Hi All.

 

On my last visit I had to deal with a rat infestation in the home of my friend.

 

The vermin had gotten into everything, including the mattress, cupboards, and even chewed through air con power cabling.

 

I'm looking for any ideas in economically storing household rice in the kitchen.

 

The family might typically buy 25kg sacks of rice leaving this food totally exposed.

 

Are there sturdy and not overly expensive containers which could do the job?

 

cheers.

 

R

A plastic dustbin,like you can find at Makro, put the lid

on with a big brick on top,should be strong enough for

them not to chew through,will hold 25 kg rice,will also

keep weevils out too, and while your there get some

of those sticky rat traps, rats carry all kinds of dieseases

you have to get rid of them for your own health,a cat 

would come in handy too.

regards worgeordie

the way to preserve food from ants is to fill a shallow container with water, then inside that container you place a container with food,

so the ants would have to tread water to get to the food.

you can scale this up so for example fill a trash can with some water,

place a buddha statue in the trash can without touching the walls,

and on top of the buddha statue place the sack of rice.

 

another way is to cut off the bottom of 4 old plastic milk containers, fill them with water or something toxic, and then place the legs of a table on them,

and then the food on the table is safe,

for as long as the legs dont touch the walls of the milk containers, and for as long as there is water in them

2 hours ago, rockyysdt said:

Are there sturdy and not overly expensive containers which could do the job?

Rats can chew through concrete, better off having more hungry cats around.

 

Get something made of metal to put the rice inside, for example cooking pots are available in all sizes and you should be able to get one which fits 25kg or rice

If the rats are as bad as you indicate in your post, I'd be concentrating on the rats before worrying about anything else. Having said that I think Worgordie's suggestion is the solution. Dust bins come in all sizes & some have clip type latches for lid security.

 

We grow our own rice and have never had problems with vermin or insects with storage. In the kitchen, we keep our cooking rice in a 20L plastic trash can with a lid. I do keep ARS ant bait in the kitchen and house year round. Another thing I do is spray a 4-6 inch wide area of Chaindrite or ARS termite and ant killer along the floor and wall. The residual effect will last at least 4 weeks. I also spray a pattern around all the wastebaskets. All of this helps control an infestation, but I give most of the credit to my wife for keeping a clean house. We also have a female cat that has access to the kitchen through a pet entrance.

19 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Rats can chew through concrete, better off having more hungry cats around.

 

Or get a snake...

keep them in bins or metal container, have a hungry cat around.

Training rats from birth not to eat rice is the only solution. Small collars that give an electric shock every time the rat approaches any rice will soon get the message across ????

Get a cat or a snake.

Broken fridge...Big ice box 

Please do not laugh, but rats behaviour is different in each area.

Yours sound extreme so talk to the locals down the road & ask them for advice .

I am sure the locals will have a solution as they would not put up with what you have described

They should not even be in your house

Rats chew and claw through anything except galvanized metals.

Rat poison in the right places works wonders BUT it  is against a Buddhist precept , DO NOT KILL ANY LIVING CREATURE.

Those big glazed clay china water pots are rat proof.  The biggest size must be at least 70 or 80 litres.   Not expensive but don't like being dropped.   Get one of the round metal lids they sell with them and a brick.  Then only weevils are your problem.

Store your rice in a thick metal container - not on the floor and get a cat.  

Get yourself a Jack Russel terrier, they will hunt all day until they catch the rat, also very good on keeping snakes under control. Our 2 terriers leave the rat outside the door, much to say look what we caught. Also tend to find the snake in 2 or 3 bits, when they catch them. House have no problems with rats or snakes, even though we have rice, chicken and cow feed stored in bags. ????

There seems to be lot more than rice going on at your place?  If it is like the Thai household I've seen you need to completely get the place organized meaning get things off the floor so there isn't a place for them to hide and as noted by another poster for 200-300 baht get basically a garbage tub and put the sack inside with a brick on the lid.

Once you start removing the stuff off the floor get a broom ready you should see where the rats/mice been hiding and sleeping you will find their turds everwhere! Before you check out and pay for the tub get a half dozen rodent glue traps put the rice on the trap start to problem solved?

2 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Get a cat or a snake.

Ya don't even need the snake

If there's a reptile park or similar near by then ask them for some snake droppings

Spread them around the place and the rats will bolt

40 minutes ago, Slugs11 said:

Get yourself a Jack Russel terrier, they will hunt all day until they catch the rat, also very good on keeping snakes under control. Our 2 terriers leave the rat outside the door, much to say look what we caught. Also tend to find the snake in 2 or 3 bits, when they catch them. House have no problems with rats or snakes, even though we have rice, chicken and cow feed stored in bags. ????

If you are some sort of conservationist & don't like to see the snakes beheaded, don't go down the Jack Russell route. I can vouch for their effectiveness. Great looking little bloke &  more faithful than ya missus.

3 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Get a cat or a snake.

 

A cat is OK if you don't have five dogs as we do. They tormented it and chased it away until the cat go so brassed off, it packed its bags and buggered off.

 

A snake is not practical for obvious reasons, especially if you have chickens.

 

I also wonder if it is indeed rats? Thais do use that term and not realize how much it makes Westerners shudder when on many occasions they mean field mice.

 

These are plentiful in rural areas ( field mice  ) and the above tips from TV members such as the big plastic sealable bins should prevent them from getting in.

 

I agree with a previous poster if we had a problem with the big horrid longtail, I would be calling in the Army, Navy and Air force or anybody who could help regardless of the expense. Those things are riddled with disease and downright horrible.

 

If you are unfortunate enough to be plagued by longtails, I would not be hanging around and also you need to stop anything that is attracting them. Obviously if you live near a dumpsite or rubbish tip or even the local abbatoir, you could have problems.

Lots of poison, get the Bayer version, the blue granules, lovely stuff. And get a few glue traps and put a bit a bit of peanut butter in the middle.

Like the others we have our rice in a plastic trash container. Never a problem.

60% rice powder, or wheat mixed with 40% plaster will solve the problem, other animals will not touch it.

Get a cat.

1 hour ago, Andycoops said:

Get a cat.

    No don't get a cat. They are not particularly good at catching rats and wreak havoc on native wildlife.

        http://www.tnrrealitycheck.com/barn_cats.asp

My wife tells me that if using the big plastic buckets for food storage then they should be the white ones.

I am unclear as to the reason for this, but the white ones must be more expensive for a reason. We have white bins outside, in the workshop and elsewhere containing rice and dog food, and although we obviously have rats occasionally, they have never bitten into the bins.

4 minutes ago, cooked said:

My wife tells me that if using the big plastic buckets for food storage then they should be the white ones.

I am unclear as to the reason for this, but the white ones must be more expensive for a reason. We have white bins outside, in the workshop and elsewhere containing rice and dog food, and although we obviously have rats occasionally, they have never bitten into the bins.

Much better to have the white ones than the wong ones !

The girls that I have met that grew up on farms eat the rats. They say they are good to eat because their diet was rice.

On 11/7/2018 at 11:21 AM, tweedledee2 said:

 

We grow our own rice and have never had problems with vermin or insects with storage. In the kitchen, we keep our cooking rice in a 20L plastic trash can with a lid. I do keep ARS ant bait in the kitchen and house year round. Another thing I do is spray a 4-6 inch wide area of Chaindrite or ARS termite and ant killer along the floor and wall. The residual effect will last at least 4 weeks. I also spray a pattern around all the wastebaskets. All of this helps control an infestation, but I give most of the credit to my wife for keeping a clean house. We also have a female cat that has access to the kitchen through a pet entrance.

Same here, we somtimes have several thousand kgs of rice, we put those sticky pads all over the place, somtimes catch a couple dozen babies a day.   I also have the meanest house cat you ever saw, hates people, but loves rats. 

Thanks to all the contributors.

 

I think I'll start with the white bins with lids and work from there.

 

I've already set many baits for the rats.

It was the blue pellets.

 

I'll have to get some ant rid as well.

 

Yes, the family do love their rat.

A worry if they've eaten bait.

 

NB: Where is the best place to buy the white bins in Udon?