half dead rats

That is why I am using rat traps after someone else's posting suggestion.
I have no problem with killing a rat that is caught in a trap but not dead.
I dont have to worry about a poisoned rat wandering into any of my neighbors yard and its better for the environment.
NOW we need to do something about all these squirrels....ha ha

Mice and Rats

I'm so relieved to know this is a neighborhood wide problem (probably city wide) and not just my particular street. It makes me believe that the dry weather must have something to do with it.

I talked to the health department today and she asked me a bunch of questions like do I have a dog, do I feed the birds, do I have fruit or nut trees in my yard. Turns out there are two types of rats. If you see evidence in your yard of holes the rats are Norway rats. The one I found in my yard (dead, thank goodness) was evidently a roof rat. I found droppings in my attic just this morning. Apparently they like to stay in high places and will crawl up wires and find holes into your attic. She said if I put out poison to make sure it is rat poison (not really recommended as they will smell awful when they die) or use snap traps for rats.

Point is, I have not had these varmits until a couple of months ago. I've seen live mice and now a dead rat (have two cats). The health department did come out and look around but did not see any signs of rats in the yard so check your attics for droppings!

By Tracy