The Official Critter Thread

[Burnham]

But they all are still rats...just sayin' . Not my cup of tea. But that's just me, too much exposure to the mess and damage they (and their rodent brethren) do to my vehicles and sheds and house. It's hard to keep control on those critters when they have so much natural environment all around here.

 

[Treeaddict]

But they all are still rats...just sayin' . Not my cup of tea. But that's just me, too much exposure to the mess and damage they (and their rodent brethren) do to my vehicles and sheds and house. It's hard to keep control on those critters when they have so much natural environment all around here.

I can understand that. I’ve only had mice damage to our stove and have never seen a wild rat around our home.

The lab/pet/working rat (except for the landmine detection as they are the giant pouched rat) are the same species as the wild rat but bred with intentions so their behaviors are a bit different than their natural brethren. I liken it to a canine 10 generations in the wild vs a house dog. The same but yet totally different.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

My son had rats. He really wanted to take that thing everywhere. I warned him not to take them in his truck. Yup, he did, they were loose. Took him a while to find the one critter. Took him a while to rewire some shat too.

 

[stikine]

Kinda reminds me of the Harry Potter films.

 

[Burnham]

A mouse is just a little rat. Same badness to have either of them around your property.


I doubt it takes a dog ten months, let alone ten generations to go from tame to full-on feral in the right conditions. I expect those rats living in your house are just the same. And if the nice pet rat gets fleas carrying bubonic plague, you'll get it just the same as if the rat was wild.

This is just a friendly discussion and mild disagreement. If I was invited to your home @Treeaddict, I bet I'd find your house rats interesting too.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Nothing like a little Orthohantavirus running around all pitter patter about the house.....

 

[Burnham]

That too.

 

[cory]

Ha ok, this discussion brings a Q to mind- how many housers besides me have at least a few mouse traps set in their house, full time.

If I catch about 1 mouse every, say, 3 weeks, I figure things are reasonably under control, pest wise.

 

[Burnham]

Mine certainly does...but not IN the house. We never get mice indoors, probably because I made such a huge effort to make the building rodent-proof as it was built.

But the large space under the house, inside the poured concrete foundation, is a different story. I probably catch 5 or 6 a month, but there are times when it bumps up way past that...like 1 or 2 a day.

Under the hood of my vehicles, where a couple of traps are set all the time, I have had periods of high mouse activity. Several times over the years, in a 60-90 day period I have caught over 50. More often it's a couple a week.

The Jaguar is the worst...it lives under a carport covered by an all-weather fitted cover. I have to keep a trap in the trunk too for that one.

And this is just the deer mice. Don't get me started on the bushy-tailed woodrats .

 

[CurSedVoyce]

We have an abundance of 4 legged mouse traps inside and out the house.
Same at the shop

 

[Burnham]

I probably would too, but for the inescapable fact that they are as hard or maybe harder on the songbirds than they are the rodents.

Me and cats just don't gee and haw all that well .

 

[CurSedVoyce]

We have a neighbor that despises cats since they are hard on birds, rodents and small reptiles. One day, in an "exchange" with him, I reminded him that while they may be, they are, more often than not, food for other apex type preditors and wraptors. So yes, our woods are food source abundant for all critters.

 

[cory]

Outdoor cats are a significant food source for predators and (ha; sic) wraptors?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Yes. As are small dogs.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Things that eat cats,

Coyotes and wild dogs,
Mountain Lions
Bob cats
Hawks
Owls
Eagles
Vultures (rare butwill hunt)

Things that eat little fifi
See above list
Add bear

 

[CurSedVoyce]

And, if it makes the purists feel better.
Ironicallly, our quail get a number of our cats killed annually.
The covey crosses two busy roads people drive at hwy speeds. The cats follow the quail. They get car hit ftom time to time.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

 

[lxskllr]

I get a couple mice per season. They come in when the temps drop. My current two kittiots don't have run of the house, so it makes me wonder what I'm missing. Haven't seen any mice, but it doesn't mean they aren't there. Spot does a good job outside catching mice. Maybe she's getting them before they get in.

Me and my old girl made a good mouse catching duo. She'd point them out and help me corner them, and I'd try to catch them alive, and take them for a long walk. I broke a couple in the catching process, but I tried to get them alive!

 

[Nutball]

Hawks eat little birds too.

I keep glue traps in the garage. They rarely catch anything, but I hate corrosive mouse turds on stuff.

 

[Kaveman]

Cats rock, but my favorite kind, are Other People's. Small dogs, like terriers and chiweewees and such where bred for killing vermin, and can be way better at it than cats. Cats will hunt out of instinct, and will give up to look for easier pickings. Terriers hunt not just from instinct, but from thousands of generations of breeding for hunting drive and acumen.

I've seen my much-missed pug-dachshund impersonate a drunken ditch-witch for 8 solid hours chasing a single groundhog, that he had only smelled. Cats just won't do that.