covingtontiger Wrote:We always have had rats around the farm because we had cattle, and corn to feed the cattle, hence the rats. To get rid of rats, you can put out poison, but then you may poison other animals, or the rat can die under your house then smell awful. I never liked that option. Traps are the other option, but rat traps are dangerous to kids and small animals. Cats are the best way to get rid of rats. Get more cats and soon the rats will give your place a wide berth.

That's my brothers philosophy. He had mice. He got lots of cats. No more mice.

covingtontiger Wrote:

tigerloyal Wrote:As a side note, my outside Cat killed a rat last night and I found it.
Have never seen a rat and I am totally disgusted by it. Either the cat got it or the raccoon that has come to close to my house because I have left the cats food out.
I could do without this part of living out but then again, last time I was in downtown New Orleans, rats were everywhere at night.
Oh gross!
No more feeding cats outside.
I can't tell you how sick I was picking that thing up.
I was afraid my cat would try to eat it and I couldn't let it rot out front.
Now I am scared we have rats around.
My neighbors next door have chickens. Neighbors across the street said they have an occasional dead rat.
I just hate mice and rats with a passion.
Besides not having food where they can get it, any suggestions outside of the pied piper to make sure I never lay eyes on one again?

Listen, tigerloyal, you just have to start thinking of rats as squirrels without the fuzzy tail. Squirrels are real close kin to them anyway, and you don't hate squirrels, do you?

Let the cat eat the squirrel (er, rat) , for goodness sake. It is part of the natural order of things, and the way God intended it to be.

At least you are not like my wife. We have a cat that is a total inside cat, to prevent transfer of fleas and ticks into the house. Her sheltered little cat found a mouse in the house, and played with it until it expired, then just let it lay. I told the wife "you are just going to have to eat that mouse to show Tina how to do it, since her mother cat never did". Needless to say, I was not very popular at home for a day or two.

We always have had rats around the farm because we had cattle, and corn to feed the cattle, hence the rats. To get rid of rats, you can put out poison, but then you may poison other animals, or the rat can die under your house then smell awful. I never liked that option. Traps are the other option, but rat traps are dangerous to kids and small animals. Cats are the best way to get rid of rats. Get more cats and soon the rats will give your place a wide berth.

Or you could hire the professionals. A good pest/rodent control company should be able to keep a problem in check.

Loyal, if this is the first one you have seen, or the first evidence you have noticed, you probably have no need to worry. Keep the food inside though.......

covingtontiger Wrote:

tigerloyal Wrote:As a side note, my outside Cat killed a rat last night and I found it.
Have never seen a rat and I am totally disgusted by it. Either the cat got it or the raccoon that has come to close to my house because I have left the cats food out.
I could do without this part of living out but then again, last time I was in downtown New Orleans, rats were everywhere at night.
Oh gross!
No more feeding cats outside.
I can't tell you how sick I was picking that thing up.
I was afraid my cat would try to eat it and I couldn't let it rot out front.
Now I am scared we have rats around.
My neighbors next door have chickens. Neighbors across the street said they have an occasional dead rat.
I just hate mice and rats with a passion.
Besides not having food where they can get it, any suggestions outside of the pied piper to make sure I never lay eyes on one again?

Listen, tigerloyal, you just have to start thinking of rats as squirrels without the fuzzy tail. Squirrels are real close kin to them anyway, and you don't hate squirrels, do you?

Let the cat eat the squirrel (er, rat) , for goodness sake. It is part of the natural order of things, and the way God intended it to be.

At least you are not like my wife. We have a cat that is a total inside cat, to prevent transfer of fleas and ticks into the house. Her sheltered little cat found a mouse in the house, and played with it until it expired, then just let it lay. I told the wife "you are just going to have to eat that mouse to show Tina how to do it, since her mother cat never did". Needless to say, I was not very popular at home for a day or two.

We always have had rats around the farm because we had cattle, and corn to feed the cattle, hence the rats. To get rid of rats, you can put out poison, but then you may poison other animals, or the rat can die under your house then smell awful. I never liked that option. Traps are the other option, but rat traps are dangerous to kids and small animals. Cats are the best way to get rid of rats. Get more cats and soon the rats will give your place a wide berth.

Yeah, I had a dog die about 4 years ago because he found a rat in the ditch in between our prop. and my neighbor that my neighbor had poisoned and then thrown in the ditch. He ate the poisoned rat and died from it.

georgiatiger Wrote:I was born in Milan

Milan Bullfrogs.

These last few early mornings, with the low humidity, sure would have been ideal for a nice walk. At our place, which was sold long ago, the road (named after our family, of course) was gravel and the train tracks were about 3/4 of a mile away. I could hear the train horn from far enough away that there was time to make the walk and wave to the engineer. Couldn't have been more than eight years old. Still want to hop a train

I have an inside cat and a new baby puppy.
The cats outside were abandoned while inside their mom.I guess she was just dropped off here. I couldn't find her a home and she was ready to pop so, in she came.
She had five kittens and I found homes for three. The two left are brother and sister and they are so close. They sleep right next to each other and never leave my yard. Mom is still here also and I have to do something with some of them. I need to have the two girls spayed but then when it gets cold, I just can't have four cats and a dog in the house. My husband will kill me because the mommy cat and my cat, Tiger don't get along at all.
He is fixed and scared of his shadow.
They are good hunters cause they have brought me several mice and moles. The rat though, freaked me out.
Oh well, I just hope I can get them settled before cold weather.
All in all, this kind of problem sure beats smog and traffic and bad neighbors! lol
Go Tigers!

kpigout Wrote:

covingtontiger Wrote:We always have had rats around the farm because we had cattle, and corn to feed the cattle, hence the rats. To get rid of rats, you can put out poison, but then you may poison other animals, or the rat can die under your house then smell awful. I never liked that option. Traps are the other option, but rat traps are dangerous to kids and small animals. Cats are the best way to get rid of rats. Get more cats and soon the rats will give your place a wide berth.

That's my brothers philosophy. He had mice. He got lots of cats. No more mice.

Also, not that you want to see them...but snakes are also good to have around the house for that very reason.

I don't mind them being here...as long as they don't let me know they are here...

I am with you.
We have seen a couple of good snakes this year.
Thats fine, but I don't want them near me.
Go Tigers!

georgiatiger Wrote:I've spotted deer, ferral pigs, racoons, fox, rabbits, etc. on my property. Until I find women living in the wild, I won't be satisfied.

Even if you did it wouldn't matter, you would scare them off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotts_Hill

Talk about a culture shock when I moved to Memphis for college.

Dak10 Wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotts_Hill

Talk about a culture shock when I moved to Memphis for college.

Lol, the racial makeup demographic of my town is hilarious.

tigerloyal Wrote:I am with you.
We have seen a couple of good snakes this year.
Thats fine, but I don't want them near me.
Go Tigers!

snakes= heart attack for me

missjtiger Wrote:

tigerloyal Wrote:I am with you.
We have seen a couple of good snakes this year.
Thats fine, but I don't want them near me.
Go Tigers!

snakes= heart attack for me

Dang, missj, 5 AM on Saturday? You are an early riser. I could have used you on the morning shift when we were milking cows.

covingtontiger Wrote:

missjtiger Wrote:

tigerloyal Wrote:I am with you.
We have seen a couple of good snakes this year.
Thats fine, but I don't want them near me.
Go Tigers!

snakes= heart attack for me

Dang, missj, 5 AM on Saturday? You are an early riser. I could have used you on the morning shift when we were milking cows.

Dobies woke me up barking in the back yard at 4am so I got up to put their "no bark" collars on them then went back to bed and tried to get back to sleep.....KoKo had other ideas.....like time to jump on Momma and sit on me in the bed...all 80+ lbs. of him. He ended up licking me in the face until I decided to go on and get up. I watched the sun rise (my favorite time of the day). I even went out and did a little yard work while it was actually still in the 70's...which didn't last long...the temps and my yardwork. It's almost 9am and my back patio temp is showing 99.7 and the sensor is not in the direct sun. too dang hot to do anything outside...that's for sure.