I didn't see your post when it first came on rec.gardens, but I will say we have
rats out back. They love sunflower seeds and are the fattest rats I've seen!
They indeed are not just nocturnal. They are out there every day, all the time,
day or night. They don't run any more when they see me. I gave up. There are
far more rats on the planet in NYC, than every person or place.

We used to live trap them with Have A Heart traps, but what are we going to do,
trap a billion rats? Seems silly.

So, as long as they don't come in the house, I'm okay. I've discovered that by
having some brush piles large enough to support a community of wildlife, rats,
lizards, snakes, skink, some birds, etc...the rat and mice populations are
contained. It took some time, but finally we saw some rat snakes this year on
our property. If I poison the rat, the snake dies too, which you know. I would
never poison a rat. Never.

So, if you can put the feeders far from the house, make some type habitat to
support some reptiles, you will see a decrease in rat and mice populations on
the property.

V

On Mon, 4 Aug 2003 14:01:59 -0400, "BT" wrote:


"J. Farnsworth Wallaby" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have an ingenious trapping and/or eradicating methods for
ridding our property of these varmints? Poisoning is not an option; too
much wildlife around. The hawks are not around when the rats are out at
night.

Rats are wrecking havoc with our bird feeders and chewing on our
avocados and other fruits.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond!

Alain...USDA 9B...Sunset # 19


I don't exactly have an ingenious way to totally rid your property of rats, but
pure common sense is what I'd start with...get rid of all your bird feeders...

BT