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Well I caught my second rat in three days. I first saw evidence of them in the basement two weeks ago, and went to Ace on Scott to buy a live animal trap. Even though they are dirty and nasty, I don't have the heart to kill them.
After putting peanut butter in the trap, it took a week before the first rat couldn't resist the peanut buttery smell any longer. I covered the cage with a black sheet and drove it down the street to a vacant lot next to work. I let the rat go so at least it will have a fighting chance against the local tomcats & strays. If it weren't for the greasy peanut butter all over its fur, it was actually cute.. it's fur was bright gray and eyes were pitch black. It hopped away and scurried under a holly bush.
So last night I was down in the basement and heard another rat scurrying around the shelves where my motocross gear is kept. It sounded much larger based on the thuds and clunks it made in the boxes. Rats are supposedly intelligent, so I doubted whether this one would go for a new spread of PB in the metal cage anytime soon. But I put the cage out near where I heard it running around anyway.. it couldn't hurt to try.
Surprise - the bigger rat was stupider than I thought. I went downstairs a few minutes ago to find it's beady black eyes looking carefully through the grated metal. Then it started hopping around maniacally, until I put the black sheet over the cage again. That seemed to calm him down a little. This one looked about 12-14" from head to end of tail, and was much uglier. The first was only 8" long.
Tomorrow I'll take this one to the vacant lot and we'll have our farewells. Even though it is pretty big I doubt it would scare away any of the scruffy kitties I've seen crawling in and out of the dumpsters behind work.
I listened in silence for more scurrying in the basement, and thankfully heard none. After letting this one go I need to pick up all the junk off the floors and mop with a high concentration of bleach. I read that the rat pheromones draw more rats. So anything to clean up their calling cards...
No idea how these got inside. If there is a hole somewhere along the foundation I'll probably never find it. They may have snuck in the garage door while it was open one day.. who knows.
I also read that rats love overgrown ivy and underbrush, and we have a bunch of that around the house. So in the next few weeks I'm going to have to mow it all down. I hate doing that so close to winter since the green ivy looked nice even when freezing, but I hate rats more.
Anyway.. I'm tired. off to bed.
After putting peanut butter in the trap, it took a week before the first rat couldn't resist the peanut buttery smell any longer. I covered the cage with a black sheet and drove it down the street to a vacant lot next to work. I let the rat go so at least it will have a fighting chance against the local tomcats & strays. If it weren't for the greasy peanut butter all over its fur, it was actually cute.. it's fur was bright gray and eyes were pitch black. It hopped away and scurried under a holly bush.
So last night I was down in the basement and heard another rat scurrying around the shelves where my motocross gear is kept. It sounded much larger based on the thuds and clunks it made in the boxes. Rats are supposedly intelligent, so I doubted whether this one would go for a new spread of PB in the metal cage anytime soon. But I put the cage out near where I heard it running around anyway.. it couldn't hurt to try.
Surprise - the bigger rat was stupider than I thought. I went downstairs a few minutes ago to find it's beady black eyes looking carefully through the grated metal. Then it started hopping around maniacally, until I put the black sheet over the cage again. That seemed to calm him down a little. This one looked about 12-14" from head to end of tail, and was much uglier. The first was only 8" long.
Tomorrow I'll take this one to the vacant lot and we'll have our farewells. Even though it is pretty big I doubt it would scare away any of the scruffy kitties I've seen crawling in and out of the dumpsters behind work.
I listened in silence for more scurrying in the basement, and thankfully heard none. After letting this one go I need to pick up all the junk off the floors and mop with a high concentration of bleach. I read that the rat pheromones draw more rats. So anything to clean up their calling cards...
No idea how these got inside. If there is a hole somewhere along the foundation I'll probably never find it. They may have snuck in the garage door while it was open one day.. who knows.
I also read that rats love overgrown ivy and underbrush, and we have a bunch of that around the house. So in the next few weeks I'm going to have to mow it all down. I hate doing that so close to winter since the green ivy looked nice even when freezing, but I hate rats more.
Anyway.. I'm tired. off to bed.
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Date: 2008-10-23 04:06 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 03:30 am (UTC)From:I caught the third rat since posting that, it's now gone (off to the dumpster & more kitties haha). I've poured bleach all over the floor where they were pissing and leaving pellets.. I haven't heard any more scurrying around - so hear's hoping that's the last of them.