Curative control

Physical control

1. Cage traps and break-back/snap traps baited with roasted chunk of matured coconut meat, dried meat or dried fruit are quite efficient methods of removing rats within a small area.
2. Shallow pans or bowls baited with corn meal, brown sugar, and plaster of Paris. The mixture is most effective when it consists of 2/3 of corn meal and a sixth each of brown sugar and plaster of Paris. First, mix the corn meal and plaster of Paris to ensure that plaster of Paris is spread evenly throughout the mixture. Soft brown sugar makes mixing easier.
3. Physical killing of the rats using clubs and sticks and usually done in a participatory manner among the farmers in the village.
4. Destruction of rat nests or excavation of rat burrows during the flowering stage, and at the same killing the females and nestlings.
5. Enclosing seedbed with plastic sheets and zinc sheets to prevent early rat infestation in the field.
6. Community Traps Barrier System (CTBS)
   It is recommended that a group of 20 - 30 farmers set up the CTBS to minimize the cost of the installation. Plant a single lure crop in a small rice field measuring 20 - 30 sq m, 2 or 3 weeks ahead of the main crop to lure the rats from neighboring fields extending as far as 200 meters in every direction. Surround the crop with a plastic fence. At every 5 to 10 meters, make a hole that leads into the one-way trap that is made of flexible wire cone. The rats that enter cannot escape.

Rat baits

1. Boiled corn in Madre de cacao (Gliricidia sepium) barks. Get pieces of bark and bring to boil together with corn
2. Boiled wheat seeds in Madre de cacao barks
3. Boiled sorghum in morning glory (Ipomea fistulosa) leaves