Re: RC: Rats eating anything.

[Jim Holland <lanconn@tds.net>]

Howard...

The .22 is a good idea....but instead of using regular loads, try rat
shot. It's a .22 rifle bullet with pellets (like a shotgun). It doesn't
shoot holes in your barn (it won't penetrate tin), is more accurate than
a pellet gun, (hard to miss, even with a pistol) and eliminates the risk
of shooting something like your neighbors horse/dog/or even person
accidentally.  I don't have any rats/mice..but it also works great on
birds that insist on roosting in my barn and pooping all over...my
apologies to bird lovers...I have lots of places for them to roost, put
up bird houses, feed them, etc....but I have to draw the line somewhere.
They even come in thru the turbines on the roof...and then can't get
out....my cat is now conditioned to immediately put in an appearance for
"dinner" when he hears my .22.  He hasn't had much luck catching them on
his own.  In fact, he hasn't had much luck with mice...but he DOES
deliver moles on my deck with remarkable regularity...I guess I have
"Moler" instead of a "Mouser".  :)

Regards, Jim and Sun of Dimanche

Howard4567@aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 12/10/00 4:45:02 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> Marv@MarvWalker.com writes:
> 
> << The best rat medicine I found was a Crossman pump-up pellet rifle.  It
> shoots
>  at around 750 feet per second and is flatter than a pancake at 100 feet.
>   >>
> 
> I have bullet holes in my tack room from my attack of the rats in my barn
> with a 22.  I knew I had a problem one day when I spotted a couple of the
> nasty creatures moving inside my tack/feed room.  One of the rodents had
> eaten thru my plastic trash can lid to get to the horse feed inside so, I had
> put a horse blanket on top of the lid, hoping to keep them out.
> 
> One night, and it figues this would happen to me at night, I threw on the
> light switch, nonchalantly walked over to the feed area, removed the blanket
> covering the feed lid, and as I did, a big ole rat, who was burried in the
> blanket, leaped on to my shoulder, and crawled on my head and then,  jumped
> from my head up into the rafters.  I was in a total state of shock!
> 
> I ran into my house and got out a 22 handgun.  I went back to the tack room
> and just waited.  For hours it seemed.  Then I spotted one of them crawling
> in the room from up above where I have a space between the roof and the wall.
>  Bang!  Missed, but took a chunk of wood out of my wall.  Bang, bang.  Two
> more chunks missing.
> 
> After awhile I realized the 22 was not the answer.  The next day I bought a
> ton of rat poison and put it all over, inside the feed room.  After a few
> days I found dead rats all everywhere.  Totally gross, especially when I had
> to fish them out of some of the horses' water buckets.  I think eating the
> poison makes the rats really need water.
> 
> Anyway, the pellet gun is a good idea (less damage than a .22) but rat poison
> is about the only thing that really works.  I no longer have rats crawling on
> my body when I remove the blanket covering the feed can.  I'll do just about
> anything for my horses but this was asking a little too much.
> 
> cya,
> Howard
> 
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