i saw a similiar thing once. parts of the rat were missing/eaten, but the trap was still there with what was left of the rat. cant say what did the eating but we assumed it was other rats.
if they carried the trap away just to spite it, thats too funny. more likely they drug it away to eat the part of the rat left in it and you might find it later.
randy
My apologies for this slightly off-topic post, but I thought some of you might be up for a good murder mystery:
I placed yesterday 5 snap traps (one rat-sized and 5 mice-sized) in my attic after finding evidence of rodents. On my way up to check the traps this morning I was somewhat shocked to find the lower portion of a rat carcass several feet away from where I had placed the nearest trap, some rat innards a couple feet from the carcass, but no (discernable) head. Of the 5 traps I had set, 4 had NOT been triggered (including the large rat trap) and one of the mice traps was missing. I have a hard time believing that a mouse trap would pulverize a decent sized rat in the manner I saw. Given that the mouse trap was nowhere to be found (I searched pretty well for it), I have no idea how this rat met its demise. I initially thought that the rat might have ripped itself apart trying to escape the trap, but this seems unlikely and, again, I found no trap. I almost wonder whether a predator was the culprit, rather than the missing trap, but I haven't heard any owls or cats in the attic, only the scratching sounds of rodents. Have rats been known to scavenge their own then drag off the trap that their buddies were killed in? (these were scented Victor traps -- no bait required) Has anyone experienced anything like this? Any ideas about how this may have happened?
W.D.
I can just imagine them rats -- "Look, joe got caught in.... a mouse trap!" "Haha what a dweeb" "Hey joe, can you get out?" "Help me" All rats close in.
Yes, rats are cannibals. Protein is too valuable to waste in a competitive environment. Think of it as a positive-feedback population control system. Many creatures thrive based on this ecological principle.
I hope this hasn't lowered your estimation of rats.
"Nature, red in tooth and claw." --Tennyson
Having had MANY mice running around and traps set and disappearing I was also unsure of what was going on, till I saw the rat.
It HAD to be 5 lbs and obviously VERY well fed (Eeeeewwwww!) and of course, I set a large trap for it..But never did catch it as the small mice traps were feeding it quite nicely..(Urk!)
Or maybe - just maybe - a cadre of rat techs is hard at work scaling up the parts to build a large duplicate trap. A man sized duplicate :)
-- dadiOH _____________________________
dadiOH's dandies v3.0... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at
if they use jessica simpson for bait, we're doomed!!!
randy
LOL! You guys must all be screenwriters, or should be!
Pop
too funny.
rat left in it
work scaling up
duplicate :)
Without a doubt, this is what's happened; one rat has got his head stuck in a mousetrap, and his buddies have savaged his corpse (he'd do the same for them!) and dragged off the trap with his severed head in it - for the young 'uns, perhaps.
The bad news is that you have multiple rats.
The good news is that now you know what to bait the traps with!
Chip C
Agatha Christie missed out on a great book title...
Best regards, Bob
clipped
What was your college major - math or biology?
According to Chip C :
No, obviously, it was a trophy hunter.
You'll find a very small panelled room somewhere with a stuffed rat head mounted on a plaque. Over a teeny-tiny fireplace.
On that note...
I'd just like to point out that "Spattered Rat Mystery" would be a good name for a rock band.
Psychology, actually. Sorry, meant to say one rat-sized and 4 mice-sized (5 traps total). Math was never my strong point ;-)
W.D.
LOL, considering how few caught it (including myself) I guess there's a dearth of math majors hereabouts.
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