I originally wasn't going to comment on this thread, but was inspired to at 4am today.
See, our air conditioner compressor unit is right outside our bedroom window. There are rats in our neighborhood, though fortunately we've managed to keep them OUTSIDE so far. Well, now the tally stands at...
Compressor fan: 8
Rats: 0
The buggers get inside the unit to keep dry when it rains, though don't ask me how. As far as I can tell, they're having Scotty beam them in. When the compressor cuts on, they get sucked up into the fan, and I am awakened to the lovely sound of shredded rodent bits flying everywhere. then Robert has to go outside and hose the fan off to keep it from slinging more bits against the sides of the housing. This, at 4am.
Robert Beaty
The Laughing Hippie
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The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the
end of your tunnel, Was just a freight train coming
your way. -Metallica, No Leaf Clover
Mr. Beasley,
Thanks for pointing me at this thread. But I swear they're not talking about me.
On an unrelated note, did I tell you I was on a peanut butter restricted diet. The stuff can kill you.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
A few years back, I was out for a bicycle ride one day. I was riding next to a field, when I looked up to see a hawk flying across my path, holding a mouse in its talons. The mouse was very much alive, and none too thrilled with the situation. This is the "natural" world, and it is no more humane than trapping mice in our homes.
We have messed up the natural balance, though, by eliminating predators, leashing dogs, keeping cats indoors and allowing the vermin (including the long-legged variety called "deer") to multiply unchecked. We have a problem with deer in our town, and to make it worse, they've not only prohibited hunting, but also banned "professional" thinning of the herd for population control. So, the primary "natural" enemy of the deer is now the Sport Utility Vehicle, which leaves its kill alongside the road.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
For those of you in favor of glue traps, I suggest you set one up, then set a video camera to record what happens.
After you've killed the rodent, watch the video from the point where the firs foot gets stuck in the glue, to the last, desperate breath.... you will never again say that glue traps are humane.
Victor makes plastic mous traps that are like a clamp: they are triggers like a traditional mousetrap, then break the mouse's back, severing the spinal cord and causing instant death. Then you pick the thing up, hold it over the garbage, squeeze the other side, and the mouse falls out. You never have to touch it.
Mice and rats are not aggressive, but unlike squirels they are not afraid of humans enough to stay out of our homes. If you have a mouse in your house, it's there to look for something to eat to look for shelter, or more likely:both. Now you can't really blame any animal for trying to find those two things.
The best solution for mice is the try to figure out how they are getting in. Keep in mind if a mouse can fit it's head it a hole, it can fit it's but through as well.
The rodent in the OP was looking for a dark, well-insulated, safe place to give birth. She found a tunnel made of foam insulation and probably thought "hot ***!"
To the OP: electrically isolate the tracks in the tunnel from the rest of the layout, then hook two wires to it, then hook those wires to an outlet. She steps on the tracks and gets plugged into 110 volts.
One of the funniest threads I have read in ages. Could have been worse. Could have been a bat..or two or a hundred.
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
Or maybe just a mouse-oleum...
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
You could also model a cemetery on your layout for when you catch the sucker
Springfield PA
One of the funniest threads I've read in a long time. I thought ducker was having us on, at first.
Seriously, I do not tolerate animal pests of any kind. I used to keep a running score (think 'notches') of prarie dogs I'd killed in our yard - and elsewhere, when I could. I used a cheap pellet rifle - 700 fps max - not very tight shot groups, but good enuf. I had an email 'signature' with little p.d. silhouettes showing the score. Got to be too many. Restarted it again when the local animal 'rights' nuts here in Bozeman, MT started banging the drums to make these little pests 'protected'. Lots of fun watching their reactions.
Now the little schmucks do not dare intrude into the 'main' area (the watered area) of our yard. Others seek me out for advice.
My barber has a customer with a teenage daughter. During a haircut, they got talking about shooting prarie dogs. The daughter pipes up to say she loves to use a .22, especially enjoys seeing the blood trails on the snow.
We did have a couple mice - once. They don't come back.
Birds are OK - we have several birdhouses. All are welcome - except 'English' sparrows - which are not protected and are definitely a pestilent species. They don't do well here.
On the railroad? All I can say is that the ducker has far, far more tolerance and patience than do I. Good luck. Considered dynamite?
jrc Bozeman
I keep a number of Victor mousetraps in my basement, baited with peanut butter, all year long. Most years, there's a seasonal cycle where I start getting them with the first cool weather of late summer, and then they drop off as the snow falls and they all hunker down for the winter. By January, I've gotten them all out of the house. I get a few in the spring, and then it's clear sailing until September again.
This year, for some reason, I've had a continuous stream of these things all spring, and they haven't gone outside to play like in previous years. I'm beginning to think that I'm actually attracting them inside with the baited traps.
I've got a small have-a-heart trap for chipmunks outside. Yes, they're cute, but they consider the laboriously-planted garden to be their cafeteria. Besides, when you put the trap in a bucket of water, they look like, well, drowned rats. Not cute anymore.
Hi!
I've had huge success (luck?) live trapping squirrels, mice, and accidently birds to get them out of my back yard landscaping/garden. I would urge you to get a proper size live trap, bait it with bird seed and/or peanut butter, and leave it alone for a day. The culprit will much prefer that to whatever it is eating now. Funny thing, all the squirrels I have caught went nuts when I approached the cage. But the mice were fully content to just sit and eat the seeds.
There was a time when I would go the pellet gun route, but that is unnecessary and can cause more harm to the layout (think about a wounded mouse messing all over the trackage).
And, poison is much worse, as the rodent could crawl someplace you can't find, and then decompose..... yech!!!!!
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
duckdogger,
I'm assuming you've got a couple of old locomotives you're not using anymore? Why couldn't you coat them with the peanut butter/oatmeal mixture and run them - slowly - through the tunnel? That should draw it out. After that, you can deal with it however you see fit.
Hope this helps,
tbdanny
The Location: Forests of the Pacific Northwest, OregonThe Year: 1948The Scale: On30The Blog: http://bvlcorr.tumblr.com
Get yourself a Goliath Birdeater, and let it set up residence in the tunnel.
You might want to keep any pets, small children, and fully grown adults at a safe distance until it's reached the end of its life cycle, which can be up to 25 years.
galaxyAt least we are talking rats/mice here and not roaches. We had a young lady with 4 screaming kids move up here across the street from NYC for a year before she decided to return to the city. With her came cockroaches that NONE of us surounding neighbors had EVER had a problem with. Finally after about 5-6 months after she left they just disappeared. Thankfully. I HATES roaches. 'nuf said.
At least we are talking rats/mice here and not roaches.
We had a young lady with 4 screaming kids move up here across the street from NYC for a year before she decided to return to the city. With her came cockroaches that NONE of us surounding neighbors had EVER had a problem with. Finally after about 5-6 months after she left they just disappeared. Thankfully.
I HATES roaches. 'nuf said.
I really wish I had chosen another thread to sit here and eat my snack to....
John
GRAMRRI ended up with a good sized rat in my tool shed. Traps, trays of poison, anything I put out she would drag away and hide. After putting half a dozen pellets into her, it only got her mad. She would stand on her hind legs like a boxer, daring me as I put yet another round into her. Finally had to get her attention by whacking her with a garden spade and breaking her neck with the edge of the shovel. I'd say, once she drops the babies, she might get really nasty. Later on, I found hollow point pellets made for varmint control.
I ended up with a good sized rat in my tool shed. Traps, trays of poison, anything I put out she would drag away and hide. After putting half a dozen pellets into her, it only got her mad. She would stand on her hind legs like a boxer, daring me as I put yet another round into her. Finally had to get her attention by whacking her with a garden spade and breaking her neck with the edge of the shovel. I'd say, once she drops the babies, she might get really nasty. Later on, I found hollow point pellets made for varmint control.
I see, you were up against RATsputin !!
doctorwayneThe smell will linger for months.
The smell will linger for what seems like practically forever. Its hard to completely remove the stink of death. We had a strange occurrence a few years ago when a bird got in the exhaust piping behind our microwave oven (built-unit) and died there. It was eerie, you could hear him/her scratching around back in there when you used the oven but couldn't do anything about it. I opened-up the back of the microwave to try to get the bird out but it was further up in the pipe and I didn't have any way to push it out-- so it ended-up dying in there. And the smell was there for at least a year.
Smoke her out. Leave one end of the tunnel open so she can make her escape. And a window so the smoke can escape. Then when she's gone, seal up the tunnel temporarily until you can resolve the other portion of the problem, as Dr Wayne suggests-- figure out how/where she's getting in and fix that.
I have a solution. An aerosol can of WD-40 and a cigarette lighter. That will clear out your tunnel. It might make it bigger too.
Will
G, your trick with the beer would catch me, but it would need a lot of beer!
Hum, Duckdogger I have a solution for you. I have a Great Horn Owl that has taken up residents in my back yard. You catch it, it's yours! Problem with having it is my wife heard they will attack small dogs. We have a 15 year old American Eskimo and she weight 15 pounds. Now my self, with us letting the Irish Wolfhound out at the same time (140 pounds) I think we are pretty safe. But now she knows it there, I have to guard the dogs as night when they go out.
Bright side, no more Wabbets eating the flowers.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
No, he probably thinks that there might not be much air flow and it might affect you as well. Would look like a cartoon with both you and the rat dazing around beside one another.
tinman1 Have tried a rotary snowplow to clean out the tunnel? I think an RC airplane engine mounted on a flatcar would work okay.
Have tried a rotary snowplow to clean out the tunnel? I think an RC airplane engine mounted on a flatcar would work okay.
My sister once turned the fan in her car on "high" -- and bits of mouse went spewing out the vents. Her voice gets real high pitched at moments like that ....
Dave Nelson
I've tried the hooking the exhaust up to a pipe on some groundhogs. All I got were dumb groundhogs!!!
Cats cause other problems altogether:
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/168372/1849267.aspx#1849267
So you might get a dog afterwards....
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
cahrn Grab a pellet rifle and get some beers and sit in a spot with a clear shot/view of the tunnel. If the rodent shows itself dispatch it. This is why I like to keep my 1000 fps scoped gamo handy. Good luck. Cahrn
Grab a pellet rifle and get some beers and sit in a spot with a clear shot/view of the tunnel. If the rodent shows itself dispatch it. This is why I like to keep my 1000 fps scoped gamo handy. Good luck.
Cahrn
If you can read this... thank a teacher. If you are reading this in english... thank a veteran
When in doubt. grab a hammer.
If it moves and isn't supposed to, get a hammer
If it doesn't move and is supposed to, get a hammer
If it's broken, get a hammer
If it can't be fixed with a hammer... DUCK TAPE!
This thread has been almost as much fun as the ones on cats; lets do it again sometime.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Thanks for all the suggestions. I like the snake idea and have been on the lookout for a king or mole snake but no luck - but that was before I started the poison option. Would not want to harm a snake. At least a non-diamondback.
A point of clarification - my model railroad is outside. It's on bench work, etc, but it is not in the house so no issues with a dead rat smelling up the house.
I put the snap traps right up to the tunnel entrance last night and she got around them without setting them off. Score one for her.
However she continues to eat the poison and will be dead shortly. Game, set, match for me.
Even if she were to deliver her litter before she goes on the cheese heaven, they should be DOA due to the poison in momma rat's system.
pike-62Although I don't have mouse problem I do have a chipmonk problem...well, used to anyway. After all of the traps, poisons and what-not my brother showed me one that works real well. Take 1 five gal drywall compound pail, fill half full of water, pour in sunflower seeds (they float) to cover the water and put a small gang plank across the top to alow the varmit to walk out onto to see the seeds. Once they jump in to get them there is no way out and they drown. Not real humane, but effective.
Although I don't have mouse problem I do have a chipmonk problem...well, used to anyway. After all of the traps, poisons and what-not my brother showed me one that works real well. Take 1 five gal drywall compound pail, fill half full of water, pour in sunflower seeds (they float) to cover the water and put a small gang plank across the top to alow the varmit to walk out onto to see the seeds. Once they jump in to get them there is no way out and they drown. Not real humane, but effective.
HEY! the chipmunks are off limits.........lol there cute little SOB's and at least around here are pretty harmless. Was sitting on the back porch one afternoon watching this little sucker run back and forth bringing back cherry tomatoes that had fallen on the ground to his nest in the wood pile. So after about 15 minutes of this I saw him stop and my dog was looking up at a tree. Well Mr,.Turkey Buzzard was thinking he was going to get a quick snack. my single shot 410 make quick work of that vermin with wings. a while later Mr. munk was back to work. Rats, mice, squirrels and the crawly creepy critters area ll fair game but lay off the Chipmunks.........lol
I liked the snake idea. I wonder if I got an Anaconda and then invite the EX over for dinner? Well anyway that's a little off topic. We used to get the field mice every winter until I got my Python 15 years ago. Since then the little varmints have not been seen. They must sense him around. When I exercise him in the back yard all the squirrels scamper up the trees a holler and make all kinds of noise. Even the wood peckers stopped pecking on the aluminum gutters and moved to the neighbors house.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
Ma, Get my shootin' iron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jimmy
ROUTE ROCK!
pike-62...Take 1 five gal drywall compound pail, fill half full of water,...
A version of this method is one that my father swears kept the mine living quarters where he worked a few years back in central British Columbia free from rodents. He and some partners were resurrecting a defunct copper mine...another success story eventually...but meanwhile the worker shacks had been long since overrun. My father had lots of these, and being a fan of peanut butter, he placed a smear of the stuff about 3" below the lip of the 5-gal plastic buckets. Each was half-full of water. Same thing with the wooden lath or whatever...a gang plank from a ledge out to the pail. The rats would smell the PB, winkle out across the wooden strapping, and bend oh-so-low to get their snouts to the PB smear.
My Dad said he learned quickly how often to check the pail. Not once a week. Phew!!!
-Crandell