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Thread: Rats!!!

  1. #1
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Rats!!!

    Ugh... They are bad this year. OK, for me bad is more than one per winter. This is the first year I've had TWO rats in my shed. On my street (1/2 mile) they've built four brand new homes and within that same radius going, up or down a block, they are in the process of building six new homes. I live in a very quickly growing urban area, so rats are a thing. I'm also in Portland and people are into the chickens and other urban farming animals and plants and compost and aren't very careful about keeping food picked up or safely in rat-proof bins.

    While I am careful about the food, there's not a lot I can do about my cozy shed. Linus got one a couple weeks ago. Yesterday I was outside doing a little yard work and he was back at it, rummaging in the shed. I could tell where the rat was, so I set a trap and shut the shed. This morning, there was a giant male kitten-sized rat in the trap. He clearly suffered because his head was so big that the trap got his face instead of his neck. I won't go into additional details but it was really gross and I felt bad that it wasn't quick.

    So, I'm in the process of decluttering my shed and creating space that isn't very friendly to rats and frankly, next time I'll just let the dog take care of things because I'm pretty it would be faster and less painful for the rat. Not to mention my dog would love to kill another one.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog
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    Ugh.

    We get mice in our sheds...peppermint oil sometimes seems to work to keep them from settling in, but not always. They really like building nests in the center of the snowblower.

    We've had rats outside before...a neighbor's shed had them nesting underneath. When the shed was taken out (thank goodness their Beagle forced the issue by tearing open the bottom of the building), the rats disappeared. At least I haven't seen any since.

  3. #3
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SunDance View Post
    Ugh.

    We get mice in our sheds...peppermint oil sometimes seems to work to keep them from settling in, but not always. They really like building nests in the center of the snowblower.

    We've had rats outside before...a neighbor's shed had them nesting underneath. When the shed was taken out (thank goodness their Beagle forced the issue by tearing open the bottom of the building), the rats disappeared. At least I haven't seen any since.
    I'm seriously thinking about getting rid of the shed, but I kinda need a shed. I don't have a garage.

  4. #4
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    The thing that got us was bags of dirt. It never occurred to me that storing bags of dirt on our porch would attract rats. Winter nesting material. Also, grass seed.

  5. #5
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by janedoe View Post
    The thing that got us was bags of dirt. It never occurred to me that storing bags of dirt on our porch would attract rats. Winter nesting material. Also, grass seed.
    The first year, one at all of my spring bulbs I was storing and nested in a 2' x 2' hunk of insulation left over from work I had done on my house. Who knew?

  6. #6
    Senior Dog Jollymolly's Avatar
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    OMG I hate rats.

 



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