Tom N writes:
We did have a rat or two in the garage at one point and it ate a whole
packet of snail bait (the one with the bitter additive to deter children
and pets). The rat ate half one the packet one night and I saw the half
empty packet and thought the culprit would be dead and wouldn't come
back, and the next night it came back and ate the rest!

I found it very frustrating to spread snail bait and next day find
not a single pellet anywhere, and no dying snails either. Finally
I sighted a rat, around midday, skipping around the garden bold as
brass collecting each pellet of snail bait. I replenished the bait
each day, hoping it would spell the end of the rat, but no such luck
and I had to resort to rat bait before I could lay out snail bait.

I reckon a lot of wild animals like foxes and rats and probably feral
cats live on pet food and scraps given to pets outside. I occasionally
see foxes around here and I am sure they patrol back yards for food
scraps.

You forgot Indian mynahs!

The garage rat used to bring in lamb chop bones and nectarines and I was
cleaning out secluded parts of the garage and the carport behind some
boxes and other stuff, and I found dozens and dozens of nectarine stones
and chop bones. The nectarines were from our tree but the chop bones
must have come from someone else's yard.

You ruled out the possibility that the rats had progressed to
slaughtering sheep?
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)