. Control of field rodents on California farms. Rodents. vised trappers at other seasons to keep down the muskrat population. Poisoning. Baits must be placed where available to muskrats and not to other animals or birds. A floating bait box (fig. 23), anchored near burrows, will offer bait only to muskrats or house- rats. For stability the box should be about the dimensions shown, supported on 4 x 4- inch redwood floats (preferably painted) ; sealed metal tanks also will serve as floats. It is desirable to keep the bottom of the box above the water so it will be dry. The box provides a roof to
. Control of field rodents on California farms. Rodents. vised trappers at other seasons to keep down the muskrat population. Poisoning. Baits must be placed where available to muskrats and not to other animals or birds. A floating bait box (fig. 23), anchored near burrows, will offer bait only to muskrats or house- rats. For stability the box should be about the dimensions shown, supported on 4 x 4- inch redwood floats (preferably painted) ; sealed metal tanks also will serve as floats. It is desirable to keep the bottom of the box above the water so it will be dry. The box provides a roof to exclude other animals, a landing platform, and corner troughs for bait. Various grain, fruit, and vegetable baits have proved acceptable but rolled barley or rolled wheat poisoned with an anticoagulant—warfarin or Pival® (in a 19:1 ratio of bait to poison)—is accept- able and effective. Bait boxes should be examined and cleaned daily, with replen- ishment of bait, until muskrats no longer are visiting. Anticoagulant baits of rolled barley cast in paraffin blocks, as described for meadow mice, have been tried. Each is cast on a slender pointed stick by which the bait is fixed in a place where musk- rats travel. Baits with zinc phosphide and strychnine have been tried but gave poor results; any muskrats that survive the initial treatment will be bait-shy. This does not result with anticoagulant bait. Gassing. Near Bakersfield muskrats were controlled by pumping carbon di- sulfide gas into burrows at a season when water had been withdrawn from the canals and ditches and the tunnels were easily Fig. 23. Floating bait box for muskrats. [43]. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Storer, Tracy I. (Tracy Irwin), 1889-1973; Jameson, E. W. (Everett Williams), 1921-. [Berkeley, Calif. ] : Divis
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