Trouble at our feeders...need some advice.

15 years ago

I just posted this on the "bird watching" part of garden web but thought I would post it here also in case someone here has some advice. This is also a more active part of the forums.

We have seen squirrels and racoons at our feeders but today we had a rat!! I really don't know what to do about it. I love to feed and photograph the birds, it is a great hobby...but I do not want rats around our home. We watched it go from the feeders to under the patio by the wood pile and sure enough there are a good number of holes in the ground. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Comments (10)

grammahony
15 years ago
I'd take the feeders down and try to trap the rat. Or if you or someone you know is a good shot, use a 22.
Leslie
kathyg_in_mi
15 years ago
We had a problem with racoons and DH took the sunflower feeder down for quite a while. Feeders are back up and the racoons haven't come back yet.
Kathy G in MI
Related Discussions
Help, In-Law Troubles and Need some Advice
Q
Comments (26)
Divorces should be messy. You've entered into a contract and are breaking it. Why should breaking a marriage contract be easy? Ahh, yeah, to save some of the almighty dollar. That's a really lame excuse when dealing with a marriage and family. If it's too easy to leave your husband/wife, almost everyone will be doing it all the time for no good reasons. Some people think marriages are easily expendable and don't have as strong a commitment to them as others. If you feel that way, then yes, the statement isn't logical. Heck, some think there should be drive through divorce windows. But if you believe that marriage should be forever, and that you should try to stay together through think and thin... when boredom sets in or spouses become annoying, or when you are going through unhappy periods, and that you have to think twice and really hard about getting a divorce because it's not going to be easy, then you may decide to stick it out. (Granted I'm not talking about staying in abusive situations, but when people leave for no good reason, it shouldn't be easy). Dissolutions of companies are messy; why shouldn't dissoluntions of marriages be? And, honestly, I'll tell you another thing, if I ever feel the need to have to leave my husband, I am going to try to take him for all he has --plus some (unless I feel it is not in my best interest). I'm not going to leave him because I'm not happy or because I found someone else or because he has a pot belly -- If I left him, there'd be a good enough reason to try to take it all. I've personally never understood the logic behind amicible divorces...oh, yeah, the money...once again...anything to save a couple bucks. We all know the almightly dollar is everything.
...See More
Advice on some of my current deco projects!!
Q
Comments (13)
LOL, mlraff! My dh about had one too. I was so SICK of looking at the dingy carpet that one day I just ripped up a little at the bottom. Just so I could get an idea of what was underneath. Basically, my carpet never had a chance to look clean. The builders left so much dirt and debris and just carpeted right over it. So everytime I was shampooing, the dirt was pushing right up through the pad and carpet. So, I just kept ripping! Once I showed him the pictures of what I wanted to do he was ok. We all have horrid allergies, so getting rid of the carpet was what we'd been wanting to do since we moved in here. We are ripping the carpet out all over the house, upstairs included. We're putting the Novalis in everywhere. Might be an issue for resale, but honestly I'm not worried at this point. I think it looks gorgeous from what I have seen/read, it's exactly what I want and it's affordable. If I were you, could you stop at the top riser so that the carpet on the top stair tread still curved over the top? Then the rest of the way down would be wood. Not sure how it would look, but that's probably what I would do.
...See More
Marriage in trouble/near end/ need advice!!
Q
Comments (8)
Trixie's right -- You ARE in an abusive marriage. Only this time, instead of hitting you, it's verbal and psychological abuse. And it won't get any better because your husband doesn't believe there's a problem. Certainly not with HIM. Can't you take a joke? Why are you making such a big deal out of things? How do I know? Because I was married to his clone for 10 years. And it's taken me 15 years to recover and heal. (2 years in therapy) Trixie's also right about what you are teaching your children. You are teaching them that this is the way husband's treat wives. That it's OK to hit, insult, demean and abuse the people you love. That you (and they) deserve to be treated like this. Is that what you want them to learn? The second you decide firmly in your mind to leave this man and provide a loving, emotionally stable, home for your children is the second you will begin to get stronger. The day one of you leaves the house for good is the day your new, positive, life begins. You may feel scared, but you will also feel a lightening of your load that goes almost beyond belief. (When I left my exhole, I remember dreaming about beautiful sparkling-clean windows with sunshine outside and an incredible sense of opportunity.) Get your ducks in a row. Find out where the money is, and talk to a lawyer. If you've been out of the job market for a while, dust off your skill set. Volunteer if necessary, (while he's still paying the bills) to get up-to-date work experience. Just don't do nothing!
...See More
Need a shoulder...and some sink advice
Q
Comments (16)
aliris - i actually did talk to someone at AJ Madison and they said they would have to order it. That would mean mid August and then whatever time to ship to me. Quality bath or home and stone both would also order it, but I am trying to find it in stock somewhere. I just want to make sure it would be someone reputable in case I have another issue...I'm a little nervous now. The damaged sinks were quite different. The first one was cracked on the bottom...it actually looked like a forging or manufactring defect. The second one came with a hairline crack along the rim and going down the corner on the inside. I actually talked to DH last night and asked if we should consider a SS sink instead ( but remember my granite has been cut for this sink) but we both agreed that we really like the looks of this one...cracks and all! Soooo I think we are going to continue our search. We leave for vacation next week and I think I'm going to try to focus on that and maybe the time and distance wil give me some fresh perspective. I realize that I won't be able to have one delivered before we go, and it looks like I won't be able to find one locally, so we'll just have to finish things when we get back. And I did mix up a batch of Sangria last night...it's like 1000 degrees here so who wants to cook in a kitchen anyway!! :-)
...See More
lydia1959
15 years ago
I was looking for an answer for you and found this lovely tidbit:
Rats live in sewers and can follow the food in pipes up to your toilet.

* Keep your kitchen sink rinsed clean and use garbage disposals as little as possible.
o Rinse out your kitchen sink once or twice a month.
o Use 1 cup of bleach (an alternative to using bleach, 1 cup of baking soda followed by 1 cup of vinegar) and rinse with boiling water.
* Never throw grease down the drain.
* Keep your toilet lid down when not in use.
* If you find a rat in your toilet, flush it! (hint: squirt a little dishwashing liquid under the lid into the bowl, wait a couple of minutes then flush)

*SHUDDER*
Below is the entire link which may give you some ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to get rid of rats
sheilajoyce_gw
15 years ago
I think you need to think about what you are doing to the birds who rely on your winter feedings if you quit feeding them. If you live in a cold area, the winter feeding may have helped to establish a larger than natural over wintering of birds. When you eliminate the feeding, can they find food to survive while you try to get rid of the pests? Or will you be dooming them? Feeding wildlife in winter is ok as long as you are consistent. Instead, go to the hardware store and get some rat poison and follow the directions. Our area has so many rats that there is no way I could ever rid the area of them. But I don't want to kill off all the birds who rely on my winter hand outs.
alisande
15 years ago
We had the same situation some years ago. The rats were going from the bird feeding area to under the porch. I took a cardboard tube from a spent roll of paper towels, pushed it down a hole, and poured D-Con into the hole. I did this with only a couple of holes, but the rats were never seen again.
FlamingO in AR
15 years ago
This has nothing to do with this post, sorry. Taigen, did you ever find out the name of the song you were looking for? I posted a possibility for you to consider. Was it titled something about words to a song? The post, I mean....

Carry on, people! Don't mind me. lol
deborah_ps
15 years ago
Years ago I was re-doing our bathroom, took the toilet out and thankfully thought ahead to put a large box of tiles on top of the drain hole. I'd only done that because of the possible sewage gases. Well, a couple of days later I went to move the box and the whole bottom was all chewed up!!
EEEWWWWW!
So, for those who think rats can't crawl up a toilet drain...
pattico_gw
15 years ago
A rat came up a basement toilet at my son's house when he lived in Omaha...

Spooks me...I never go in to the bathroom in the middle of the night without turning the light on and looking into the toilet...

I'm sure after reading this I'll have to hurry my job so I can get off the toilet really quick...thanks a lot you guys....LOLOL

I'd try trapping them...Maybe some live traps so you don't injure a nicer animal.

patti
kathleen44
15 years ago
That is a huge problem when feeding the birds.
We live in the country and my parents want the birds fed, my mom also now feeds raccoons and we feed the squirrels.
We also according to my dad that the deer were eating the apples my mom put out for the raccoons.

What you have to do is not feed the birds close to your house.
My parents used to feed the birds on the deck which is right about my suite and then across the garage and so I got rats and mice in my place galore, it was a huge, huge problem for me.

We now feed the birds and squirrels down at the gazebo which is further from the house.

You either do that, feed quite a distance away or stop feeding them.

Rats will come for food and if they know its there, they will keep coming and coming.

We finally had to get the exterminator guy to put out bait boxes outside.

We also bought those gadgets that you plug in and according to my dad who has hearing aids they go beep, beep, but I can't hear them at all. They are to keep them away.

Rats do become a huge problem and if its an extra bad cold winter, then you will get more and more as they do breed them fast rate. Its unreal what you can get.
taigen_gw
Original Author
15 years ago
Never realized this could be a problem as we live in such a residential area. We do have the feeders right on the patio as it is easier for me to fill them. I have a few physical limitations especially on ice/snow. Being in the middle of winter the birds really are now dpendant on the source.
I found a really old thread (winter gardening on here) about adding cayenne (sp?) pepper to the food to stop the squirrels and racoons and this might stop the rat. They also mentioned putting poison in a pvc pipe, so no child, cat whatever, could get at it. I think I will at least try those.
I am truly concerned they will get into the house. I use bleach etc. in my sinks daily so I am hopeful they won't "find" a way in. We also do have 3 cats, I would have thought they could smell the cats and be afraid....guess not!
Anyway..please keep the ideas coming and thanks to those of you who have posted to help, I do appreciate it. The chickadees and cardinals have been to the feeders already today.
Flammingo...I am going to call that radio station and get that name right now!! I have given up searching LOL!!

Trouble at our feeders...need some advice.

Comments (10)

grammahony

kathyg_in_mi

Related Discussions

lydia1959

sheilajoyce_gw

alisande

FlamingO in AR

deborah_ps

pattico_gw

kathleen44

taigen_gw
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Trouble at our feeders...need some advice.

Comments (10)

Related Discussions

taigen_gwOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

taigen_gw
Original Author