Cats are the masters at getting rats. Years ago I (and my cat)moved in with my girlfriend at her house in SoCal. Her back patio had an enormous Bougainvillea growing all over the wrought iron fence and a huge rat had taken up residence in it (well protected by the Bougie's vicious thorns). My girlfriend was not fond, to put it mildly, of giant rats and it had been living there for some time. But within a couple days my cat had dispatched it. She was so impressed she made a little 'Ratter' certificate of achievement for him.
During peak covid summer, all the city rats, languishing from the emptied restaurant dumpsters they were used to, flocked to our local community garden. We struggled to find a viable solution as the rats snatched everything from snap peas to chicken eggs, when a man we call “ Dan the Snakeman” volunteered a solution. A rat stake out. So he, a six pack, and a small air rifle full of bb pellets, and apparently a plethora of free nights— made a hunt of it. He ended up being the mercenary of some two dozen rats, some as big as chihuahuas
We had a rat infestation of our yard a couple years ago. It was a nightmare. We didn’t notice until we were eating dinner at the picnic table and I was looking at the fence wondering why the bottom looked like it was undulating. It was a wall of little rat hands. A chorus line.
We live very near the water, and there was a large construction project on the waterfront. It was a really dry summer and all those waterfront Maine rats took up residence in a little bit of woods behind our house. We tried everything nice the animal control people told us to do and then the city got involved and massacred the whole lot of them. No poison but it was a horror movie. Sigh. RIP chorus line of plague.
As long as the rats stay outside, I'm fine with the rats. At least two of our neighbors have chickens, and we have bird feeders, so I'm assuming/hoping that they're content outside. Our indoor cat gets a real thrill watching them. And eventually, one of them will provide as food for the barred owls and Cooper's hawk, as happened last year when we spotted one of the latter having a ratsnack in a neighbor's tree.
Yes, we've dealt with rats. We sealed up all the holes, and removed the food sources. This means no food in the bird feeder unless we're out there actively feeding them. But our main problem was our chicken run, and it's all good now. Good luck! Our rats moved on without our having to kill them. No poisons here, and certainly no glue traps. Trapping and releasing rats is not legal in Portland, so we had to just hope they'd move, and they did.
Thank you for the PA spring garden tour. I am in CA, so novel and intriguing to my gardener heart. It is lovely to see the buds swelling, waiting with you to see them bloom. I think redbud are magnificent.
Cats are the masters at getting rats. Years ago I (and my cat)moved in with my girlfriend at her house in SoCal. Her back patio had an enormous Bougainvillea growing all over the wrought iron fence and a huge rat had taken up residence in it (well protected by the Bougie's vicious thorns). My girlfriend was not fond, to put it mildly, of giant rats and it had been living there for some time. But within a couple days my cat had dispatched it. She was so impressed she made a little 'Ratter' certificate of achievement for him.
I have a rat story.
During peak covid summer, all the city rats, languishing from the emptied restaurant dumpsters they were used to, flocked to our local community garden. We struggled to find a viable solution as the rats snatched everything from snap peas to chicken eggs, when a man we call “ Dan the Snakeman” volunteered a solution. A rat stake out. So he, a six pack, and a small air rifle full of bb pellets, and apparently a plethora of free nights— made a hunt of it. He ended up being the mercenary of some two dozen rats, some as big as chihuahuas
We had a rat infestation of our yard a couple years ago. It was a nightmare. We didn’t notice until we were eating dinner at the picnic table and I was looking at the fence wondering why the bottom looked like it was undulating. It was a wall of little rat hands. A chorus line.
We live very near the water, and there was a large construction project on the waterfront. It was a really dry summer and all those waterfront Maine rats took up residence in a little bit of woods behind our house. We tried everything nice the animal control people told us to do and then the city got involved and massacred the whole lot of them. No poison but it was a horror movie. Sigh. RIP chorus line of plague.
WHOA a trillium in your yard?! More details please!
As long as the rats stay outside, I'm fine with the rats. At least two of our neighbors have chickens, and we have bird feeders, so I'm assuming/hoping that they're content outside. Our indoor cat gets a real thrill watching them. And eventually, one of them will provide as food for the barred owls and Cooper's hawk, as happened last year when we spotted one of the latter having a ratsnack in a neighbor's tree.
Beautiful flowers!
And I've never dealt with rats, but being in the desert, I have lovely lizards in the garden.
Yes, we've dealt with rats. We sealed up all the holes, and removed the food sources. This means no food in the bird feeder unless we're out there actively feeding them. But our main problem was our chicken run, and it's all good now. Good luck! Our rats moved on without our having to kill them. No poisons here, and certainly no glue traps. Trapping and releasing rats is not legal in Portland, so we had to just hope they'd move, and they did.
Thank you for the PA spring garden tour. I am in CA, so novel and intriguing to my gardener heart. It is lovely to see the buds swelling, waiting with you to see them bloom. I think redbud are magnificent.
Is there truly a daffodil called Boaz?
Not a fan of the rat. : (