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What's the best way to...
...kill a rat?
I took the dogs out into our yard (not fenced) to play and while they were wandering the length of their chains, they both stopped and started sniffing the ground. Turns out to be a dead mole. About 3 inches long.Little fella.
So I remove the mole (assuming our neighbor's cat had killed it---they don't play dead, do they??), and in doing so, find a hole in the ground about a foot away from our shed. The diameter of the hole is about 4-5 inches long. WAAAY bigger than my little dead guy. So I assume it's a mole hole and the dead one is a baby. Call my dad and he says if there aren't any tunnels in the yard and there isn't dirt mounded up around the hole, it's not a mole hole and his best guess is a rat burrow. (
<--my reaction with an "Aw, schit")
So, if this is in fact a rat burrow, what is my best way of getting rid of said rodent? Dad suggested laying traps around the shed (which I'm okay with, but afraid of injuring/killing the neighbor's cat) or the pellets that you drop into the holes (also afraid of killing the neighbor's cat).
Do I just set out the non-poisonous traps and let the neighbors know to keep the damb cat inside until I kill a rat? I'd hate for the cat to get hurt, but I'd hate even more if the alleged rat in the burrow makes more rats any time soon.
Re: What's the best way to...
If you must kill it, I would use the non-poisonous traps, and then warn the neighbors to keep their cat inside. Or, maybe you'll get lucky and the cat will kill poor ratatoullie.
I'm actually kinda hoping for this option. The first plan of action is just fill the hole and see if it opens back up. If it doesn't, yay, no rat. If it does, I'll have to figure out just what IS burrowing in my yard.
k lets first establish the fact that i am a biologist and do wildlife surveys for a living, im not some crazy rat lover.
second...you are in PA too, right?
what you likely have is a neotoma aka an allegheny woodrat. do not kill it. seriously, do not. neotomas are a protected species because they are threatened/endangered of becoming extinct in some states (threatened in PA). therefore, if it is indeed a neotoma and you do kill it, you would be federally liable under the Endangered Species Act. if anyone saw you kill it, harass it, or dispose of it and reported you, you could be held criminally liable.
my home/pet owners experience is to just let it go. they're not aggressive and they are herbivores. also neotomas arent travellers, they typically dont venture more than 150 to 200 feet from their dwelling. they do make "latrines" or fecal piles outside of their rock outcrop or burrow. did you see any of those?
if it becomes destructive or gets into your house, i would call a wildlife trapper (not an exterminator). these people have licenses to relocate t&e species so they wouldnt kill it. its not super expensive (my company would charge ~$100).
unlike most common rats, neotomas arent known to carry diseases as they dont typically dwell in what you would think of as "rat habitat" dumps, garbage, sewers, etc. in the realm of rats, they're pretty clean.
stees--yes, I am in PA, about an hour south of Pittsburgh right on the WV border. I currently haven't seen any droppings whatsoever, but we (my family/the region) have had problems with norway rats in the past (and they do carry disease).
If I fill in the burrow and it burrows back out, would one of those no-kill traps work? Then I can just take it to the woods behind my IL and he'd be happy as a clam (like 100 acres of nothing).
And (not mocking you or anything but...) this made me giggle:
We're really, pretty rural (and most of my neighbors are either older or ignorant that there are more than one rat species)...I'm sure if I killed it, they'd all be happy. Because the allegheny woodrat being endangered is news to me, and I'm definitely more "well read" than my neighbors.
Mac--see this:
Great minds think alike...it just took me awhile to get there.