Community Chat

[occasionalrain]

If you wish to eliminate rats, get a Jack Russell or Rat Terrier. They have been employed for centuries for just that purpose. In addition, hey are awfully cute, added bonus. 

[Tinkrbl44]

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@goldensrbest wrote:

There is someones young cat that comes to where i feed the birds,i wish people would keep their cats inside,i don't want it killing the birds,but do not want to do anything to harm it ,so many cats go missing all the time here.

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@goldensrbest 

Does the kitty have a leash ... and maybe a chip?   The outdoors is SO dangerous for kitties, and people don't seem to realize it.  

[Tinkrbl44]

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@occasionalrain wrote:

If you wish to eliminate rats, get a Jack Russell or Rat Terrier. They have been employed for centuries for just that purpose. In addition, hey are awfully cute, added bonus. 

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@occasionalrain 

Your comment made me think maybe there's a Rent A Dog opportunity for people who want a short term dog.  LOL  

[Neetgal2]

I started getting pigeons under my hanging feeders and did not like that!  I bought trays and it seems to work well.  I am ordering more now after reading this.  After the pigeons, I had Ravens!  A first for me, never before saw one!  They moved on!

[JoyFilled Warrior]

Hi @goldensrbest 

I apologize, I havent read all the prior comments here.

        But I saw "rats" & birds & read your post.

I just had to deal with these rodent buggahs!    and it's a veritable & expensive nightmare!!  

    But recent experience taught me, where there's one rat/rodent, there's many more!

As an aside, Words to the Wise.  Also, Keep an eye inside your car, in the trunk, & esp under your hood.  I was  told they like gnawing on the inside car wires, at a minimum, & they sure did!.  Turned out to be a VERY, VERY expensive car problem for me.

Yeah, I had incredibly great, heavily researched, carefully selected, hanging Bird Feeders out.  Their food openings were weight sensitive, so they snapped close if something weighing more than a bird tried to eat from the Feeders.   Rats left the feeders totally alone. And I had constantly removed any of the droppings under the feeders.  Apparently that wasnt enough to fend them off rodents/rats.

Rats like & chewed on the under house wires, water pipes, & once, my kitty & I even heard them LOUDLY, at night, inside the wall!

It appeared they never entered inside my actual living quarters, but that didnt stop me from being constantly freaked out, (in the event). 

    Apparently rodents have no problem visiting INSIDE (actual, people moving around), living quarters.  I followed the grouchy exterminator around, who told me rodents like the insides of furniture, even live there, & they come out when coast is clear - (not mine, yet, fortunately)!

  And, Under the house, if under there has not already been totally sealed off from them. I dont now they they seal off the house underneath, since I saw the pipe they gnawed thru.

   All this nightmare happened to be discovered when the plumber came for yet another problem, under the kitchen sink.  He happened to be searching for some kind of plumbing outlet, outside the house, & accidentally saw, suspected rodents, so he dug abt 1 foot deeper, under house. 

  VOILA!  He showed me the thick, under house, water pipe they gnawed completely thru & I was aghast!  They must have some uber sharp teeth.  Gross

They suddenly appeared at my house after 10 yrs living there.  Shocked the heck outta me.

Apparently they suddenly came from the 3rd nearest house, (residents had been actually living in), (4 houses away) that was demolished, & that house's buggahs scouted for a new home.  POOF, they suddenly arrived (at a minimum) at mine.

I warned all my neighbors about this, who insisted it was squirrels, of which our neighborhood had plenty.  Nope. was Rats!  Neighbors still insisted not.  Okayyyyy.  Well,okay,  Forewarned   

Mine was a rental & I had no idea it hadnt been sealed off underneath.  Yet, it looked like it had been sealed off from the outside of the house.

Surprise, Surprise!   That & other problems (like broken, continually pieced together $$$ HVAC system), turns out, (problems with the owners homemade installed electrical system), the owner wanted to sell the house *FAST!*  Was a gorgeous, gorgeous, historical house, inside & out, from appearances.

(All of this was during the last part of COVID lockdown, & thereafter).

So careful when you buy a house too.   

PDQ, (at the 1st post COVID opportunity),  My rental owner slapped on a nice coat of paint, professionally styled the inside house, fixed nothing, & at the 1st day of nice weather,  passed off this now gorgeous problem to some unsuspecting woman buyer after removing me as renter!!  Charging her a pretty penny for the house, (just under his exorbitant asking price)!  She thought she'd scored a winner.

Good luck  @goldensrbest ! 

This problem definitely sucks, is expensive & is serious!  In a phrase:  Pain In the Royal A**. 

Suggest get on this rodent problem, the sooner the better, & fully completely.  No pressure    

And DO NOT forget the insides of your car!

[JoyFilled Warrior]

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@Sooner wrote:

We quit a few years ago because of pests arriving and attracting other pests to the yard, like skunks. It seems the bird feeder was attracting a whole chain of animals to the yard.  

Only the opossum and a couple of raccoons roam through sometimes now at night--infrequently foxes. And of course the village idiots of mammalia--squirrels! 

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[JoyFilled Warrior]

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@monicakm wrote:

@KittySoftPaws 

has every right to be here just as the birds do. 

Lol, that's what my brother said when I was killing ants  when I was under 10 years old.  The only way ants mosquitoes mice snakes Etc survive on my land is if they have an invitation.

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@monicakm 

                

[JoyFilled Warrior]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

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@occasionalrain wrote:

If you wish to eliminate rats, get a Jack Russell or Rat Terrier. They have been employed for centuries for just that purpose. In addition, hey are awfully cute, added bonus. 

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@occasionalrain 

Your comment made me think maybe there's a Rent A Dog opportunity for people who want a short term dog.  LOL  

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@Tinkrbl44 

I think you might have a Million Dollar Winner idea there!

[AuntMame]

Please don't put out mouse or rat poison. Raptors like owls and hawks eat them and the poison will kill them too. As well as any other wildlife that eats the carcas. 

Take away the bird food and seal up the house where rodents might be entering. That will be far more effective in the long term than putting out poison. 

[JoyFilled Warrior]

I was raised in a frequently snowing area, cold hard Winter ground, & was taught to make sure birds are fed, esp thru the cold, & snowy winters.  I came to just love feeding them, helping them survive. 

As has been said already,  Winter is tough for birds.  They esp need feeding.  But these gosh-darn rodents are nasty, heck bend on surviving, and ruining this!  I dont want the birds to suffer as a result!

If any one is interested in my, ultimately successfully found Squirrel Proof Feeders, Hanging Pole, rodent-proof, simple routine I found & used, I can post here.  Just let me now.    I'll gladly oblige.

I used to use the more expensive "Yankee Spinner" feeder, but the gears/screws in it rusted all too fast for that expensive investment, so I stopped. 

   (Altho it was fun to watch squirrels SPIN off when trying to feed from the Feeder.  But they learned really really fast not to try),  Astute!  Back again, tho, trying, when a new feeder.  

I found much better Bird Feeders, & protective procedures subsequently!