Rat Problem: Rats Smarter than Me

I sort of think the rat may have dragged itself away and died from its wounds. I and Rocky no longer detect the presence of a rodent and haven't since that night.

Well, I'd like to think the Rat collected all family members and high tailed to a more suitable place......the rat may have realized Rocky was agitated...and that disrupts Rocky's routine....and decided to move to a different location............

The rat and it's offspring will find shelter and plan for another season...Do Rats hibernate? Seriously, do they? I worry about the critters who live outside..... but they probably are better at survival technique than humans are....Wishing Good Luck to the critters, varmints and all of the earths life forms who deserve a fair shake.

That's what I want to believe, too. It had to go, but we've really gotten to like the little critter. Probably best that we never named it.

The mother died when I caught it in a trap and I smelled its dead offspring after she failed to return to care for them. The other had to be the male. I am hopeful it was a single two-parent family. I could like rodents if they didn't get inside my home and cause destruction and possible disease. It's often a cruel world and there's not much we can do to change the equation.

I can't get it out of my mind how the rat reacted when I took it up and was going to kill it. I hoped that by writing it out here I might end it. I wrote the whole story three times but couldn't post it. I hope this effort will be the end of it.

I'm sorry Edgar....

Aw.

I am writing off this episode with rats as concluded. Now I can repair the spots where they nibbled holes in my new vinyl flooring.

Two nights ago Rocky hung by the stove and dishwasher, obviously tracking the arrival of a new critter. He spent the greater part of the evening moving when it moved. I had left an old fashioned trap set behind the refrigerator. The following morning, one of the smaller rats I've had before was dead in the trap. They are less intelligent than the bigger rats. I used raw peanuts to get the last two kills. I used a bread tie to wire the nut in the shell to the trigger. They have to try to wrestle them away. I buried this one in the yard and then immediately set a new trap behind the fridge. In a matter of weeks, I have to pull out the dishwasher and then I can put hardware cloth in that space.

A tiny bird just came in the doggy door. Likely hoping to find a good nesting spot. I covered the windows and sat in front of the TV until it sneaked past me and flew out the wide-open door.

There is a varmint still coming in. It might be living under the house. Rocky only reacts to it occasionally. It takes peanuts and something set off the trap the other night. Could be a smart rat because it is selective.

it has somehow managed to develop an immunity to the pest repeller...

It's the second new one since I installed the rat repeller. The first was so oblivious it went straight to the trap and was killed. I am still weighing the usefulness of the repeller. For one, it is on a circuit that runs the length of the house on the back side. There is a break in the wiring for nearly eight feet to the end and no wiring on the end. This is where Rocky reacts when it is present, behind the stove, where a different kind of circuit is present. Before I bought this place the wiring ran closer to the corner, but there was a fire. The new wiring was not extended to the last outlet. I need to pull out the stove and put hardware cloth where they make tunnels.

Since I wrote the last post, the rat tripped my trap and left the scene. I figure it was frightened away from the kitchen. Now I have detected its activity on the other side of the house. The wiring there runs the entire length of the house. I moved the repeller device to that circuit yesterday. I think I will get a true read of its effectiveness very soon.

That night, after I wrote my last, one of the less intelligent rats got into the kitchen and was killed by my trap - the wooden board spring kind. Which proves that raw peanuts in the shell can't be beat for bait. It's the third rat killed with the same original peanut.

You need to score teeny bars on its side....3 so far

I buy those nuts for the squirrels in the park.

Used to be I would no sooner get rid of a rat family than another came right in, as if whole families formed a queue. After years of fighting the rats, I went online and searched baits. After discovering Victor baits were the only ones consistently getting five stars on different sites I bought some at Home Depot. It just took a few days to clear them out. That was I don't know how many months ago. This time they are gone for real. I keep some bait out for them, just in case.

Good information..