Roof Rats!

[DrumsAndBeer]

I live next to someone with a severely neglected yard full of fruit trees and of course this means rats galore. I have done my best to cut back the trees that hang over the fence back to the property line, and to keep my yard as unappealing to rodents as possible. Nonetheless, as the population of rats has boomed so has their need for shelter, water and food, and now they seem to have some how made their way into my garage. My neighbor who I have begun to refer to as Willard, seems to think it's cute that he has "critters" in his trees. Roof rats are not easy to trap. They prefer to stay in trees and travel on communication and power lines and the best ratter cats rarely snag them. I didn't want to have to do it, but I have taken to smoking my pipe outside with a head-lamp and an air rifle. I picked off two tonight alone. Rats are no good and they're destructive little devils. I'd prefer the neighbor hire a tree trimming service to clean his trees up. Until then, it's rodent season.

 

[Ozark Wizard]

Yup, go gettem!

 

[KevinM]

My neighborhood is infested with bushy-tailed gray roof rats, but locally we call them squirrels. I'd take a pellet gun to them, but the police tell me it's illegal to fire one in town. Good luck.

 

[George Kaplan]

Heheh...
Willard

*snerk*

 

[Lonecoyote]

DB, good hunting!! They gotta go, also use sticky paper and fruit too also trap the critters.

KEEP ON PUFFING!!!

 

[Carlos]

Call the health department.

 

[Thistleoak]

Pm me asap im an exterminator and can walk you through what to do

 

[AJ]

Chris shooting two or three a day doesn't really help. I've tried it and after shooting 43 of the little devils, over a four month period, they still were all over my yard and house. I set out D-Con trays and after a couple of weeks my problem was resolved. Of course after a few months others discover the area is unoccupied and move in. I just set out some more trays and they disappear. The neighbor's pets are not allowed to roam free and must be on a leash anytime the pet is off the owner's property so I don't worry about killing someone's pet. D-Con isn't expensive and readily available at your local hardware store. This also eliminates someone seeing you using a firearm within the city limits if this is a concern.

AJ

 

[Thistleoak]

Chris shooting two or three a day doesn't really help. I've tried it and after shooting 43 of the little devils, over a four month period, they still were all over my yard and house. I set out D-Con trays and after a couple of weeks my problem was resolved. Of course after a few months others discover the area is unoccupied and move in. I just set out some more trays and they disappear. The neighbor's pets are not allowed to roam free and must be on a leash anytime the pet is off the owner's property so I don't worry about killing someone's pet. D-Con isn't expensive and readily available at your local hardware store. This also eliminates someone seeing you using a firearm within the city limits if this is a concern.

AJ

Be CAREFUL with dcon... small children can also get secondry poisoning.... go with a product with super warfaren. Metabolizes different and there is no risk of secondary poisoning

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Thanks guys, and I appreciate the PM Thistle. I am traveling for the holiday weekend, so aside from a few victor traps I set, the rats will have their go of it. AJ, I have avoided D-Con, as I don't want to poison my kids, birds of prey or neighborhood cats. Also I think D-Con is banned in CA due to it's ability to poison 2nd hand. I'll look for a product with the different metabolite in it.

 

[Fumus]

For what its worth, we always used Bar-Bait on the ranch where I grew up. Never had any problems with secondary poisoning of our dogs or cats. Dad's thinking was that the since the amount ingested by a mouse or rat was so much less than the amount needed to harm a dog or cat, that unless the dog or cat was eating multiple rats and mice at one time, they were probably safe enough. Believe the active ingredient in Bar-Bait is Warfarin. Of course we didn't put the chunks of Bar-Bait out where the pets were likely to get into it either.

 

[Jevverrett]

My neighborhood is infested with bushy-tailed gray roof rats, but locally we call them squirrels. I'd take a pellet gun to them, but the police tell me it's illegal to fire one in town. Good luck.

Shenanigans. I live in Wallingford, and I shoot them all the time in the backyard with my boys.

 

[bosun1]

It's only illegal if you get caught!