The rat exterminator...Monica the cat in Chicago

[missmuffet]

6 hours ago, Debp said:

That's interesting.   

Do you use peanut butter in the traps to lure them?    Our neighbor had a rat that apparently crawled into their apartment from a Palm frond that touched their balcony.    The exterminator asked for peanut butter... didn't bring his own.   So she asked me, I gave her some on aluminum foil.

Rats propagate so fast so you really need to handle that problem.   I recall a house here on the news....there were hundreds of rats crawling over every few inches of a home.   Neighbors got it on the news, it was so bad.

I have not had rats but I have had many mice in a house I used to live in. They like chocolate and peanut butter. So Reese's peanut butter cups is a good bait. They also hate peppermint so to keep them away be sure and have a lot of peppermint scented bags of spray.

[Debp]

39 minutes ago, missmuffet said:

I have not had rats but I have had many mice in a house I used to live in. They like chocolate and peanut butter. So Reese's peanut butter cups is a good bait. They also hate peppermint so to keep them away be sure and have a lot of peppermint scented bags of spray.

@Vine Abider Can you hang a bunch of Peppermint in your orange tree?   Might not work but...

[Debp]

1 hour ago, Vine Abider said:

I've learned to leave the headlamp off until I get right under the tree!  And yes, I've only been seeing one back there now . . . a smart little beggar.

I'm also trying to block some of the easy exits it has when it comes running out of the tree, but that's proving difficult.  I'm trying to think creatively and even envision something like a huge net going over the entire tree . . .

Over the past couple years I have knocked a few of them out of the tree with my superior marksmanship (maybe 1 in 5 shots gets very close). Last year, one fell out of the tree right on my arm.  We looked at each other for a few nanoseconds and it then leaped off.

I wonder if you put some thick Vaseline on small areas of each limb if it wouldn't like stepping onto that?   Might be worth a try.   Just do enough of the limb so it can't jump over the Vaseline.

[Marathoner]

2 minutes ago, Debp said:

I wonder if you put some thick Vaseline on small areas of each limb if it wouldn't like stepping onto that?   Might be worth a try.   Just do enough of the limb so it can't jump over the Vaseline.

I would love to see if that works! 

[Marathoner]

I had experience trapping roof rats in the Southeast, @Vine Abider. They were cavorting in a doctor's attic and shimmying down from there into a cupboard where all of their cereal goods were stored. I was a new employee working for a pest control company at the time and I inherited their house as part of my route; she called me one morning in a panic. 

"I can hear them squeaking in the cereal cabinet!", she exclaimed. I assure her that I was on my way...

I looked around outside and noticed tree limbs contacting the roof of their house. Roof Rat Boulevard identified. 

I ventured up into her attic and noticed a characteristic sign of rats. They enjoy using the restroom all over places they frequent, yes? They do. 

Finally, I checked the restrooms and kitchen of their house and discovered that the little creeps had gnawed a nice hole from the attic into the kitchen cupboard where they stored cereal and other grains. What a mess. 

I told her to contact a tree service and have those limbs removed from the roof of their house as soon as possible. In the meantime, I placed several glue boards in the attic (anchored with small nails to lumber) and one in the cereal cabinet. I asked her to disregard any squeaking she might hear until I returned in the morning. 

I didn't use any bait on the glue boards. Most roof rats behave like oversized mice and can be careless about what they venture into, especially if they're on their way to a food source. It paid off... she called me the next morning with another squeaking report. 

"We've been listening to them squeaking all morning!"

I trapped every single one of them on the glue boards. The glue board in the cereal cabinet had an adult and several young ones. I found roof rats easier to deal with than Norway rats. Norway rats are a rather bad headache to deal with. 

[Marathoner]

35 minutes ago, Debp said:

@Vine Abider Can you hang a bunch of Peppermint in your orange tree?   Might not work but...

The tree would smell pretty nice, yes? 

[Vine Abider]

13 hours ago, Debp said:

@Vine Abider Can you hang a bunch of Peppermint in your orange tree?   Might not work but...

That's an interesting thought - have to investigate!

[Vine Abider]

13 hours ago, Marathoner said:

I had experience trapping roof rats in the Southeast, @Vine Abider. They were cavorting in a doctor's attic and shimmying down from there into a cupboard where all of their cereal goods were stored. I was a new employee working for a pest control company at the time and I inherited their house as part of my route; she called me one morning in a panic. 

"I can hear them squeaking in the cereal cabinet!", she exclaimed. I assure her that I was on my way...

I looked around outside and noticed tree limbs contacting the roof of their house. Roof Rat Boulevard identified. 

I ventured up into her attic and noticed a characteristic sign of rats. They enjoy using the restroom all over places they frequent, yes? They do. 

Finally, I checked the restrooms and kitchen of their house and discovered that the little creeps had gnawed a nice hole from the attic into the kitchen cupboard where they stored cereal and other grains. What a mess. 

I told her to contact a tree service and have those limbs removed from the roof of their house as soon as possible. In the meantime, I placed several glue boards in the attic (anchored with small nails to lumber) and one in the cereal cabinet. I asked her to disregard any squeaking she might hear until I returned in the morning. 

I didn't use any bait on the glue boards. Most roof rats behave like oversized mice and can be careless about what they venture into, especially if they're on their way to a food source. It paid off... she called me the next morning with another squeaking report. 

"We've been listening to them squeaking all morning!"

I trapped every single one of them on the glue boards. The glue board in the cereal cabinet had an adult and several young ones. I found roof rats easier to deal with than Norway rats. Norway rats are a rather bad headache to deal with. 

Thanks for conveying the thought of the glue boards.  I had been thinking about putting some up in the tree, however, I stopped using snap traps up there because my wife found a bird (thrasher) caught in one.  It survived, but lost one of its feet in the process. I guess if a bird got caught in a glue board I could probably free it with little damage to it. (have actually had to do that with lizards I caught in my garage with an insect style glue board) 

[Marathoner]

1 hour ago, Vine Abider said:

Thanks for conveying the thought of the glue boards.  I had been thinking about putting some up in the tree, however, I stopped using snap traps up there because my wife found a bird (thrasher) caught in one.  It survived, but lost one of its feet in the process. I guess if a bird got caught in a glue board I could probably free it with little damage to it. (have actually had to do that with lizards I caught in my garage with an insect style glue board) 

Vegetable oil can help free trapped creatures from glue boards. I do not recommend handling the critter because they will bite your hands and fight back.

[Marathoner]

I do not recommend placing glue boards in trees or other outdoor areas, @Vine Abider. The risk of trapping other animals is too great. Unless we are talking about stationary bait containers positioned around the foundation of a structure, outdoor traps for small animals like rats are too risky.

Only use glue boards and other traps indoors out of the reach of friends like cats or dogs. 

I didn't use poison against that rat or deer mice because they are prey for other animals. Again, too risky.