The great mouse war of 2010.

[draggar]

THE GORRAM RATS POOPED ALL OVER THE TRAPS!!!

Not a single one was set off.

(I actualy think they might have shaken their but and got th epoop on the traps, but still!

They didn't eat any of the peanut butter - maybe I'll put some chicken feed on them tonight.

Edit: They also started to eat my tomatoes!!!

20 gallon galvanized metal garbage can. Partway down the page. You can get galvanized garbage cans from 1 pint [i have one, ill gladly post a picture of it sometime if asked =) ] up to 80 some odd gallons.

I wonder which size would be best for 50 pounds of bird feed (which would take up about the same space as 40 pounds of dog food)?

[TheSHAD0W]

FYI rats can gnaw THROUGH steel trash cans, if you give them enough time and there's no other food to distract them. It's a good thing to have to steer them towards traps. Someone else suggested a cat, that may be a very good idea.

[draggar]

We have neighborhood cats who haven't touched these rats and my cats wouldn't know what to do with them.

But - I did get some metal barrels, one 31 gallon for the chicken's food and a 15 gallone one for the quail's food.

Hopefully I can get rid of this problem before they chew though the cans.

[Jester]

Fellow Pagans, feel free to yell at me for this but I'm at the end of my rope.

No more mister nice guy. The gloves are off.

I'm getting kill traps. I hate the fact that I have to resort to this but they're eating our food and our pet's food (less food for the chickens means fewer eggs for us, too).

While it might not sit well with you to have to kill them, you have tried non-lethal methods of deterrence, and they have not worked. At some point, you have to put yourself and your family and pets first. And if that means killing rodents, then it's time to kill rodents.

I AM a pagan, and do not believe in the unnecessary killing of creatures. But we are not talking about unnecessary killings here. We're talking about survival, either yours and your family's or the rodents'. In that equation, there is only one side you can take, and anyone who doesn't understand that can come and take the damn rodents home with them to eat THEIR stuff.


I say break out the big guns.

[Treasure]

sounds like you have 3 options, and i'm not sure which is gonna work best for you
a rat-terrier (a breed that is designed to kill those nasty buggers)
a BB or other rifle
D-con traps (they spin closed when the critter gets inside, and so you can't see the dead thing) down side to those is 1 i don't know if they come in "rat" 2, you have to throw the entire thing away, there is no dump the dead body, and reuse, so it can get expensive...

also pagan, and rats are welcome to live a peaceful life, out side of MY BUBBLE! had a mouse get trapped in my bathroom in my apt one weekend, called the apt office, they put out bait for it, i spent 3 days at a friends, and then my roommate called to let me know he'd thrown the dead mouse in the dumpster...

my attitude towards all creepy-crawly things, (insects, rodents, etc) is they are welcome to live a happy life, outside of my bubble, however, if they invade my bubble, they must suffer the consequences, this usually means death. (bubble being not only personal space, but also the building I'm currently occupying)

[draggar]

I AM a pagan, and do not believe in the unnecessary killing of creatures. But we are not talking about unnecessary killings here. We're talking about survival, either yours and your family's or the rodents'. In that equation, there is only one side you can take, and anyone who doesn't understand that can come and take the damn rodents home with them to eat THEIR stuff.

Yeah, I don't like unnecessary killings. Like my father in law - he's an avid hunter (or was) but he rarely killed anything (even though he'd buy up as many doe permits as he could when he lived in NJ) and the rare chance that a deer would step on him and trigger his gun, killing the deer, he'd use the entire deer.

sounds like you have 3 options, and i'm not sure which is gonna work best for you
a rat-terrier (a breed that is designed to kill those nasty buggers)

We have enough dogs - and are expecting puppies. Plus, we're not terrier people.

a BB or other rifle

To say that I am a horrible shot would be an insult to all the people who actually are horrible shots - I'm beyond abysmal.

D-con traps (they spin closed when the critter gets inside, and so you can't see the dead thing) down side to those is 1 i don't know if they come in "rat" 2, you have to throw the entire thing away, there is no dump the dead body, and reuse, so it can get expensive...

Rat size raps are very expensive and I'd rather have ones I could re use, even if it was only 2-3 times.

I'm going to sprinkle some of the game bird feed (that I bought today) that they seem to like on the traps (and in the electric one). I'll see if that helps tomorrow morning.

[Jester]

Here's a novel thought....why don't you take a small portion of that bird game feed and put it in a little bowl/feeder OUTSIDE the shed? That may be a humane way of keeping those rodents out of your shed and the bulk of the feed. I don't know that it will work, but if you are really concerned about killing them, this may be an alternative....sacrificing a bit of the feed for both your conscience and the greater bulk of the feed.

Me, I'd just go about killing the fuckers, because once you start messing with my shit, all bets are off....but that's just me. You seem far kinder and gentler.

[Cat]

As a dirty-hippie, veg-head, and with pagan tendencies, I'd second what many have said, you did your best to get rid of 'em humanely. That is admirable.

If they invaded my place, I'd do the same as you, find they best way to rid of them w/o killing. But....if they continued to invade, and post a risk to my cats....I'd have to go full on mama-cat on them.....kill em.

I have no advice though....we never had a rat problem, and the only time we had mice was the few sad cat-less years. Once you got cats again...no more mice. Out cats didn't hunt them, just the scent drove 'em away. That won't work with rats.


Best of luck. I hope they leave you soon.

edit: your father-in-law sounds awesome, btw!

[draggar]

We had our first casualty last night - a baby rat wandered into the electric trap. Poor thing. I hope he's happy now in the animal afterlife.

Two of the three spring traps were triggered but nothing was in them. I'll re-set them tonight with more of the game bird feed in them.

Jester - that would only delay them getting into the shed. I don't want to feed them and then have more and more rats - I want to get rid of them completely, they also get into my garden and eat my tomatoes (they've even eaten entire jalapeno and habenero peppers!).

edit: your father-in-law sounds awesome, btw!

He is a great guy, I tell him he should write a book, it would be very inspiring. Immigrated to the USA in the 1960's with a few hundred dollars in his pocket and had a very hard time getting a job even though he was a very good surgeon in Argentina (some of his interviewers had his books on their wall), etc..

Perfect example of the "American Dream".

[draggar]

3 more last night. 2 in the electric trap (the first one was early so I cleaned it and re-set it) and the third in a spring trap - I'm sure it was quick.

All 3 were baby rats. What's scaring me is that now that I have the food in metal containers in the shed I'm not just seeing 2-4 adult rates but ~10+ babies running around, too (about the size of large mice).

[jedimaster91]

my attitude towards all creepy-crawly things, (insects, rodents, etc) is they are welcome to live a happy life, outside of my bubble, however, if they invade my bubble, they must suffer the consequences, this usually means death. (bubble being not only personal space, but also the building I'm currently occupying)

This. It doesn't help that I have an irrational fear of wild mice. I know it's stupid, but I can't help it.

[r2cagle]

Yes, rats and mice have many babies in one birth, and rats can give birth something like every two or three months. Rats are also more likely to have ticks/fleas and other nasties than field mice.

I don't know if you have any nearby neighbors, but if you do, you need to make sure all the neighbors are setting traps as well. Otherwise, you'll never keep up. You'll just be killing rats that are hiding out on neighbors property.

I prefer the traps myself, only because nothing smells worse than a dead rat corpse hiding in an area you cannot find or get to easily. Be grateful you don't have nutria (think giant rat the size of a housecat) buggering up your yard. I have two male cats, and after 3 years they've managed to kill exactly 2 moles in the yard... they don't even have the guts to chase the birds away!

[draggar]

The annoying thing is that no one else has this problem. I checked with two neighbors (one who is just two units down from us) who both have gardens - no issues.

[Jester]

Jester - that would only delay them getting into the shed. I don't want to feed them and then have more and more rats - I want to get rid of them completely, they also get into my garden and eat my tomatoes (they've even eaten entire jalapeno and habenero peppers!).

Good point. But again, I was merely suggesting one possibility. If you will remember, my basic philosophy went more like this:

Me, I'd just go about killing the fuckers, because once you start messing with my shit, all bets are off....but that's just me. You seem far kinder and gentler.

[draggar]

Good point. But again, I was merely suggesting one possibility. If you will remember, my basic philosophy went more like this:

Jaws got one more (I name done of the traps Jaws because that's what it looks like - a big shark mouth, I got it at the feed store).