Real, live, destructive pack rats

[MaryAnn]

I found out what interested my cat so much on the back porch the last month or so. A pack rat had set up housekeeping inside the washing machine. I realized it a few days ago when I saw a) some transmission grease that had leaked out (uh-oh) and a piece of cholla cactus wedged near the same place. I have some marvelous pictures of what I saw when I took the front off the machine, but I have no idea how to post them so ya'll don't get to see them.

Using a big spoon that will never again be used for food, I managed to scrape out about a gallon (yes) of pack rat poop, pieces of cactus, and bedding. It is far from empty and somehow I have to clean it. I'd get a new cabinet and pay to have it transferred, but new cabinets are no longer available. This is a Speed Queen commercial washer, bought for its controllability (you set the desired water level, you set everything, it doesn't have a lid lock, etc.) I need my clothes actually washed and not just gotten damp and flung around for a while in dirty water. So I want more water than the machines you can buy most places, will allow, and then they won't let you even look inside to see how much water they decided you needed. I'll wash by hand before I'll use one of those....and the SQ has a metal transmission, meaning it weighs about 400 pounds. Maybe I could find a cabinet at a junk yard...???

So, the climate being what it is here, it is going to sit with the front open until all that crap inside is very, very dry, and then I am going to go to a thrift store and buy a throw-away vacuum and get as much out as I can. I'm not sure I'll ever stop swearing about it. These animals poop and pee where they live, the smell cannot be entirely gotten rid of, and other pack rats use the smell as a guide to a good home to have if it is unoccupied. So....permanent problem. Bright light shining on/around it at night.

Meanwhile, I got the little sucker in the live trap and he found new opportunities about 10:30 pm last night in the desert more than five miles from my house. Maybe a coyote or owl got a nice meal.

[Three Valves]

A live trap for a rat??

Those things are so nasty the owls won't eat them!!

[Ace]

Mary Ann, I feel your pain. Some critters I leave alone, but of those that tunnel under my foundation and get in my basement I use live traps to catch them. I then transport and release them in a vast regional park a few miles from my home. So far, three skunks, four opossums, two squirrels, and a rat have a new home in the wild parkland. Admittedly, the mortality rate is around 70% for relocated critters, but at least my method gives them a fighting chance in the parkland rather than being killed by angry homeowners. It's illegal in this area to kill trapped animals. In fact, the local code requires that trapped animals immediately be released in the same neighborhood where they were trapped. Go figure. (OMG, I've broken the law to protect my home.)

Ace

[roweenie]

I've never heard of a wildlife code that provides protection for rats and mice. Usually, the homeowner is allowed to despatch them without question.

Catching varmints and releasing them somewhere else accomplishes (other than ridding one's self of the problem) one of two things:

1) it now becomes someone else's problem, or

2) it becomes prey to other animals in an unfamiliar and disorienting place.

I'm not questioning any legalities (nor am I passing judgment, so please don't be offended by my comment) but catch and release is anything but humane, IMHO.

[Donn]

The trombone player went so far as to call the authorities about his captured raccoon. They couldn't tell him to kill it, but they sort of managed to let him know that the alternatives were in their opinion worse all around. I suppose it depends largely on whether it's wildlife -

"Wild animals" means those species of the class Mammalia whose members exist in Washington in a wild state. The term "wild animal" does not include feral domestic mammals or old world rats and mice of the family Muridae of the order Rodentia.

So a pack rat is a wild animal with a more privileged legal status, and they can't tell you to kill them, even though they would prefer that you do.

[Three Valves]

There are actually places in the USA where people "call the authorities" about ridding themselves of rodents and small creatures??

[Donn]

There are actually places in the USA where people "call the authorities" about ridding themselves of rodents and small creatures??

That was a raccoon, which is a pretty big small creature, more intelligent than the typical dog and clearly "wildlife" with whatever legal status they have. He was prepared to kill it, and he did, but he took it seriously, and his willingness to check first with the fish & wildlife department or whoever he called, is to his credit. The interesting thing, if an "us vs. them" troll is what it takes to make it worthwhile for you, is that he's a vegetarian - and my impression from a very small sample size, has been that of the relatively few city/suburb types who are able to get past the warm and fuzzy thing and look a raccoon, squirrel etc. right in the eye and kill it, a surprisingly high percentage are vegetarians. The people who pick up their meat counter packages of animal flesh cut from the carcasses of animals raised in feed lots and cages, typically can't "harm" a squirrel (though they can harm it in the relocation scenario, since they can believe their own fantasy about how it will work out.)

(Not that I'm endorsing the idea that "small creatures" are there for you to kill, that sounds exceptionally ignorant.)

[Three Valves]

(Not that I'm endorsing the idea that "small creatures" are there for you to kill, that sounds exceptionally ignorant.)

Even the rodents only wind up dead around me if they are IN my house...

Otherwise, it's no se moleste!!

[MaryAnn]

Well, many people around here either poison or drown them. Poison....I think I read a statistic that one poisoned varmint can lead to three dead raptors from eating the poisoned varmint. So I'm not going to poison them. I'm also not going to drown them, for "do unto others even if they are rats" mentality. What I figured was that I was providing un-poisoned food for whatever would have eaten the carcass had I poisoned it. I didn't expect it to find a life; I expected it to become dinner.

[Three Valves]

Well, many people around here either poison or drown them....

Worse, they will die in the walls of your house and stink to high heaven!!

Good old fashioned victor trap + peanut butter = dead rat.

[Michael Bush]

There are actually places in the USA where people "call the authorities" about ridding themselves of rodents and small creatures??

I'm not admitting to anything on the Internet, but hypothetically I might not worry too much about legalities when it comes to the fate of destructive and smelly critters that are in my habitat.

[Three Valves]

My Grandfather once killed a mole, stepped on it with his BARE FEET!!

THAT was a man for you!!

Love you, Pop Pop.