"...and not as food."

Adorable Baby Rats Need Loving Homes. See, honey, this is why we live where we do.

This blog has taken a surprising culinary turn of late.

Rat: The Other White Meat

From urban myth to menu choice.

I Got Your Fancy Rat

A regular reader writes to recommend the National Fancy Rat Society page. He found it edifying: "I see them with different eyes now but I think we need to rescue the less fancy cousins."

How about the National Ordinary Rat Movement? NORM!

Richmond Rat Rescue

The missus found this. Apparently some local folks are taking a kinder, gentler approach, at least when it comes to pet rats. Great photo. Makes me want to burst into song.

It's Been A Quiet Month

...here at Lake Ratbegone. No rat sightings, no mice, no nothing. The mouse pellets in the basement haven't been touched. I'm about ready to put on a flight suit and stand in front of a banner.

We took the RZ out of the garden today and set it up in the basement. We're guessing that the action will move indoors for the winter.

Death 2.0

On beyond the RZ - a fan alerted me to a mouse gas chamber! Someone call Art Spiegelman!

Things have been very quiet lately. I think we've killed off the latest bunch of rats, and we've eliminated false positives by making sure the RZ is up off the ground before nightfall. No mouse sightings lately, either.

Kill. Hohum.

This morning, the missus saw a rat in the garden. A few hours later, I saw the Zapper flashing. I didn't see any tail sticking out of the chute, so I thought it was an FP. But it was a rat, probably the same one.

The rat was noticeably smaller than our recent kills. That makes me hopeful that we've accomodated the parents, and we're reaching the kids now. If we can get the kids before they become parents, finis.