BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 04:03 AM

Shut the door they're coming through the windows

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 03:52 AM

Try This,
Jim Carroll

The Waterford Boys
(Trad)

For Fun and Diversion we have met together
I tell you from Waterford hither we came
We crossed the Big Ocean in dark stormy weather
Our pockets were light and our Hearts were the same
Sad at leaving Old Ireland we're once more on dry land
By the roadside a tavern I chanced for to spy
And as I was melting my pockets I felt in
For the price of a drink I was mortally dry

For we are the boys of such Fun and such Eloquence
Drinking and Dancing and all other Joys
For Ructions Destructions Diversions an Devilment
Who's to compare with The Waterford Boys

In the tavern I rolled in the landlord he strolled
And good morrow says he and says I if you please
Will you give me a bed and then bring me some bread
And a bottle of porter and a small piece of cheese
My bread and cheese ended I then condescended
To take my repose sure I bade them good night
When under the clothes I was trying to doze
First I stuck in my toes and then popped out the light

Well I wasn't long sleeping when I heard something creeping
And gnawing and chawing around the bed post
My breath I suspended but the noise never ended
Thinks I you have damnable claws for a ghost
Now to make myself easy for I felt rather lazy
Well over my head I again pulled the clothes
When "Moses what's that", sure a great big jack-rat
With one leap from the floor jumped right up to my nose

For we are the boys....

Well I reached for a hobnail and made him a bobtail
And wrestled with rats to the clear light of day
When the landlord came in and he said with a grin
For your supper and bed you've five shillings to pay
"Five shillings for what, now don't be disgracing yourself"
Says I to the rogue "if you please, when I can't sleep
With these rats you've the devil's own face on you
To charge me five shillings for dry bread and cheese"

Oh the landlord went raring and lifting and tearing
He jumped through the window and he kicked in the door
When he could go no further he roared
"Meela murder, these rats they are eating me up by the store
Sure they sleep in my stable they eat from my table
They've wrestled my dogs and they've killed all my cats"
"Truth then" says I "just give me those five shillings
And I'll tell you a way to get rid of the rats"

"I will then" said he "we'll invite them to supper
And dry bread and cheese lay before them for sure
Never mind if they're willing, but charge them five shilling
And devil the rat will you ever see more"

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 03:39 AM

Rats in the garden, what'll I do?
Rats in the garden, what'll I do?....

Skip to My Lou, my Darling!

Boom Boom!

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 02:58 AM

Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?

Rat in the garden??!!!??

Send him all expenses paid, to Washington to 'represent' you, with the other, fat rodents!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 12:32 AM

Yes, that is the case now, Ebarnacle, because in this civilization we live in we have already domesticated dogs and cats and they have thus become useful to us. Dogs have served mainly as guards and companions, for hunting other animals, and in war. Cats have served mainly as rodent catchers and as companions.

They would be of no use whatsoever to us, though, if we had never thought to domesticate them in the first place. We might then consider them as our competitors, the same way we now consider rats. Wild dogs and cats would certainly threaten our pets and livestock, and the dogs would threaten us directly.

Rats could also be useful as companions and pets to any society that chose to domesticate them and regard them as such. They are very smart and affectionate when they are domesticated and treated kindly.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 12:06 AM

Rats are our competitors. Cats and dogs [usually] cooperate with us and are friendly. We kill competitors.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 11:59 PM

I don't think it's necessarily "Okay" to kill anything, Jeri...if you don't have to or you don't have a darned good reason to. (smile) And I harbour no hostility against carpenter ants. They're very interesting little creatures. But I do have a practical concern here...which is that carpenter ants who are living in my house will inevitably destroy the strength of various wooden structures upon which my house depends...given enough time...and will damage the value and integrity of the house in so doing.    Therefore, it would be best (from my point of view) to remove them from the house. Since I have no practical way of doing that except to kill them...it becomes a question of balancing one thing (my desire not to hurt them) against another thing (my desire not to have them hurt my house). It's a question of establishing priorities. My house has to take priority in this case. It weighs larger in the scheme of things (for me) than the ants do.

I do my utmost not to hurt anything that can be simply removed in a nonharmful manner if it's causing some problem.

Similarly, ants will attack anyone who invades or damages their nest...to the best of their ability. They're defending their house. I'm defending mine.

You are quite right as to way rats got a bad reputation. However, it's still quite possible that another (hypothetical) society might have decided, for completely arbitrary cultural reasons of their own, to venerate rats, keep them as pets, worship them, train them to be circus performers or any other darned thing under the sun.

That's what people are like. They make up a set of ironclad beliefs and customs for ideas that seem like good ideas to them at the time. The next generation repeats those beliefs automatically. After a few generations no one (except a few philosophical types like me...and a few teenage rebels, probably) even thinks to question those beliefs.

And that's why we might all be keeping cute little rats as pets and exterminating wild cats and dogs right now... ;-)

And someone would say to you, "Cats and dogs have been known to spread disease, damage property, kill pet rats, and even kill human babies!!!" Horrifying creatures! They MUST be destroyed on sight!

That's how human culture works. It arbitrarily praises one set of things and arbitrarily damns another. It gets all dramatic about it too, because everyone loves a good drama, right? ;-D

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Jeri
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 11:22 PM

Dingoes ate my baby...

Rats got the bad reputation because they eat our stored food and host fleas that spread plague. Add in the fact that they can't be trained to be useful, and you've got a pest instead of a symbiote.

Don't get me wrong, I get along with most animals, including tame rats. I used to keep them as pets. I think it's natural to view a competitor for food and a link in the plague chain with no easily recognizable characteristics as 'bad'. Take your ants, for example. Judging by other things I've read from you, I don't understand why you think it's OK to kill them. Rats eat grain intended for us, squirrels eat food intended for birds, skunks live in places we don't want them, but they all have to survive. So do carpenter ants, who only want a full stomach and a nice, rotten place to live.

Jeri, with a humidifier going 24/7 in my previously sogged basement.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 11:07 PM

"I believe they even have been known to kill infants."

So have dogs, cats, and a great many other common animals that we take for granted and profess to like. We don't take rats for granted, because they don't appear to meet our immediate needs (emotional or otherwise). They are therefore considered "inconvenient" to our purposes. I can easily imagine how another society in a different time might regard dogs the same way: All dogs would be feral dogs in such a social order. No one would have ever thought of domesticating them. Therefore they would all be regarded as treacherous, unreliable, and dangerous. The roaming packs of those feral dogs would be despised for robbing food, killing livestock, and menacing travellers. They would even be said to have (gasp!) killed babies on some rare occasions!

You see, leeneia, our ideas about all these things are formed by one thing: Our culture. We grow up in a culture, and that culture plants a million arbitrary ideas in our heads. We quite arbitrarily decide to domestic some species as "pets" (dogs, cats, mynah birds, tropical fish, etc.), domesticate and eat others (chickens, pigs, ducks, cows, etc.), hunt and eat others (fish, deer, moose, wild ducks, etc.), and exterminate still others as hated "pests" (rats, mice, etc.).

It's almost all arbitrary what a culture decides to do...though it does appear to make sense within its own established parameters. You're born into it, you grow up believing it, and you obey it for the rest of your life. You develop standard reactions to dogs, cats, rats, mice, different kinds of birds, food, clothing, social ritual, etc. Why do people say "gesundheit" when someone sneezes??? Because they saw their parents do that! Well, it always seemed ridiculous to me, so I don't do that. I tend to challenge cultural habits if I can't see any real practical justification for them.

People should take a look at ALL their standard cultural assumptions about EVERYTHING from time to time and ask themselves, "Where the heck did this come from? Why do I believe it? Might I not believe it, given other circumatances? Is it real or is it something somebody made up, and no one alive now even knows why?

The Chinese and many East Asians eat dogs. Right now. Why? Because their culture says it's okay to do that. So it IS okay in their culture, but that's arbitrary. The Aztecs bred dogs to eat for the same reason.

It's arbitrary, leeneia. You might just as well have been born in a society where everyone kept pet rats and loved them, and thought it was totally normal to do that. If they did, they still might not like wild rats all that much...we have problems with wild dogs, after all, that's for sure...and wild dogs are WAY more dangerous than wild rats are. They'll kill you outright if a pack of them goes after you. However, you can't say for sure what people in that society would say about wild rats...because they are nowhere near as dangrous as wild dogs are. They might say, "Oh, look! A wild rat! Isn't he cute!"

So think about cultural conditioning a bit, okay? No culture has the last word on anything. We just make it all up as we go along. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 10:37 PM

I never heard of wood rats before. They might be all right to have around. But the Norway rat is dirty and destructive. I believe they even have been known to kill infants.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 05:57 PM

Beautiful pictures, Barbara! I was out today taking pictures of the chipmunk, who now trusts me and expects to be fed peanuts, so he comes really close.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: bbc
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 05:49 PM

We feed the birds (the squirrels, the chipmunks &, occasionally, the raccoons & opposums). We have a few wood rats that live under the deck, who eat the food that the birds drop. The rats are shy &, as far as I can tell, have made no attempts to enter the house. They are our least welcome guests, but don't really seem to do any harm. Thanks, Little Hawk, for speaking on their behalf. I'm always a bit embarrassed to admit to having rat guests, but am not willing to stop feeding the other furred & feathered folk. Here's a photo
I took of one of the little guys this winter. Sometimes, watchful tolerance is a good policy.

best,

Barbara

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: gnu
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 04:44 PM

Kinda, yes, on both counts... maybe.... my aunt Annabell, who was crazy as a bag of rats (and I mean that in the most affectionate way) told me of the white rat and told me that it was because the other rats revered the white rat.

She also likened it to the superstition that Dad, whose white rat would fetch his boxing gloves on command and ride his shoulder into the ring held three Maritime Canada boxing weight division championship titles at one time. It was all because of the white rat.

Yeah, me too. But Aunt Annabell could string a lad of twelve years of age along. Your mileage may vary.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 03:54 PM

I can't help it. Every time I see this thread I want to break into song!

Rats in the garden, what'll I do?
Rats in the garden, what'll I do?....

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 02:23 PM

The animal who has "territorial rights" (first claim) can usually pull rank on the one who doesn't. We had a pet squirrel, for instance, and he lived mostly indoors but he liked to go outside too, when we would take him to our country place. Only problem was, the squirrels who inhabited the grounds there would drive him off their territory. He quickly decided that HIS territory included the back porch, however, and he would drive them off that if they dared come too near it. Since the wild squirrels had never really bothered to include the back porch in their official holdings, they were quite intimidated and they would back off at once...but they held unquestioned sway over the garden.

The White Rat had obviously established territorial rights over the workplace, and thus had the confidence to defend it effectively. (And he also had backup...his human friend...and that would increase his confidence.)

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 01:58 PM

Hmmm. gnu, why? Were the wild rats intimidated by the white, presumably larger, one? Or was it a case of territorial rights? I would think the tame and wild rats would interbreed.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: gnu
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 01:55 PM

Gurney... I don't have a baby barn anymore. Now, I have a garage.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: gnu
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 01:55 PM

When my old man was teenager in the 30s he had a white rat. He earned top dollar as a night watchman at a large foodstuffs warehouse next to the river. He would go to sleep, knowing that any other rats who entered the warehouse would leave quickly when confronted by his rat and not return.

He was offered good money for the rat but never sold it because he considered it a good luck charm.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 12:42 PM

Be very glad that you don't live next door to Chongo. He uses a Thompson submachine gun most of the time for "pest control".

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 12:41 PM

"Do you realize how offensive these kind of sweeping cultural stereotypes such as "there never is just one rat" are to the solitary rat?" LH

I liked my answer from yesterday which appears to have vanished into the wild blue yonder. What I said was:

"Rats are social animals. It is far more demeaning to a rat to assume that they are alone."

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 12:33 PM

Give me a choice between a rat and a trigger-happy neighbour who fancies his or her sharpshooting skills, and I'd take the rat every time. I'd feel safer.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 12:27 PM

A ways back, when my ex and lived in a garden apartment, a rat wandered inside. I believe it was a young one, looking for a home. About 3 seconds after it passed the threshhold, our larger cat [about 20 lb but NOT fat] attacked it. Shortly thereafter, there was one dead rat and one very proud cat. My input was staying out of the way and cheering him on.

Of course, Chongo Chimp would also fill this ecological niche.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 08:50 PM

It was sure two really stinky dogs. . .

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 08:45 PM

Thanks, Stilly.

Boy, that must have been one astonished skunk.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 08:37 PM

I answered your carpenter ant question, George. The same site has information about rats, also, but more scattered around.

I have two dogs who love to catch rats. They're in the 45 to 55 pound range and are tenacious hunters. A pit bull (American Staffordshire Terrier) and a catahoula/blue heeler mix. We live on a creek and they've got a taste for hunting. Squirrels, possums, and yes, they both got skunked a couple of years ago. The pit killed the skunk, which tells you how persistent she is when she's hunting. Usually getting the spray is enough to chase off most dog breeds. They get snakes, mice, and have caught the occasional pigeon. And rats. They leave the toads alone, because the toads taste bad (intentionally).

We used to have an owl that would hunt in the back, and it still might, but the pit bull sees it and barks at it till it leaves, even if it is up on the tall ham radio antenna next door. She doesn't want the competition, though the owl at least eats what it catches.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Gurney
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 07:59 PM

And I though LH was a folkie!
And Gnu has a BABY barn.

I'm in the wrong forum.








People keep telling me that.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 07:46 PM

When SOLITAIRE'S the only rat in town!
And every road he takes just takes him down
While life goes on around him everywhere
This rat plays SOLITAIRE!

And keeping to himself begins to squeal
The cheese he put aside someone did steal
Another losing game comes to an end
The cheese is gone again!

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 07:35 PM

But, Ebbie, what if there really is just one rat?

Do you realize how offensive these kind of sweeping cultural stereotypes such as "there never is just one rat" are to the solitary rat?

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 06:12 PM

They say that if you see one rat there are at least 20 more that you haven't seen.

One of my brothers lived at home with our parents; one day when I arrived there, he showed me a rat colony he had discovered under a couple of sheets of plywood.

I kid you not: There were withing hundreds of them under there, many of them still blind and hairless but other young old enough to explore curiously their suddenly bright world. The adults had all bolted.

I never asked him what he did with them; didn't really want to know.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 04:36 PM

I have ants too. Carpenter ants. Now THERE's a real problem! I think I'll start a thread about it...

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 03:43 PM

Smear the rats with honey. The ants will follow them to the ends of the earth and eat them alive.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: MikeL2
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 02:56 PM

hi everyone

You lot are not taking this seriously at all......

And now not only do have have rats, I have ants too.

Whaaaaaaa do I do??????.......maybe I train the ants to eat the rats....er.....er...er....

maybe not a great idea.

Help Police...

....or maybe I just go and get ratted...

cheers

Mikel2

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 02:28 PM

BOO!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: gnu
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 02:14 PM

Well, I am in a way. When I was about 11 years old, my best friend's dog, Buttons, a small ratter, got bit by one. The rat lasted about three seconds. Buttons lasted about ten days. Ever since, I kinda prefer dogs. Although there is a small yapper two houses away that I would like to use as bait in a rat trap.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 02:06 PM

Unless you can afford to feed it, call the military.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 02:02 PM

Oh, the vile insults and innuendo!!! There's a lot of prejudice out there against rats.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: gnu
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 01:59 PM

A SKINTAIL? Oh dear. Flamethrower!

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: GUEST,crazy little woman
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 01:56 PM

Did you get a really good look at this 'rat'? Cause maybe it's a BNP squirrel which has shaved its bushy tail.

Shine a flashlight on it and look for studs, piercings, tattoos, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 01:48 PM

Arnie, I know of two ways to get rid of rats which do not harm other creatures.

First you find its tunnels. Then you put bags of poison in the tunnels and bury them. Wear clean gloves so as not to leave your scent on the bags. Details like that should be covered in the directions.

Another way it to burn a fusee-type device in the tunnel. This is not for near the house.

I feed the birds, and once every few years we get a rat or two. These two methods have got rid of them.

Thanks for explaining about the skunks, possums, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: gnu
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 11:56 AM

The IRDL came after me for for a wicked wrist shot up against the baby barn doors with my Yvonne Cournoyer autographed Victoriaville hockey stick. It was a mouse, not a rat! Those rat Nazi's will stir up trouble wherever they can.

They claimed it was a rat and said they had a witness... a neighbour... one a them there tree huggin, ratsass kissin yuppies. But, since there was no evidence after Maggie ate the varmint, they decided not to continue in court because it woulda cost a lot to try to get DNA samples confirmed. Even if they coulda lifted any DNA from the baby barn, they woulda had a hard time proving that DNA was from the rodent I scored a goal with.

They did ask a judge for a search warrant to seize Maggie's litter box but the judge said, "Get the fuck outta here you crazy bastards."

My barrister and solicitor has advised me not to say anything about the pending case involving mice in the neighbour's mailbox.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 11:07 AM

WHAT are you implying, sir? Are you looking to get on the IRDL's "unfair" list? Hmmm? Is that what you have in mind?

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 10:58 AM

Well, at least most of us bipeds don't leave an endless trail of urine as we proceed, since most of us have both bladders and some bladder control!

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 10:56 AM

I've been in touch with the International Rat Defence League, Arnie. The rat in question contacted them after having become aware of your hostile intentions. "What do I do?" he asked. "I have a raticidal human in the garden!" The counsellors at the IRDL advised him to avoid any confrontation for the time being and move to a safer location until a suitable remedy can be found for this undesirable infestation of homo sapiens, the most dangerous lifeform on Earth.

;-D

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Arnie
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 04:34 AM

leeneia - "No doubt to our US friends, a rat is pretty mundane fare"
I wasn't suggesting that in the US you have rats all over the place. I meant that a rat would be pretty mundane fare compared to the skunks, porcupines, raccoons etc. that appear from time to time on threads from our US friends. Sheesh! Seems like however carefully you phrase a comment, someone somewhere is gonna take offence....

Anyway, thanks everyone for the useful suggestions. I don't think I'll be going down the route of shooting the rat though - I'd have to sit out there for hours waiting for it to put in an appearance - and then would probably only wing it. Poison seems a bit extreme as well as I do harbour a bit of a soft spot for little beasties and couldn't contemplate it slowly bleeding to death. Best idea seems to be a quick, clean death via a rat-trap. As it happens, I haven't spotted the rat for a few days now, so possibly it's moved on and saved me the trouble!

.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 04:31 AM

Parson Jack Russell Terrier


comparison of Jack and Parson Jack

The second page shows a good example of what to my eyes looks a typical Jack Russell - squatty, relatively burly, amiably menacing!

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 04:22 AM

I cannot take credit for "Terrier" as such, Ranger1. Someone said that above. But, specifically, the Jack Russell terrier and the Parson Jack Russell Terrier (and in the travelling communities, crossbreeds from them with other useful things, eg Italian Greyhound if you want a fleet dog, or Staffordshire Bull Terrier if you want a burly one) are the dog of choice for ratting in the UK. Many other crosses are less useful because of the range of snub noses in smaller dogs - and you don't want a snub nose on a ratter. Apart from muzzle length, I don't know why wire-haired terrier breeds are less used tor ratting. Maybe the smooth coat makes it easier to clean a dog after ratting and check for wounds, which need cleaning very promptly in the case of ratbites.

Until recently the KC did not recognise the Jack Russells as breeds (as it did not the Border Collie) but I think the state of play now is that the Jack Russell is recognised, but not the Parson Jack Russell.

I would not have suggested a Dachshund. Miniatures are too fragile, and Standards would I think not have the needed agility. They might have a place for going down holes, but then they would be in trouble if attacked from behind, being unable to turn because of their length. Also the long back is very prone to injury.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Gurney
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 12:14 AM

Air rifles today can be different to the ones I had in my youth. I borrowed one (to shoot a duckling) and the thing pumped up to very effective pressure. It was damaging the metal paint can I was using to sight it in, through two layers of carpet.

Before anyone takes me up about the duckling. Some bastard had broken its bill trying to catch it. It couldn't eat.
The other eight siblings and two from an earlier clutch survived to fly, and some still come back for a meal sometimes.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 10:28 PM

Boy, if there were any more things to worry about these days, it would just get too stressful to go on living, eh? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: open mike
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 09:25 PM

rodents do carry plague these days, as well as hanta virus.
campers are warned not to feed chipmunks

i had lots of fun as a kid feeding chipmunks and ground squirrels.

my cousins even caught one and brought it home with them.
it lived many years.

Subject: RE: BS: Rat in the garden what am I gonna do?
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 09:23 PM

About the air rifle:   I had a friend who owned a Crossman CO2 pellet gun. He took a shot at a rat and hit it right in the fuselage, knocking it a couple of feet. The damned thing got up and started to run away. My friend, who was a darn good shot, had to shoot it twice more before it finally died.

Hardy little buggers!

Don Firth