Update on the rat in my garage

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

So I went to every place that was open yesterday...and most had humane traps for mice but not rats. The traps for the mice were not going to be big enough...even though I hadn't seen the culprit I suspected he was larger by the size of the droppings. Soooooo....there were no humane rat traps.

I didn't want poison as I didn't want it to take it back to its hiding place then stink up the garage for eternity...so I got those sticky pads.

Sooooooooooo....now there's a dead rat in a sticky trap on my garage floor.


WHO WANTS TO COME GET IT OUT OF THERE FOR ME?

[leftofthedial]

1. Simple answer---get a dog

and then don't let the dog lick you for a couple of weeks.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. I have a dog....he's NOT going in the garage til the rat is gone

[leftofthedial]

16. well. Time to move.

Seriously, ask a neighbor or a friend to help. I'd volunteer, but it's a long damned drive for one dead rat.

OR

Borrow an open-bed pickup truck, if you don't have one. then, wear a mask, like construction people do when they use a paint sprayer or are doing very dusty work. Wear safety glasses. Wear gloves and clothes that leave no skin exposed. Get a garbage bag, and go pick the whole thing up using the inside of the garbage bag. Have a twistee ready to close the bag. You will barely even need to "touch" the rat. (Obviously only the bag will actually touch the rat.) Pick it up inside the bag and close the bag with the Twistee. Try not to be too disturbed by the rat going "thunk" into the bottom of the bag when you pick it up. If you visualize this all before doing it, it will be easier and quicker.

Drop the bag into the open bed of the pickup truck. Drive to a neighboring city, preferably one with lots of Republican households. Find one that still has the Bush sign in the yard or a sticker on the car. Put the bag on the welcome mat, ring the doorbell and run like hell.

[Misunderestimator]

19. LOL

[Lone_Star_Dem]

25. ROFLMAO!!!!!

"Find one that still has the Bush sign in the yard or a sticker on the car. Put the bag on the welcome mat, ring the doorbell and run like hell."

Oh, I like that, I really like that idea!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

26. My mom votes for this solution

she knows just the house I should leave it at

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Told you you should have used the flame thrower.

[L84TEA]

3. close the door

and NEVER GO IN THERE!! Omg I hate rats...dead, alive, BBQ'd


EEK!

[Coyote_Bandit]

4. Put the Second Trap Out Now

where there is one there is usually at least one more.

Sorry you couldn't find the box traps.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. Yeah I have a second trap down and will put one

where that one was...thanks

[Junkdrawer]

5. Sounds like a job for a rake and a "Contractor Cleanup" garbage bag...

That's what I would do...

[DS1]

7. I think you should build it a little television and paint the Fox News

logo on the screen and take a picture of it and sell it as modern art.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. I could put a loofa in its hand with a pic of today's paper

and tell Fox where to send the ransom if they want O'Reilly back

[DS1]

13. fucking awesome!

LMAO!!!

I want your rat now - if you were within 30 minutes, I'd drop by

[Massacure]

14. LOL!!! Some of the things DUers come up with are amazing!!!

[Midlodemocrat]

9. Seriously, though, where there is one, there are more.

you need more sticky traps. Get a neighbor teenaged boy to sweep the thing into a trash bag and toss it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

11. I bought extras

[getoffmytrain]

12. Toss a string

onto the sticky pad... then, tie the string to your bumper and then go drive for a while... it won't take long and you'll just have a string hanging from your bumper.

[BJ]

15. Get a "Gopher" as seen on TV!

It picks up what you don't want to touch!

http://www.tvmarketplace.net/products/product.aspx?id=7...

(Yeah, this is kind of a product endorsement. I have one and it really, really works!)

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

21. LOL I have one of those..I'll use it

I had to get it when I had back surgery as I couldn't bend for a long time...thanks ( and it does work, I agree)

[BJ]

24. Yeah, I use mine to pick up the bunnie carcasses the cat leaves.

[Misunderestimator]

17. Eeeeewwwww.... But to show my loyalty, I'll come and get it for you.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

22. My hero

[jdots]

18. Brunhilda the RAT EXORSIST

she's expensive but worth it.

[LynneSin]

20. Want me to FEDEX my Evita for you?

She loves killing things. Just promise to brush her hair at night. She loves having her hair brushed!!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

23. Wow..she's gorgeous

but the reason I didn't sick MY cats on it is because the only thing worse than a dead rat is dead rat pieces.

[burythehatchet]

27. Bad news

There's no such thing as one rat. I have been fighting a rat colony for a year. I didn't want to kill them. They were kicking my ass. At one pont there must have been so many that they were scavenging during the middle of the day. I finally had to give up on my humane approach and told an exterminator to nuke 'em all. And so he did. I don't regret it. They are filthy creatures and carry disease. They were pooping all over the place.

My advice, just call a local exterminator and let him take care of it.

[jukes]

28. nothing

soapbox time, sorry 'bout that.

almost any feed store will have the hav-a-heart size suitable for racoons, oppossums, stray/feral cats....and rats. cost @ $50+/-.

sugg you tape a baitdish w/ double-side tape to the trigger-paddle to ensure triggering by a lighter creature and use some spray-lube on the contact points to make sure they move smoothly. when you release ( i usu take wild creatures to a state park) open the door farthest & wack the dorr nearest; it will run away from you.

rats ARE scary & dangerous, & i'm not trying to give you a hard time about this, just sugg'ing an alternative. if you don't want to deal w/ 1 carcass, do you want to deal w/ more?

seriously no offense intended, i realize i'm a little tilted on this subject; i also realize rats aren't endearing creatures.

last sugg: get that thing out of there before it attracts more carrion-eaters. rubber/leather gloves, trashbag, can of draino, garbage bin. draino will alter decompassision & prevent an attractive-nuisance.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

29. Thanks...will take your advice on disposal

I am going to continue to look for a humane trap (not gonna rig a bigger trap...they do sell them for rats online) I'm not one to kill even rodents...so I favor your approach

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

30. HOLY CRAP IN A BUNDT PAN! IT ISN'T DEAD

I just went out to move the trap with a rake and the rat started squealing...I feel like the most horrible creature on the planet right now!

[da_chimperor]

31. Whoa . . . it's got more lives than dick cheney

So what are you going to do with it? Put it out of it's misery? You should have the rake handy. I'm not advocating violence to animals or anything, but I think it's better if it dies quickly rather than slowly.

[DS1]

32. of course not

it's just stuck

I saw someone throw away a tray with a mouse on it, still very much alive, just tossed into a trash bin at a Wendy's in NYC.

I felt so bad for the little critter I didn't want to eat anymore

[trof]

34. How squeamish are ya?

A hoe is fast and relatively humane if you can do it.
Decapitation.
Of course you'll be a little nervous and accuracy will probably suffer. It'll take 2 or 3 whacks. Maybe 4.
Suffocation might not be too bad.
Starvation takes a long time.

This sounds like a bad case of now-I-got-it-what-do-I-do-with-it? syndrome.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

38. I'm squeamish but I'm gonna have to do that

I really hate killing anything...I just didn't want rats in my garage and went to every Home Dpot and Feed and pet place and none of them had humane traps so I got the sticky things...BIG MISTAKE

[trof]

39. That's the trouble with "humane" traps.

Now you got it, what do you do with it?
I had to stomp a mouse a few days ago. It got caught in the lawnmower.
Not dead, but definitely not gonna survive. I didn't like doing it, but it was better than watching it try and run around on 3 legs.
Guess ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
Sorry.

[Junkdrawer]

36. And you thought nothing-shocks-me-anymore.....

Phhaa...

Bucket of water, anyone????

(Perhaps with some rat-sized cement galoshes, as it were.)

[Elidor]

42. I was about to say - are you sure it's dead?

Just because its little paws are glued down hard doesn't mean it's dead. I was going to say "E's not dead, e's just restin!' Damned if I wasn't right. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do for him that won't maim him.

This sucks.

I would suggest a small baggie and a rubber band.

Or you could put it in the freezer overnight. It's a more peaceful death. No easy answers, though.

[ulysses]

47. been there, dear one.

Caught a mouse in a trap last year (after the point at which I realized that the damn cat didn't give two shits about the legions of vermin parading through the house) and got to listen to it shriek for a bit before it died. Lovely feeling, yes.

But I don't have them sitting on the counter and offering my advice on the seasoning any more, either.

[HEyHEY]

33. Have you tried talking to it?

[notadmblnd]

35. you killed it.. you own it.

Seriously, it's dead. Now get your shovel, scoop it up and take it outside and bury it.

one edit: Oh, it's not dead, well nevermind.

[MuseRider]

37. I saved a rat yesterday

my cats had it out front of the barn. It was still OK, just a little lame. They kept batting at it, the three of them and it looked so frightened. I scooped it up with the manure fork and threw it as far as I could, do you suppose he picked up the wind and made it all the way to your garage? If so, sorry.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

41. No...my freeper neighbor has a bunch of uncut evergreen pines

in her yard ..rats apparently like these trees and one ( or more) must have come down and gotten into my garage

[nonconformist]

40. Rats are only second to bats on my irrational fear radar

*falls over dead*

[Elidor]

44. Bats are our friends.

We are a far greater danger to them than they are to us. And forget those things you see in the movies. Your average bat, in sleeping position, is less than half the length of your index finger. And they eat many times their weight in bugs.

And they're cute as hell, darn it.

[nonconformist]

45. Yes, my brain knows all of this

Tell it to my fearin' heart.

It probably doesn't help that when growing up in Michigan, bats used to regularly fly down our fireplace and escape into the house, resulting in panic-stricken chaos.

Nothing can strike irrational life-long fear in the heart of a child quite like a group of adults running around with tshirts tied to their head swinging brooms... apparently.

[Midlodemocrat]

50. Right there with you.

I once moved out of an apartment I had rented because it had mice. I got sick of going to the Marriott in my pajamas, so I left. (Shudder)

[Dookus]

43. aww

poor little rat - they get a bad rap. They're really pretty cool critters.

But if you don't want 'em, the only option is to get a large python to live in your garage.

[Midlodemocrat]

51. I suggested that yesterday to NSMA

...but did she take my advice? Nnnooooooooo. I also suggested a flame thrower or an owl.

[MisterP]

46. my dog catches rats,

and my sister almost slipped on a dead one she left out on the patio.
We use glue traps and then put canola oil on them to release the rats, who sit around in an empty terrarium until release in the morning.
They're departing as food sources dwindle.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

48. RIP rat

OK..some people can kill things...I came to the realization today that I am not one of them. We got the rat, stuck it in a bucket of water...it started swimming...held it under...it kept coming up...I am traumatized....no more sticky rat traps...I'm gonna have to figure something else out

[Junkdrawer]

49. David Sedaris does a great routine in his new book...

The last essay in the book recounts the story of being interrupted while killing a mouse—to put it out of its misery—at three in the morning by a small van-load of elderly Dutch holidaymakers. The tourists have got lost looking for a certain “willage” in the rural part of Normandy where Mr Sedaris and his boyfriend live. One of the tourists comes forward: “On hearing the faint, lapping noise, he squinted down into the bucket. ‘Oh,' he said. ‘I see that you have a little swimming mouse.' His tone did not invite explanation, and so I offered none. ‘My wife and I have a dog,' he continued. ‘But we did not bring it with us. Too much trouble'.

http://economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Stor...

[WinterStorm]

52. Reset your trap

When you see one mouse you can almost guarantee that they are not alone. I hope that the rat wasn't a female rat and left babies inside of your walls.