I smell a rat...
Well, I don't actually smell him, but I've seen him. He (they) seem to be living under the rabbit shed and living large by digging into the bags of rabbit feed. Not cool.
I served them with an eviction notice and told them to stop tresspassing under my shed. They did not comply, so this means war. I got myself a big, old fashioned rat trap from Agway.
First, I set the trap baited with peanut butter. They managed to lick it clean without setting it off. I tried it again, this time they set the trap off, but no signs of an injured rat. Then I tried a pice of cheese (swiss, Jarlsburg in fact) because I could better secure it to the trigger since it is a solid. First night with cheese: most of it was stolen, except for the part directly in contact with the trigger. I rest it and left the same cheese remnants so as not to introduce new smells to it. That night, I got one! Good sized one, bigger than a red squirrel. Fed him to the pigs.
I reset the trap, and found it tripped a few times without any sign of rat, then a few days later found it set off and a 3" piece of rat-tail on the ground next to it. (tossed it to the chickens) Some lucky rodent has a great story to tell about how he lost half his tail in the battle with the humans "back in the fall of '07".
After that, they seemed to smarten up and set it off more carefully to get the cheese because every morning I check it and find it set off. I set it with a new piece of cheese before leaving for Lake George on friday, and came home last night to a gut pile where my trap had been.
Yes, a gut pile. I'm guessing that a rat got caught in the trap, then something gutted it for some reason, then made off with field-dressed rat, trap and all! I have searched everywhere that I can see with my flashlight, but can't find the trap! This morning I went out to survey the scene again, thinking that perhaps my tired mind was playing tricks on me, but nope, the trap is gone. So is the gut pile!
I can understand the gut pile being cleaned up by other rats, but where is my rat trap!?!?! Are they setting a trap for ME in the same way that the insurgents in Iraq scavenge unexploded ordinance to build IEDs? Maybe the next time I reach into the rabbit feed bag, I'll hear a loud SNAP and feel the neck-breaking bar of the trap slam down on my hand, then the rats will run out and give me the finger with their leader, the rat with half a tail, leading their attack.
I'll show them. I'll win this war the way we won WW2: with an endless weapon supply! They may have gotten this one, but there are more traps at Agway! Maybe I'll put out a hunk of cheese and sit out there with my .22, like an old fashioned farm boy. I wonder how many rat pelts it takes to make a shot bag?
I served them with an eviction notice and told them to stop tresspassing under my shed. They did not comply, so this means war. I got myself a big, old fashioned rat trap from Agway.
First, I set the trap baited with peanut butter. They managed to lick it clean without setting it off. I tried it again, this time they set the trap off, but no signs of an injured rat. Then I tried a pice of cheese (swiss, Jarlsburg in fact) because I could better secure it to the trigger since it is a solid. First night with cheese: most of it was stolen, except for the part directly in contact with the trigger. I rest it and left the same cheese remnants so as not to introduce new smells to it. That night, I got one! Good sized one, bigger than a red squirrel. Fed him to the pigs.
I reset the trap, and found it tripped a few times without any sign of rat, then a few days later found it set off and a 3" piece of rat-tail on the ground next to it. (tossed it to the chickens) Some lucky rodent has a great story to tell about how he lost half his tail in the battle with the humans "back in the fall of '07".
After that, they seemed to smarten up and set it off more carefully to get the cheese because every morning I check it and find it set off. I set it with a new piece of cheese before leaving for Lake George on friday, and came home last night to a gut pile where my trap had been.
Yes, a gut pile. I'm guessing that a rat got caught in the trap, then something gutted it for some reason, then made off with field-dressed rat, trap and all! I have searched everywhere that I can see with my flashlight, but can't find the trap! This morning I went out to survey the scene again, thinking that perhaps my tired mind was playing tricks on me, but nope, the trap is gone. So is the gut pile!
I can understand the gut pile being cleaned up by other rats, but where is my rat trap!?!?! Are they setting a trap for ME in the same way that the insurgents in Iraq scavenge unexploded ordinance to build IEDs? Maybe the next time I reach into the rabbit feed bag, I'll hear a loud SNAP and feel the neck-breaking bar of the trap slam down on my hand, then the rats will run out and give me the finger with their leader, the rat with half a tail, leading their attack.
I'll show them. I'll win this war the way we won WW2: with an endless weapon supply! They may have gotten this one, but there are more traps at Agway! Maybe I'll put out a hunk of cheese and sit out there with my .22, like an old fashioned farm boy. I wonder how many rat pelts it takes to make a shot bag?
posted by MVTCoPete | 11:25 PM
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