An Epitath For A Rat

One of the reasons that I gave up on having an above-ground compost pile and resorted to trench composting is the rat problem.  We live in the country and are surrounded by woods and fields and so they are everywhere.  I don't want to put out poison as I don't want our chickens getting into it by mistake.  Our two rat-killers (cats) are still too young to put a dent in the rat population, but I see that changing soon.

Aside from just being nasty critters, carrying disease and whatnot, rats are beginning to cause problems in our garden.  We didn't get a single cantaloupe this year.  The rats devoured them all!  You can see below how they ate up this butternut squash before I could harvest it.  Of all things - eating our butternut squash!  Of course you know, this means war...

Although we don't eat the birdhouse gourds, they also fell prey to rats as well.  This birdhouse gourd won't be converted into a birdhouse thanks to those pesky rats. Okay, so enough of this!

I set out 3 predator cage traps of all different sizes in the garden baited with the leftovers of our catfish courtbouillion supper, but caught nothing.  I figured the 'fishy' smell would attract them.  It did not.  I don't give up that easily, however. The next night I baited the traps with some Ol' Roy dog food.  Bingo!  Got Em!  The dog food that Sam Walton fed to his dog, Roy, proved to be the rat's un-doing.

He (or she) looked up at me with begging eyes, hoping that I would show some sympathy or compassion.  Not a chance.  This guy, or some of his family members, have wreaked havoc in the garden this year.  For that crime, he'll pay with his life.

It is hard to get perspective, but this is a big old rat.  He measured 16 inches long from nose to end of tail.

To the victor goes the spoils.  This time, I was the victor and the spoils were that the rat became compost material that is buried beneath the okra rows.  Hopefully, I'll catch many more, eradicating the rat population and giving me free organic fertilizer.  I took off my boutonniere and tossed it in the hole.

I was so moved by the burial of the rat, I wrote a eulogy for him:

Here lies the rat that came out of the woods to eat our butternut squash,

He didn't expect a varmint trap that gave him the kibosh,

I call him 'he,' but I'm not sure if 'he' was a girl or a boy,

His final meal was a delectable treat of dog food named 'Ol Roy.

I'll bait the traps again and again until I catch them all.

For we have more produce coming in from our garden for the fall.

Ashes to ashes, Dust to Dust - the rat gets buried in the ground,

The same fate waits for all the other rats that choose to come around.

Removing the Rodents

The barn has long been a haven for rodents.  Every year I kill them and for a while, I see neither hide nor hair of the filthy animals.  There are woods nearby, so I assume more come out of the woods to re-populate our comfortable barn.  So the work of rate removal is never done.  It is a task that stretches out in perpetuity.  For some strange reason, rat traps don't work too good.  The rats seem to be too smart to be caught.

But they have to be eliminated.  They nest up in the loft on top of the hay.  They roam the barn floor at night, looking for morsels of feed or rice that the cows or chickens have dropped.  When we come in the barn and turn on the lights, the rats scurry up into the rafters and into the hay for cover.  The trouble with the disgusting creatures is that they pee on the hay and then the cows won't eat it.  That won't do.  The rats must be killed.

The best method of rat killin' I've had success with has been with my old Marlin .22 lever action rifle loaded with rat shot - or pest control shot, as it is officially called.  I walked out to the barn at around 10 pm, turned on the lights and watched the rats run.  Go ahead, make my day, night.

Two shots and two juvenile rats take a permanent dirt nap.

You Dirty Rats

I picked them up, skinned them and dressed them out and brought them in to Tricia.  She usually seasons them, dredges them in flour and then pan fries them in a cast iron skillet.  I'm just joking, of course.  I went out again tonight to kill more, but they were still gun-shy from the death of their friend from last night and I didn't see or hear anything.  They stayed hidden.  I know they are there, though, biding their time.  I'll be back in a couple of days to finish what I started.