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apparently the raccoon made a mess last night of our outside garbage can. so i just ordered a trap. the question is, what do i do with him after i catch him? put the trap in the back of the suv and then drive him to some distant place for release?
apparently the raccoon made a mess last night of our outside garbage can. so i just ordered a trap. the question is, what do i do with him after i catch him? put the trap in the back of the suv and then drive him to some distant place for release?
There is a whole thread going on about that. The Master Gardener course says that it is your responsibility to kill or otherwise remedy problem with the varmint, and that displacing it is probably a death sentence for the critter. My suggestion is either high velocity lead, or put your garbage can in the garage.
There is a whole thread going on about that. The Master Gardener course says that it is your responsibility to kill or otherwise remedy problem with the varmint, and that displacing it is probably a death sentence for the critter. My suggestion is either high velocity lead, or put your garbage can in the garage.
Hmmm I think shooting him on my property would be frowned upon by the neighbors. My neighbor actually said that she garbage canned one and I think she feels guilty about it.
Well, we have a rat living in our back yard, which backs up against woods. UGH.
So we just put an old fashioned rat trap on the back patio last night. Apparently the rat tripped the trap, didn't get the food and also didn't get caught. GOOD TIMES.
We moved the dog food dish into the house, and the bird feeders way out by the fence line. Moved the trash cans inside the garage and the bird feed inside as well, even though we didn't see any evidence of him (or them - EGADS!) getting into either.
I bought four traps. Yep, I am on a mission. When I bought them at Tractor Supply, the clerk told me that this year their sales for rat and mouse traps and poison for residential use has skyrocketed. I read that with the downturn in restaurant trash in dumpsters, rats are moving into residential neighborhoods. I can't bear it! I will not have a rat issue. And yes, it's a rat, and probably more than one, because I SAW it run out from under the dog house! I like to have died.
I don't think the pool has anything to do with this drama. I sure hope not.
we had a few mice living in our house when we moved in. my wife set some traps and also missed the first time. but she learned what to do. after that, mouse the next night, another the next night and the last one after that. she quickly became a pro at setting mouse traps.
Many years ago it was a thing to have a bug zapper. That approx 2' tall apparatus that bugs were attracted to the light and they got zapped. We felt then we needed it because of the pool. Loved that house. Lots of bugs around the grassy area and pool. Lots of bug bites for me and friends that summer, a particularly buggy one, some infections, etc.
Anyway, we had a few parties and at the one after we got the bug zapper it was zzzt, zzzt, zzzt fairly loud electrocution going on for quite a while. We had no idea it was going to be even hear-able. Finally a guy asked if we could take the zapper down. We did and never put it back up. We might have put it back up overnights if it weren't so loud .
Many years ago it was a thing to have a bug zapper. That approx 2' tall apparatus that bugs were attracted to the light and they got zapped. We felt then we needed it because of the pool. Loved that house. Lots of bugs around the grassy area and pool. Lots of bug bites for me and friends that summer, a particularly buggy one, some infections, etc.
Anyway, we had a few parties and at the one after we got the bug zapper it was zzzt, zzzt, zzzt fairly loud electrocution going on for quite a while. We had no idea it was going to be even hear-able. Finally a guy asked if we could take the zapper down. We did and never put it back up. We might have put it back up overnights if it weren't so loud .
No bug zappers now.
this was someone at the party or a neighbor? what was the reason for asking?
my zapper is on the corner of my property and i feel like the neighbor there would ask me if it werent for the fact that it is reducing his bug population also. his family is out there so much during the coronavirus apocalypse that im sure he appreciates the bug control. there is no way id take it down. if it really bothered a neighbor i may move it or try to block it from their view but that thing works so it stays up.
Before my kitchen remodel I would sometimes find mouse CORPSES in the kitchen (once, memorably, on the table next to the coffee maker, and in my half-asleep state I DIDN'T NOTICE IT until I went to fill my coffee cup! ). A couple of times I could tell from the actions of my two youngest kitties that there was a LIVE mouse behind something (a bookcase, a bar refrigerator) that they couldn't yet get to -- I had to kill those myself.
I don't think I will EVER be good at that. (Oh, and LOOKING AT the corpses, as in CaptainNJ's post? No way!! I always have to cover them up with several bags, then pick them up with my gripper from 3 feet away, then stuff them into a trash can and dispose of THAT trash bag immediately -- and try to forget what I just did.) At least I have seen no evidence of mice in the living area since the remodel -- I think all holes were plugged (knock wood!!).
KA, good luck with the rat(s)!! I doubt that it has anything to do with the pool? My back yard perimeter is a mini-forest but I've never seen rats out there -- just lots of OTHER wildlife (deer, foxes, wild turkeys & babies, bear tracks [although I've never actually seen our "neighborhood" bear] -- which I don't mind at all).
Last edited by karen_in_nh_2012; 07-30-2020 at 11:27 AM..
Reason: add info about disposal UGH
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