Will feral cats eat rat pellets???
Killer Mink rampage .... they are BAD !
yes they will, I know a home cat will.
What, you mix 'em in raw burger?
yea
Poison kind of scares me. We had a chipmunk get locked up in the garage once. It ate the rat pellets - very sick then died. Think the poison might get eaten by something you may not want to kill? Your own pets, birds maybe??? I just don't know enough about what else might get at it......
Maybe not - anyone know for sure? We are careful to put inside & only where dogs will not get at it....
You always have to use safety measures when using poisons of any kind, for any reason!
my fear on poison is that my domestic pets will get ahold of a poisoned animal(dead or alive) and get poisoned from the animal. i have cats n dogs that love chasing animals. if a rat gets poisoned and weak, cat gets rat and cat gets poisoned...not worth it. traps are better and safer when domestic animals are around,....
Poison scares me same reason. I've been wishing more critters ate golf balls! Hubby wouldn't even miss 'em....
I like the golf ball idea. Also, just FYI. To get big enough critter & not get your pets, need live trap. That way, you can let the pets out with no harm done. Predators, well that's a different story. I can never get the coons moved, without getting maimed myself....so live trap has to become deathtrap for them. Unless someone can help me figure out how to lift & carry them from 4ft away. Then, where do you take them so they don't come back???
PFA -He**? Wal-Mart? Seriously though, we have been looking into the live trap thing also for that fox that keeps coming around. With cats and dogs and curious kids I can't think of any other way to get at it that wouldn't risk one of my babies.
Just putting my $2.00 in. DH came in the other day saying, your cat has a snake out here playing with it. I went out to see what it was (I am not afraid of them), Tommi came up on the porch and laid down. I had taken a paper towel out with me to pick the snake up with and throw it over the fence. When I rolled it over to see what kind it was, it opened it's mouth and I noticed its head was wedge shaped. I went back in, got the kitchen tongs, and picked it up with the tongs. After I got rid of it (no, I didn't kill it although I should have), I went back inside and looked it up in my North American Wildlife book.
IT WAS A BABY MASSASAUGA (swamp) RATTLER!!!
I don't think it would have eaten an egg or a golf ball. It was only about 8 inches long.
GG
Best way to do it & not hurt those you love -- trap is expensive to start with, but I've had mine 5-6 yrs now.....thinking I need another, for the other side of the 'barnyard'. . Got it at the farm store, but sure you can find elsewhere. just get one big enough for what you need to catch.
Walmart - hummm, they do sell everything else & are open 24/7...... they flooded bad last year, maybe they will think it came with the floods........naw, couldn't do it to anyone else & still can't carry the guy with him trying to maim me with those vicious claws!
ewwwwwww don't like rattlers. Had enough run ins with them. Hopefully he was left traumatized & will die of shock???
I am sorry any snake i see is a dead snake. There is no such thing as a good snake, I have a cat that will take better care of what a snake can.
Like I said, I didn't realize it was one until after I had let it go. I don't kill snakes for no reason as they help keep the rodent population down. But rattlers I can do without.
Live traps...we have two. Have had them for about 10yrs. Right now one of ours is on loan next door. We haven't had to use any for the past few years. But he has. I don't know if a fox will go into one or not. We have never had one do so. But you could always try. They are pretty smart critters.
GG
No traps for rattlers are there GG? Or maybe there is????
I know it was unkind to Wal-Mart, but you know none of the rest of us can't get outta there easily either so...
As to the fox- so far we've only managed to shoot the breeze it leaves in its wake. The chickens just turned around and cussed at it til it ate one and of course that was even less effective than the gun.:/ or did I mention that here...
I firmly believe that every creature has its place. They just need to understand that my place is not always their place. My meat is not their meat. I do not share and share alike.
Rattler traps PFA? Doesn't that bring us right back to golf balls?
This message was edited Jul 28, 2008 6:32 PM
This message was edited Jul 28, 2008 6:35 PM
Oops GG. Do golf balls eat swamp rattlers?
I only wish.
No traps for snakes either.
Hmmmmm, let's see, king snakes for rattlers. I think that's right.
GG
WAY TO GO! I remember now and I sure you're onto something. Raise it up well in the way you want it to go and...
I just lost 14- 5 week old pullets Monday. They were in a chicken house surrounded by 4 ft high dog cage lined with bitty wire (chicken wire with inch openings). the cage showed no sign of damage. There were dead chickens both inside and outside the chicken house, which only had a 14 inch by 12 inch door open. Only one of the chickens had been partly eaten--its head and shoulders. We have coons, skunks, owls, possums, mink which might be the culprits. Any idea what it could have been? Have nine chickens left and one with damaged leg which may or may not survive. Now keeping the small door closed at night.
I've heard that skunks will eat only the head at times. Doubt that it would be an owl--that would want to carry it off and probably wouldn't go for wholesale slaughter. Do you have other member of the weasel family? Or a small coon or feral cat? Coyote would be another possibility if you have them. Maybe even a rat.
I am so sorry. Could something have burrowed in?
yeah, best ot keep that door closed. if you have any missing birds, you might check local water sources for carcasses, then look for tracks. sounds like soemthing in the family of coons, weasels, skunks, etc... they always kill more than they can eat at once, thinking trhey can come back later for seconds...
plumbobline,
Are there any gaps or holes in the fencing near a gate? The small gauge wire should have stopped everything. If you have this dog coop on the ground without wire underneath ... any digging animal could get in. Burglars choose the easiest way to break in. Look at the most porous spot in or on the chicken enclosure. Chances are that is where the varmint got in. Mink are not big ... just one snapped wire in your small gauge (1 inch) chicken wire (creating a 2 inch hole) would allow a mink inside. Bad things happen. I could curdle most folks blood with tales of poultry woe.
Kelly in Moxee
Prolly coons or cats.
Inspected wire and absolutely no openings. (Cage is 6 ft, btw, not what I said earlier). No evidence of burrowing. Grass in enclosure is mowed short and can see the ground. I figured what got them must have climbed or flown in.
Would a coon or cat kill so many it couldn't eat? Could a skunk climb over the cage?
plumbbobline,
A raccoon can climb up the side of the 6 ft tall heavy wire fencing and go right over the top in less than 10 seconds .... just like a squirrel. You made it far too easy for him. Where you live .... you need a wire cover ... exactly like the walls or sides of the enclosure and you need the same thing on the ground because once you cover the top ... the racoons will realize they can no longer get in by going over the fence. That's when they'll start digging under the fence. They can dig under in a few minutes but going over the top was a whole lot easier. You need a 6 sided enclosure or else your chickens will be raccoon shish-ke-bob. I'm a bit surprised they lasted 5 weeks. Maybe you kept them inside the house or garage for the 1st month.
Kelly in Moxee
Here's another Chicken protection bump!
plumbobline,
I had a friend from Washington with 65 of the VERY best BLR Wyandottes ... in the Western Hemisphere at the time. He woke up one morning to look at his flock ... all 65 massacred in one night by a raccoon. I'm still shocked about the toll and I still feel so bad for the friend who lost all his flock and his beloved prize winning BLR Wyandotte roo. I kid you not ... his roo was regarded by those in the know ... as the finest specimen of the breed in the US .... at that time ... a tragedy.
Kelly in Moxee