Big Boys Hobbies

We've got a RAT!!!!

rustynail1 said:
spittfire said:
Sorry Carol, didn't mean to hijack your post.
I apologize if I offended anyone, that was not my intent, I do not however, apologize for my beliefs. They are mine and I own them :yes:
Click to expand...
...........Can I Have It?
Click to expand...
The rat or my beliefs? What the hey, you can have them both! Tag....YOU"RE IT!!!!
 
Carol K said:
Ok Rusty...... you can have it!

Actually I haven't seen the critter since it snowed 4 days ago.

The hole got covered up with snow, then sleet, and it hasn't tried to dig out.

I wonder if there is another entrance?


Hmmm... sewer rat. That is a possibility.
Click to expand...

Check the pantry? :lol:
 
No, that rat can't get in our basement, it is too fat.

But we are sort of in a "mother in law" type duplex. So the hole is toward "their" basement.

If it has babies though, that's a different story!
 
Sounds like you may have a Nutria, although they can get about as big as a cat. The one thing that is strange is they are animals that prefer water. However young ones can resemble a very large rat, unless you do have a "WARF OR PIER" rat and they can get very large. I have heard stories of them while in Mexico, from guys on the ship I was on, that they were as big as cats. A live trap, you can get them at feed stores, would be your best bet if you do not wish to harm it. For bait you can use peanut butter, M n M's also work and maybe a couple of carrots in case it does not have a sweet tooth. You might also add something with a little smell to it like Kitty Tuna or a cheap tuna with the oil drained off. If you still are unsure call a pest exterminator and bite to bullet, so to speak, and pay his/her fee. Good luck

Gator
 
I think you should do the natural and environmentally friendly way of removing your varmint. Buy a boa and let it loose in your house. You won't have anymore varmint problems.
 
Hmmm... a Nutria...

Just might be one.

Gee no wonder I have no clue what it is. Look how many possibilities there are. :?:

Somehow I'm just going to have try to get a picture of it.
 
Carol,
I will trade you your fat rat for some of the critters I get although they are a bit bigger. Living next to a forrest and a stock ranch we can and do get some of the more friendly critters such as black bear and cougar. The little guys like possum n coons the dogs take care of and the local cats handle the rats n mice. Why it was just a few years ago that the black bear came down and hung around for the garbage cans that were left out, well he/she was trapped out just on the other side of the hill, although I must admit my next door neighbor was a bit on the excited side when he saw that ol bear right out his front window.. Now the two cougars that were down by the grade school did cause a bit of commotion which was handle post haste. But neither of those two types of critters have been seen around, other than on the stock ranch which is on the other side of the fence, for a while. Now to me those are dangerous critters, why just last week down in Tiller a young gal was heading off to school and when she opened the door there was a 6 month old tom cougar munching down on her pet kitty right on her front porch. Yep I think if ya want I will trade you critter problems.
 
Carol......That rat's famous now ! Why not give it a name. Start a name contest, and the winner gets the rat !

BTW, I'm not making any suggestions, heh, heh ;)

Todd
 
OK, I read and read this thread....what is it, did you kill it...where's the picture? It's been over a month, you could have scores of critters roaming around in your walls and they might attack you in your sleep! I am worried for you...please update this thread!

I tell you, we had field mice the year before last and she had babies. It took a week and a dozen traps to finish them off. Varmits just love peanut butter. If I hadn't had gotten them quickly we'd have the exterminators out. You need two large spring traps, monster rat size, a little peanut butter, and stick em at both holes you know of.

God only knows what kind of damage is going on inside your wall, this thing could chew through an electrical wire and burn the house down! Varmits carry diseases, you can't live with these invanders!!!!

http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/prevent_rodents/

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/

That's just links to two of the worst ones, there's a whole mess of stuff you can get from critters. Plus you got a hole in your place, I'm sure water is getting in causing mold which is another thing to get you sick. Of course there's all the other smaller stuff that can crawl in that hole now.


Jim P.
 
No, we haven't seen it or heard it since. I stopped feeding the birds, so maybe it left?

LouCT gave us one of those HaveaHeart traps, but I don't think Vlad wants to use it. (So, LouCT we'll have to hook up with you to give it back.)

On a side note, two days ago we had a skunk in our yard all day! I even videotaped it. I thought I was going to have to post a "We have a skunk!" thread.

Then mysteriously, we found it dead yesterday! That is really wierd.
 
Carol your skunk if it was out during the day could mean it was sick... Rabies/Distemper and it could have died from it.


Last year cutting one of my accounts I had a raccoon chase my mower so I went to the truck called the cops and they came out and shot it, it was rabid.
 
Carol,
typically wild animals run away and hide from people. Even the bunnies in our yard which were born in the yard for generations avoid us and give us distance. Mice, rats, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, well pretty much all the animals give people space around here and run away very quickly. Except for opossums, we only see them at night but they old waddle away and if you break their safe distance they'll turn and hiss/growl at ya. I figure that is because they are pretty slow and would rather bluff then run but it is a rather good bluff because fully grown they got lots of sharp looking teeth. My wife often tells me about how over a friends house a kid one was closed enough she attempted to pet it because it was dark and she thought it was a kitty cat.
Mostly anything that don't run is sick and yeah never pick up a dead bird either. A co-worker/longtime friend of my fathers did that in the 80's and she died six months later from a rare bird transfered brain infection. You can also get that disease from bird droppings. I can remember visting her at the hospital and it was pretty horrible way to go.

Jim P.
 
You can usually borrow a havaheart trap from your local animal shelter or humane society. e-bay has them for as little as 10.00 ( humane traps0 or I got mine from the hardware store. We have a lot of feral cats.

Wayne
 
Well I'm glad we're moving. That critter did indeed find it's way into the basement. chewed up alot of stuff mostly plastic and rubber. Even chewed ALL the rubber off of the mouthpieces of our snorkles, and half the rubber on the strap of the mask. (he preferred the rubber on Vlad's expensive mask of course) And even dragged the mask to the other side of the basement.

This is a big animal with big chew marks, and I still don't know what it is. But we're leaving!

Check out the 40 gal trash barrel. and how he's getting in. I should take a picture of the lid too.

Sorry, we already tossed out the mask and snorkle.

I think by stopping feeding the birds, he went looking for food elsewhere.
 

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