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We had to call an exterminator, since not only our pool heater was destroyed by pack rats but they went after the wiring in our outdoor A/C units. That wiring has since been enclosed in a kind of flexible silver tubing -- don't know what it's called but surely they can't chew through that.
The exterminator came in and put bait boxes all through the property. This week we started finding dead rats. Today I found one floating in our koi pond. It was unlike any rat I've ever seen. White, about 5 inches long, completely hairless and with a tail about a foot long. Wish I'd gotten a picture, because it was freaky, but I didn't want to get that close.
They are getting in one of my rental apartments...tenants slobby...leaving loose food around...told them they need to contain it which they did. Had to have pest control plug up all entry points and wire up chimney.. Big costly hassle.
Had them pretty bad at mom's house a few years back...they were eating the baitboxes I put out like candy. Also set snap traps on a hutch next to fence which they run on at night to get the rest. Most gone and under control now. The key is to spear a raw almond on metal tine/trigger of snap trap so rat has to work to pull it off. Gets them more often than not.
Had a mouse in the house 2 years ago. All accessible food was in tight plastic containers. Set traps all over.
I go in my bathroom and reach for the soap and it's gone. The soap dish is full of droppings! Yes, they will eat soap for the fat if they can't get to the food. Thank God he ended up in a trap that night.
Another time, when living in southern CA, very nice area with beautifully landscaped slopes and hillsides, we started getting rats on our patio. Called Vector Control and they put bait and traps on the slope. That night, the noise of rats moving through the plants to the traps was very unnerving!
Same place, taking a walk around the block after a heavy rain, almost stepped on a foot long drowned rat on the sidewalk.
After a derelict house near us was demolished, a few rats showed up in our subdivision. One got into our garage and chewed the wires of a car. We had no idea we had a rat until we could not start our car. We called an exterminator, but DH caught the rat in an old fashioned mousetrap. I guess the rat was starving and the cheese was overwhelmingly tempting.
Exterminator told us there was never just one rat, and predicted a nest would be in our crawl space, but he was wrong. We paid money up front for services not rendered. DH insisted that we should get something for our $300. So exterminator treated our house for insect pests, and we called it even.
When we lived in the woods, we did get mice from time to time. Nuisance.
I prefer to trap them. Poisoned rats kill snakes and owls and other natural predators that eat them.
I live on acreage next to a commercial horse barn... so lots of rats from feed and hay. Barn cats, terriers, snakes, owls are always about and take care of most issues.
I prefer to trap them. Poisoned rats kill snakes and owls and other natural predators that eat them.
I wish we had enough snakes to take care of the rat problem. I've only seen two snakes, both non-venomous, since we bought this place. They didn't stick around. There was an owl in residence for a while but I think it's gone now.
The exterminator told us the bait wouldn't harm other wildlife.
The white hairless one was probably a dead rat that had been in the water for some amount of time. I've seen that before (unfortunately).
Maybe. Though we go out to the pond every day to feed the koi and cut back the greenery around the pond. I would have seen it the day before yesterday if it had been there. It's a small pond.
Ugh, I had rats/mice at my last three homes. Diligent poisoning was required to get rid of them. I tried live trapping them, but then where do you put them that they won't return to you or become a nuisance for someone else?
My last house I was awakened in the night by the slap of a trap and the sound of a rat trying to outrun death. Right below my bed.
Very grateful that I currently live in a rat-free home. I probably have snakes. Don't care. Snakes are preferable.
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