How Do You Feel About Killing Rats/Mice? (eggs, rabbit, feeder)
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I thought were suppose to respect all of God's living creatures! No? There are exceptions?
Remember, God used rats as plagues, not to mention that although we are never to abuse animals, we do have dominion over them. He also divided animals into two groups "clean and unclean". Rats fall into the unclean category.
Rats carry disease, defecate all over the place and will bite people if they get hungry enough...heck, eat people. They (with the exception of domestic, pet rats, which I've had) are detrimental to your health and you have to rid yourself of them. If you can't kill one, then get a "humane trap" (hav-a-hart) but keep in mind, you have to take that trap out (waaaaay out) and let that little sucker go and hope he doesn't take a chunk out of you in the process!
I don't have to kill them though, I have a fantastic ratter (the only reason I have the cat is to keep the henhouse rat free).
Last edited by DeannaC; 10-11-2013 at 08:58 PM..
Reason: typo
I've never seen it, but my roommate has, but there's been a rat coming into my house, due to my keeping the doggie door open a crack for my ferret to come in and out of the enclosed courtyard.
Hunting down this rat has been much more emotionally traumatic than I could ever have imagined! Too soft of a heart I guess, even for the fate of rat!!! Imagine my working in a meat-packing plant!!
Initially, I bought a mouse trap, set it out in the garage (where my roommate has also seen this rat) with some peanut butter and chocolate. But the night I did it, I agonized all night long, fearing the rat would nibble on it, and not die, but die a slow agonizing, painful death. I didn't even want to go out into the garage, fearing I'd run into such a scene, and then what? Half-dead, what to do? Well, after a week, the rat never took the bait!
I do realize, having run into people who have pet rats, that they can be wonderful pets to have, so that hasn't helped matters at all, knowing this.
Last night, I heard some noise under my bathroom cupboards, there's a narrow slit underneath where I believe this rat made his way in, and so my roommate squirted some poison in thru the crack, and sealed it up with a temporary board. I almost went crazy, as an hour later I could still hear some movement underneath, and worrying if this rat was going thru an agonizing death. And then? Oh Lord, the idea of Karma comes into play!
Got to thinking, yup! What does around, comes around, and that's how I'm going to die some day, for my punishment!
Anyone else ever go through this trauma, just merely killing a rat?
Tonite, I haven't heard a sound coming from underneath those cupboards, and I pray and pray and pray that poor rat didn't die in an agonizing way! And if so, will you please forgive my cruelty?
I don't kill anything if I can avoid it. We have mice. We used to live catch and release, but they got wise to that and besides there are too many now. Sometimes we see quite a bit of activity, some months almost nothing. I have oils that discourage them from drawers, cotton balls with spearmint and peppermint keeps them away for awhile. My dogs gave up chasing them. I've learned to live with them. I use vinegar and hydrogen peroxide on the counters, wash the dishes right away, don't leave any food out. It works for us.
I told my husband to either seal up where they can get in, or leave em alone. So we leave em be. I have even saved a couple from drowning in my sink, opened a drawer to find a little one looking at me. I think they're cute. Yes, they leave their droppings, I clean it, not a big deal.
One year my husband bought poison, Dcon. I never want to see an animal suffer like that again. I threw that stuff away.
I could never do it. As a kid, I used to run around our cottage catching them, then carry them out to the forest in a bucket and let them loose. All of this was done under the pressure of racing my grandma who was swinging around a broom like crazy trying to whack them.
I have a very soft spot for rodents; growing up, I had many as pets, and they are absolutely brilliant creatures. My rat would return to me when I called him by name, for example. They are really, really sharp. Humans don't give them enough credit.
They are soo clever. I put some potatoes on the window sil, thinking they'd be safe there. No cords to climb, no way to get to them. Next morning they had gotten into the bag! I couldn't believe it. Still can't figure out how they got up there.
We used to have mice, then rats in the shed. It seems to me they don't get along, you either have one or the other. I bought some packets online, Mouse Magic, laid them around and they left. I hosed the place out and spread diatomaceaus earth around to absorb the odor. They haven't been back.
I wouldn't be able to kill a rat, especially after having them as pets. They're unbelievable animals, smart beyond belief and very affectionate. In the wild they live in very complex social groups, sharing babysitting duties and bringing food to the geriatrics and infirm. They exhibit empathy and would rather go hungry than to see a cage-mate get an electric shock. They're one of the very few mammals capable of laughter, and only humans, apes and rats exhibit metacognition....they understand the concept of "I don't know".
Never get just one. Because they're such social animals, they get very lonely without company of their own kind. Two are just as easy to care for as one. Easier.
(Make sure they're the same sex.)
We have mice. We used to live catch and release, but they got wise to that and besides there are too many now....My dogs gave up chasing them. I've learned to live with them.
Do you have any idea how fast they multiply? Have you ever considered eliminating the food source?!?!?! Mice only travel 25 feet from their nest to get food. If you eliminate the food source, they will leave your property.
Do you have any idea how fast they multiply? Have you ever considered eliminating the food source?!?!?! Mice only travel 25 feet from their nest to get food. If you eliminate the food source, they will leave your property.
Yes, that's a challange. Such as the dog food,which is now kept in a plastic container. I moved our tall kitchen garbage can, so they couldn't jump into it from above. I like to think I'm smarter than they are, they keep me on my toes. I often wonder how pioneers kept their food storage safe, when they didn't have refrigeration, plastic or glass containers as I do for dry goods.
I believe it's wrong, and could not live with myself, if I intentionally caused suffering of anything.
We had those snap traps, that are supposed to catch their heads, but sometimes they snap down at an angle and the poor thing dies slowly. So I got rid of those too.
If you must, the humane traps work. Carry it away from your home and release in a field. That's not very practical for city folks. Look at it this way, where would we be without rodents to clean up our garbage. They are a necessary part of nature, they have a job to do. They are just trying to survive like the rest of us.
I don't have a problem killing rats at all, when I lived on 76th Street here in Chicago rats during the 1990's and early 2000's, rats were a frequent thing. I spent a lot of my childhood picking up dead rats. I lived right next to the elevated Metra train. They fed off of trash and dog feces in the neighborhood and we also had HUGE vacant lots nearby where the grass was so tall it was like a jungle. This is the 1990's Southside Chicago when a vacant lot could be as big as somebodie's small town. Nowadays that lot is full of condos. But it was a jungle full of rats in the late 90s early 2000s. And anybody who has lived by trains or big vacant lots on the Southside of Chicago will tell you, rats are/were common. I even had a stick that we kept outside the house whose sole purpose was picking up dog's feces and dead rats. Rats are big so you cant flush like mice, so we used to throw the dead rats in garbage bags and sit it in the alley for the garbage truck.
I have a nine member Rodent Assassination Squad that does it for me.
All they leave is the teeth and two internal organs, one red and one green.
If I ever wanted to eat a rat, I would have to fight the cats for it, but at least I know what parts not to eat.
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