There's been a big turnover this week. We had a massive die-off last week, and the toll included my favorite rat Jenny, her son Vanilla, and three pink-eyed whites. Joining us this is a family of four Siamese rats. I'll post pictures when I get a chance.
On the wild side, I found a defunct intruder in the basement a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately the concrete floor was very cold, and she was well-preserved at the time of discovery. Last week also saw the removal of an unhappy cherry tree in the yard and a large brush pile that was home to a lot of rats. This opens up a whole new area of what used to be the disreputable corner of my property. I'm still seeing some rats running around, but as I block their tunnels I hope they move along.
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Showing posts with label rats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rats. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Rats enjoy a day in the Sun
The New York Sun has an article about rats today.
Oh, a note for the Sun editor: if something is "so-called," then so call it.
Many watched last month as rats nearly turned a Greenwich Village KFC/Taco Bell into a Cirque de Soleil stage, resulting in subsequent fast food restaurant closings and the removal of a health inspector.The article mentions a friend of ours who adopted two of our baby rats a couple of years ago.
One who does not hate rats is illustrator Drusilla Kehl, who has 23 so-called fancy rats as pets. She said domestic rats are as different from street rats as a pedigreed dog is from a wild dog. One thing the pet and wild rodents have in common is "they live short and breed fast."I don't have any tattoos, but if I were ever to get one, it would be a rat drawn by Drusilla's partner Matt. (The article got his name wrong.)
Oh, a note for the Sun editor: if something is "so-called," then so call it.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Well-fed rats
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Prisoner of War
I posted earlier about the state of war between the rats and me. Yesterday I caught my first prisoner. She was a female with what appeared to be a broken back. I don't know how she was injured. She was sitting on the floor, shaking, either too scared or in too much pain to move. I put her in a cage with some food, water and a towel for nesting. She died a few hours later.
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Thursday, February 15, 2007
State of war
A state of war now exists between the rats and me.
The upstairs rats are adorable pets for the wife & kids, but the downstairs rats are destructive beyond belief.
A couple of days ago I noticed water on my basement floor. I quickly figured out that it was coming from the condensate pump on the furnace. After making a call and finding out it was $99 for a tech to come out, I took a closer look at the pump. The drain tube leading from the furnace to the pump had been chewed away above the pump, no doubt by a varmint looking for a water supply. It was an easy repair, and I had the right tube on hand.
As Bugs Bunny (and Groucho Marx) was known to say, "Of course, you know, this means war."
Technorati tags: rats
The upstairs rats are adorable pets for the wife & kids, but the downstairs rats are destructive beyond belief.
A couple of days ago I noticed water on my basement floor. I quickly figured out that it was coming from the condensate pump on the furnace. After making a call and finding out it was $99 for a tech to come out, I took a closer look at the pump. The drain tube leading from the furnace to the pump had been chewed away above the pump, no doubt by a varmint looking for a water supply. It was an easy repair, and I had the right tube on hand.
As Bugs Bunny (and Groucho Marx) was known to say, "Of course, you know, this means war."
Technorati tags: rats
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Upstairs, Downstairs
They're all rattus norvegicus, but there is a world of difference between the two.
Upstairs, they are pets. We call them fancy rats; hooded, masked, Berkshire, with or without "dumbo" ears. They come in white with dark hoods, beige, fawn, silver and brown. We hold them and walk around with them on our shoulders.
Downstairs, they are pests. Their color is agouti brown. It's a hard-knock life, but they are infinitely skilled and resourceful. They tunnel into crawlspaces and push through hardware cloth. Block one hole and they emerge from three more. They are especially fond of ramen noodles.
I have company in my basement. As I type in my office, I hear a critter happily rustling among cartons that should be cleared out. I have considered poisoning it, but I did that in November--with predictably unhappy results. (When you have a cluttered basement, you really don't want a dead rat.) Eventually I will have to call in the Neutocrete guys to seal the crawlspace--probably the only thing that will keep the downstairs critters out.
Meanwhile, I have my respectable upstairs rats to play with.
Technorati tags: rats
Upstairs, they are pets. We call them fancy rats; hooded, masked, Berkshire, with or without "dumbo" ears. They come in white with dark hoods, beige, fawn, silver and brown. We hold them and walk around with them on our shoulders.
Downstairs, they are pests. Their color is agouti brown. It's a hard-knock life, but they are infinitely skilled and resourceful. They tunnel into crawlspaces and push through hardware cloth. Block one hole and they emerge from three more. They are especially fond of ramen noodles.
I have company in my basement. As I type in my office, I hear a critter happily rustling among cartons that should be cleared out. I have considered poisoning it, but I did that in November--with predictably unhappy results. (When you have a cluttered basement, you really don't want a dead rat.) Eventually I will have to call in the Neutocrete guys to seal the crawlspace--probably the only thing that will keep the downstairs critters out.
Meanwhile, I have my respectable upstairs rats to play with.
Technorati tags: rats
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