Slightly off topic, but...

[Boden]

Rats are intelligent. They're very prolific. They can, and will enter through holes so small that you'll be amazed. You may have caught a few, but the others are now staying clear of your traps. I've shot them, I've set traps for them, I've poisoned them and all I did was to inconvenience them. Be cautious with poisons. The real joy is when they die in a wall. The odor is exquisite and persists for a year or two. Finding it in a wall is not easy. If you are unlucky and poison something larger in a wall, like a possum, you may as well move out.

Someone is feeding your new friends. I finally found the source of my problem which was a neighbor, several houses away, that fed her dogs outside and left food outdoors for them.

There was an excellent piece on these charming rodents that covered the entire front page of the Dallas Morning News House & Garden section on Sunday, 11/20/1998 titled "Oh, Rats." Seems Dallas has been taken over by rats. It has. They are an epidemic there. Maybe you're seeing them as they migrate south to Austin.

Move north, at -20F I no longer have rats.

Good luck.

Boden

[Norminn]

clipped

I have seen the same. I also had mice storing dog food around the burner of my gas clothes dryer - fire department helped me figure that one out :o). Bird feeders are a great source for all kinds of rodents - my son's neighbor has about six bird feeders in their front yard and a herd of rabbits shows up early every morning for breakfast.

Sure you do. They just spend more time indoors :o)

[C & E]

JAT but, as one poster said, replace the trap or run it through the dishwasher to get rid of the scent of the dead one (the trap may not withstand this) especially since they often bleed from the nose and mouth. Secondly, I agree that you should move the trap since other rodents have probably witnessed their dead comrad in that spot. Then, when replacing the trap bait it without setting it so that the new location is just another meal.

re: Put out some PB & see if it gets eaten.

...but move the traps from the current locations since they apparently know where they are.

[C & E]

In many, if not most adoption centers the people there are off-the-hook about animal love and probably would not let you inflict harm on that mouse, emotionally and physiically!! No joke. Friends of ours live on a farm and went to the animal shelter to replace their deceased dog. When signing the papers they were intensely questioned about where the dog would live, eat and sleep. When it was revealed that the dog ate and slept in a 10' x 12' enclosure but during the day would have run of over 100 acres they were turned down as adoptive parents. They required that the dog live completely with the family. Running the farm during the day was too dangerous. My eyes want to bleed!

[aemeijers]

A shelter that never heard of 'working dogs'? I guess if a dog was raised as an indoor housepet, it might not be able to make the transition. But if they have 100 acres, odds are somebody around there has a source for non-pampered dogs that don't mind having a Really Big Yard to patrol in exchange for their food. I'm no dog expert, but I would imagine that unless you adopt a puppy, there would be a learning curve where you have to walk the dog around the perimeter on a leash for a few weeks, so it learns where the borders are. And you probably wouldn't want a dog from close by, because if it got bored or confused, it would just go 'home'.

-- aem sends...