squirrel and would not harm me. Recently I have seen first hand what upset can be caused by customers moaning about the cyprus fruit rat in a restaurant. The poor cat who bothered nobody, born there over 13 years ago, kept to herself stayed safe from the road but unfortunately came in contact with poison. I do not blame the restaurant, they only reacted to their customers who kept on about the rats in the only way they know. But she took 7 days of wondering why she was so thirsty, not wanting to eat, bewildered why she was in a cage but with a kindly person who as soon as she heard his vehicle welcomed him every time. Luckily she trusted them when she was ill to allow him for the first time to pick her up and take her home with him during her final days.
Please think how problems are dealt with before opening one's mouth.

Medjoul1 wrote: ↑

Thu 13 Jul 2023 6:45 am

I'm in the same predicament as every year the fruit rats decimate my Phoenix Palm fruit at ripening and I don't want to go down the poison route of the inhumane sticky pads.
I've got my quota of cats but they can only catch the rats that come down from the heights as the cats don't appear able to climb palms. Owls, we need more owls

But where to get more owls, this is the problem! Go for the humane trap, we have one works fine until you get a very smart rat!

Whatever you do, don't resort to poison, as many innocent creatures are harmed by secondary poisoning after coming into contact with the poisoned target species including protected species like owls and other birds of prey... it's a very serious problem for wildlife here.