Rodents

[ChrisK]

Smear a little peanut butter around the edge. Reach down into the pipe about elbow depth and put a glob of it on the wall. Squirrel eats the little bit around the edge and then goes for the glob inside. Slip and slide o' death.

I use the white 4" PVC out in the landscaping area of Lowes/HD not the 4" from the plumbing aisle. A 5 gallon bucket filled 3/4 works well.

See: http://billllsidlemind.blogspot.com/...rrel-trap.html

For the trap and release type, instead of the bucket just cap the bottom end. Cap the top end (securely!) before transport.

Originally Posted by ScottinAtlanta

How does that work?

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

I've heard that poisoned rats and mice are poisonous to ones own dogs and those of the neighbours that might eat them. This really isn't a very thoughtful thing to do!

Linda

My eight dogs are too well mannered to eat dead rats. None of my neighbors near my garden have dogs. I have been poisoning rats when they get bad for about 10 years and have never had a dog get sick from eating them. If some of my neighbors were more thoughtful and kept the rats out of their outbuildings I wouldn't have to resort to poison when they invade my garden.

Bill

[Labradors2]

Originally Posted by b54red

My eight dogs are too well mannered to eat dead rats. None of my neighbors near my garden have dogs. I have been poisoning rats when they get bad for about 10 years and have never had a dog get sick from eating them. If some of my neighbors were more thoughtful and kept the rats out of their outbuildings I wouldn't have to resort to poison when they invade my garden.

Bill

That's your choice Bill. I am glad you are not my neighbour!!!! You would never hear about a neighbour's dog dying because it ate one of your dead rats, because people rarely pay for necropsies to determine cause of death in a pet.

One of my previous Labradors got into some rat poison that a friend had in her barn. (She had looked after Sarah for me one afternoon). Sarah pooped fluorescent green when she returned home, and I asked my friend if she had some fert. granules in her barn that Sarah could have eaten (Labradors get into everything). We were incredibly lucky that it turned out to be very old poison and that Sarah survived - and lived to 14, a good age for a Lab.

I don't use anything aversive around my dogs just in case. We have mice in our basement in the winter, due to the joys of living in the country. We use traps and keep the dogs away from them.

Just saying.......

[Worth1]

Boo Boo ate a whole chocolate bar yesterday I have no idea how he got it.

He is doing fine.

Worth

[Labradors2]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Boo Boo ate a whole chocolate bar yesterday I have no idea how he got it.

He is doing fine.

Worth

If Boo Boo is a big dog and it was a small chocolate bar, it probably wouldn't have much effect.

Here's a blurb from Animal Planet. "Different types of chocolate contain different amounts of theobromine: It would take 20 ounces of milk chocolate to kill a 20-pound dog, but only 2 ounces of baker's chocolate or 6 ounces of semisweet chocolate."

Hopefully, you aren't wasting chocolate in your tomato patch to kill rats!

Linda

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

If Boo Boo is a big dog and it was a small chocolate bar, it probably wouldn't have much effect.

Here's a blurb from Animal Planet. "Different types of chocolate contain different amounts of theobromine: It would take 20 ounces of milk chocolate to kill a 20-pound dog, but only 2 ounces of baker's chocolate or 6 ounces of semisweet chocolate."

Hopefully, you aren't wasting chocolate in your tomato patch to kill rats!

Linda

Boo Boo is 80 pounds and he ate about 4 OZ of the good orange flavored stuff stuff.
Darn dog eats everything, he ate some Tuscan Mellon earlier today.
And he has taken up eating bananas (and banana peels if he can get to them).

Worth

[Labradors2]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Boo Boo is 80 pounds and he ate about 4 OZ of the good orange flavored stuff stuff.
Darn dog eats everything, he ate some Tuscan Mellon earlier today.
And he has taken up eating bananas (and banana peels if he can get to them).

Worth

Sounds as if he is part Labrador/Opportunivore. My two love their veggies and go nuts for Brocolli "bones"(stalks). I made the mistake of tossing some split cherry tomatoes to Abbey a couple of years ago and now she accompanies me to the veggie garden on every visit, and sits quietly, waiting for me to throw her some tommies. The trouble is that she doesn't understand that they aren't very many that are ripe yet! I have also had to fence my veggie garden to keep them both from helping themselves.

Linda

[Got Worms?]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Are we to assume they are talking about Yersinia pestis or some other plague?
I suppose I will have to give my black rats a flea bath before I make my famous cream of rat soup.

Worth

Yup, Yersinia Pestis, that's the one. Without prompt treatment the death rate is 50-90%. If you get to the hospital and they start you on antibiotics immediately the mortality rate drops to 15%. Once in the lungs, it is highly contagious and your chances are... , but hey, If you don't take any risks ...Save me some soup.

I had to set my live trap out again a couple of days ago. Saw another 'chuck. I got em...or a friend of his. Then a 'possum; maybe the one I let go with a warning the last time! No warning this time.

On a smaller scale...the furry cutworms (Voles) are back. They're eating my cucumber plants starting at the base. One bite and the whole vine just dies on the trellis. Time to set the mouse traps again. One of these days I'll bury some 1/4" hardware cloth and just keep them out of the garden.

I guess I'm lucky, not much trouble with Squirrels or rats, though plenty of mice out in the woodshed. Too small to make soup unless you have one of those repeating mousetraps. Well, I guess I've rambled on enough. Time for a cup of tea (mouse tea? Earl Gray?) then I can hit the sack.
Charlie