crocuses and rats

want to try some crocuses on my patio in Back Bay Boston . Will the rats get 'em?

I think critters are only tempted by them the first year. Put some chicken wire down on top of them before you cover them up with dirt.

Harper

will try thanks

I can understand squirrels and skunks getting to the bulbs ... but rats? Really???? Would they????

I have no idea what a rat's diet consists of so I'm clueless.

Edited to say I was so curious I went to Google and found this:
Wild rats eat nuts, seeds, grains, vegetables, fruits, insects, worms, eggs, dead animals, and even frogs, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals that they catch and kill. This means they are partially predatory and have a high requirement for some nutrients that are most abundant from animal sources.

I don't know what nutritional value there is in a crocus that would drive them to eat them.

This message was edited Oct 11, 2007 7:27 AM

Yuck!!
Just thinking of that makes me feel ill.
Thanks for doing that research, pirl.

Maybe a rat with a garden??

RATher not dwell on it too much, Victor.

ok - I just went to get some water from a place that comes out of the ground. Driving back home and a THING dropped down on my arm. I freaked out, but it was only a wooly bear catapiler. I tucked it under a porch. I Almost pooped my pants driving and did yanked the wheel a tad. The kicker - I drove to fill up the jugs and it had ran dry.........

I don't do city water and get water that is non-chlorinate (sp) for years! I DON"T buy the store stuff. Oh Boy.

Have you ever had that water tested??

Boston sounds nice in the spring - crocuses blooming and fat healthy rats everywhere.

NYC rats are better (and badder).

especially in pinstripes

I was expecting that! Must be lots of rats in the Big Dig, or should I say, Big Floppy!

For sure

Okay just the thought of rats grosses me out!!!

They're not after your asters, Dawn.

Girl I worked with kept rats as pets. Had like 24 or so of them!! Kept pictures of them on her desk like you would your cat or dog!!! NASTY

Did you work with Michael Jackson???

Man you would have to look hard to find Ben or Willard on DVD I bet.

Let's hope.

I'm wondering if the photos of the rats kept co-workers away. Could have worked according to her plan.

No it wasn't Michael Jackson but she did act just as freaky. She is no longer employeed by us, but not because of the rats. I'm not too sure about using them to keep people at bay. She tried to be outgoing and friendly, she was just different. She really liked the hairless kind. Strange one she was.

Bald rats?! Wow, that is freaky. Must be interesting to see them shave though.

You are too funny, Victor!!!

Willard and Ben are a star in my eyes........ dyslexia again.

Maybe she can video them shaving, I'll post it on utube. Where do you come up with this stuff!! You make me smile!

wOW! All this talk about rats, just brings me to my biggest problem lately. Our small suburban community, has suddenly been invaded (past few months) by the sickening little rodents. We have tried everything to get rid of them. We have also been extra careful in disposing trash. From cutting back hedges/trees where they can hide, to poisons, electronic and sonic devices. Don't want to trap anything! Ugh! Does anyone have suggestions? Please!

Maybe crocus in nice little gift bags?

This was the first year we ever had them. They had invaded the bird seed barrel. We used the poison and don't have the problem any more.

Who'll dispose of rattus rattus?
No beast has a lower status,
Hard to tell how much he's hated,
Loathed, despised, abominated.
Worse than skunk or crow or viper,
Where art thou, oh Hamelin Piper?

And come this way, come see my viper.

Rats don't eat my flowers
and might eat some bugs,
they don't chew the hosta
as do the slugs.

They don't dive bomb tomatoes
as the crows do on queue,
they don't touch the potatoes
yet I bid them adieu, adieu, adieu.

'You dirty rat!'

I have cats - no rats at my house!

No rats please!!! Hey great poems there lol

Good thing to know they won't be after my aster!!! Or I will have to kick their keesters!!!

Tiny keesters, Dawn, plus they're really super fast!

no rats, but do see mice in the garden - anyone else?

Yes - dead mice. Nick, the cat, nails them. Oh, once had a mouse in DD's bedroom. Since then she has religiously vaccuumed her bird's birdseed from the floor. DH trapped the mouse (springload trap - and no guilt feelings about killing mice!) Then he discovered how it was entering the house and sealed it off.

But we are supposed to kill the squirrels because they are "wildlife." go figure.

I am going to plant 100 daffodils on the terrace and I have to keep the squirrels from digging them up.

Alas - the use of chicken wire is not an option, because as public property I can't use anything that might injury a person. As a child, my brother once fell on chicken wire and almost did some very serious damage to his eye. Luckily, he blinked and only injured his eyelid (lot of blood though)/

You wanted a shaved rat here you go. Also known as the Sand Puppy , or Desert Mole Rat. These show up here I am going to RUN...........