Monday, September 20, 2010

Using the proper tools for specific situations

We continue to face the fact that there are some rats in the garage.  It is not a happy thought, and so far Whisners 4 rats (lots of damage).  For goodness sake, they ate a hole in my car sun visor!!!! Why!!!!

I finally found that I need to actually purchase some tools for this situation.  As the small "live catch" mouse traps really don't fit the need.
Does this trap make my butt look big?
Seriously smart creatures these guys are.  Last night I purchased a trap that is supposed to "instantly" electrocute them.  I got home and Kel named it "Mr. Sparky."  So far, I can't get it to work.  Perhaps the rats are smarter than me.
Today, Tazz figured out there is something out there.  He is curious, but scared.  Maddie pushed by him and stuck her entire body into a space in the shelving.  Wagging her tail and growling.  That got Tazz going and he barked and growled, bringing Fin over and she barked at Tazz barking at Maddie growling at, I don't want to know.  I grabbed a diet coke and ran inside scared they would actually flush something out.  Calling them (all came except for Maddie as she is deaf - I had to go grab her).  
It is time to call the professionals.  Not sure who to call.  But today someone with greater expertise will deal with this problem.  I will leave a bucket of money out front.

PS:  When I spell check, it trys to get me to change Whisners for Whiskers...I don't think that is a coincidence!

7 comments:

Celeste said...

I love your drawings!
Years ago lived in an old farmhouse where the varmint-visits (and professional removals) occured in this order: mice, rats, possums, then raccoons. We moved before they got any bigger.

vici whisner said...

@celeste. If they get any bigger I am moving!

Unknown said...

This is tricky. I have to be careful here, but may I ask. Maybe you should get a Terrier? Shelties don't seem to be doing a good job.

Love,
Peggy

Trish said...

Maybe if you set up some jumps and tought them agility you'd like them better?

How did they get to your sun visor?

Elf said...

I love your drawings, too! Who knew you were such an artiste! You could rival TSD!

Are they mice or rats, do you know for sure? Mice are pretty easy to get with traps; rats sometimes too, but you really have to figure out where they're going.

If you call someone, insist on traps, not on poison. The poison can be very effective, and the rat guy wired it in place so that it couldn't be carried away and left for the dogs to get at. But he also assured me that, once the poison is in the rodents, it's not harmful to dogs or anything else that might get at the rats--apparently this isn't true (here's one web site about that--you can google and find many more).

Also, with poison, the rats can crawl off somewhere where you can't find them and then you have to live with the awful smell for a week or so until they dry out.

So I'm not doing poison again.

vici whisner said...

@Elf, sad to say, yes indeedy these are rats. Basically what I'm doing is cleaning out the garage. Once that is done, I'll call a professional (probably next week). The truth is, I really need to get rid of a bunch of stuff so the rodent person can do their job. I figure once I get everything clean, then he'll be able to find out how they are getting in and out.
I have killed 3 so far 1 large and 2 young ones. I'm wondering if it wasn't just a mom that came in to have babies rather than a whole hoard. I guess when the professional comes, we'll find out. In the meantime I'm trying to get as many as I can during my clean up process.

Anonymous said...

Hi, very interesting post, greetings from Greece!