An unwelcome visitor approaches.
I set up the bird feeder for the season this week, and as of 2 days ago we have been having some regular visitors... a say's phoebe with a little poofy crest on his head, and a set of male and female house finches. The male house finch has the cutest blush of red over his face and chest, and has been fun to watch.
As a side note, whatbird is great for helping figure out what birds you are seeing.
This morning we had another visitor, picking up the extra seed that'd been sprayed about by the enthusiastic finches... a rat. Oh yeah, I forgot that this was the reason I stopped filling the bird feeder a year or two ago. *sigh* Rats! When I had the bird feeder up, I'd hear them run back and forth over the roof at dawn.
I let Stormy out to go rodent-hunting while I searched for items to fix the situation.
Solution Part 1: The live trap from my grandpa.
I've tried peanut butter, birdseed, chocolate, all sorts of random food items, and they've never come to take the bait. I even SAW a rat pluck off an heirloom cherokee purple tomato last year and take a big bite... I chased it off, and put that tomato in as bait. Still didn't work... it was left untouched. So, after some more research on other types of bait, I placed some gristly meat leftovers from last night's steak inside. Please work?
Solution Part 2: Reduce waste from the bird feeder.
I came up with this temporary fix, made out of a hanging plastic pot and a plastic plant dish. Unfortunately it means that I can't see the bottom two feeding perches... but it'll work for now until I come up with a better plan. Hopefully the birds aren't put off by the strange new addition.
Wish me luck! How have you gotten rid of rats? I can't use poison or snap/electric traps due to the dog.
I set up the bird feeder for the season this week, and as of 2 days ago we have been having some regular visitors... a say's phoebe with a little poofy crest on his head, and a set of male and female house finches. The male house finch has the cutest blush of red over his face and chest, and has been fun to watch.
As a side note, whatbird is great for helping figure out what birds you are seeing.
This morning we had another visitor, picking up the extra seed that'd been sprayed about by the enthusiastic finches... a rat. Oh yeah, I forgot that this was the reason I stopped filling the bird feeder a year or two ago. *sigh* Rats! When I had the bird feeder up, I'd hear them run back and forth over the roof at dawn.
I let Stormy out to go rodent-hunting while I searched for items to fix the situation.
Solution Part 1: The live trap from my grandpa.
I've tried peanut butter, birdseed, chocolate, all sorts of random food items, and they've never come to take the bait. I even SAW a rat pluck off an heirloom cherokee purple tomato last year and take a big bite... I chased it off, and put that tomato in as bait. Still didn't work... it was left untouched. So, after some more research on other types of bait, I placed some gristly meat leftovers from last night's steak inside. Please work?
Solution Part 2: Reduce waste from the bird feeder.
I came up with this temporary fix, made out of a hanging plastic pot and a plastic plant dish. Unfortunately it means that I can't see the bottom two feeding perches... but it'll work for now until I come up with a better plan. Hopefully the birds aren't put off by the strange new addition.
Maybe it doubles as a really awesome new perch.
Wish me luck! How have you gotten rid of rats? I can't use poison or snap/electric traps due to the dog.
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