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.

Kill

Another twilight mission accomplished.

On other fronts, I saw a mouse in the house this morning. I think we'll leave the RZ for the heavy lifting outside, and use more conventional weaponry against the mice - snaptraps, poison, steel wool in the perimeter gaps.

Servicing The Zapper

Sounds like the title of a Ron Jeremy movie. The reality is a good deal less glamorous, I'm afraid: after a series of sidfips, I soaked the Zapper this morning. But, even after a good soaking, the Zapper still had a lot of slime on the killplate. So, rubber gloves and paper towels, to scrape it reasonably clean.

Our original theory was that slugs were entering the Zapper and leaving their slimy trail behind. Based on the slime quantities, however, I think we need to revise the second part of our theory. I think I now know what a jolt of electricity does to a slug.

Kill!

After a quiet week of sidfips (Slug-Driven False Positives), we bagged an afternoon rat.

Based purely on the situation on the ground, we will be instituting a Partial Zapper Withdrawal. Going forward, the Zapper is relieved of night duty. Nighttime ain't the right time for rat patrol.

The Zap Is Back!

A kill!

But first, a recap: a couple of weeks ago, we had the Zapper in the house for a few days. Nothing. Then, about a week ago, we noticed at least one rat -- maybe more -- in the backyard.

As it happens, our friend Jim was down from Manhattan for the weekend. Jim knows his rodents. He said rat, definitely. No mouse about it.

So we put the Zapper in the backyard, and we had a bad run of false positives. A couple of slugs gummed things up. Reset, false positive, clean, repeat. It got old fast.

But we gave it one more try. And the missus overruled me on placement. I wanted the Zapper where it had worked well before. The missus wanted it on the other side of the yard, near the new holes.

Yesterday, the missus moved the Zapper. This morning, we woke to a false positive, but at least the reset took. And today - a kill.

Sometime in the early afternoon, we think. Early enough for nature's undertakers to get busy before I came home and did the bagwork. When I dumped out the rat, a cloud of flies exploded from the Zapper.

The only downside is that the city picked up trash this morning, so the deceased will sit in the can for a week. Double-bagged, but there's definite ripeness potential nonetheless.

Still, we're back in the groove! Stay tuned.

This Will Not Stand!

We took the Zapper off-line a few days back. Time to give it a good cleaning. Hell, we'd already won the war, right? What's the risk?

Today, the missus was doing some laundry, and a little black mouse scooted by her. Mouse in the house!

The Zapper will be clean and on-line soon. In the kitchen. The battle for the home front begins.

Where Have All The Rodents Gone?

Another dull week. It rained hard last weekend, and that knocked a lot of crap into the Zapper. We had a bunch of false positives till the missus gave it a good cleaning.

We've got the Zapper back in the original location now, and nothing continues to happen. I guess I should be happy. The days of "Mouse Party At Our Place!" are long gone. The Zapper seems to have done its job. But, sick to say, I miss the kills. Those were good times.

Another Quiet Week, With Rat Basketball

Nothing happening at all, not at all. So we dumped the cotton, freshened the kibble (does dry pet food go stale?), and moved the Zapper closer to some likely mouse highways.

We may need a whole lot more variety. Regular reader JES writes:

"I recently chatted with an elderly gentleman who, in his younger years, did extensive trapping in the mountains of southern WVA. He offered this advice.

If you're trapping the same type of animal, (in your case, rats & mice) you should change your technique frequently as critters learn to avoid the same methodology.

He suggests you remove the zapper for a while and try the old-fashioned trap. Then the sticky pads. Then whatever else is out there. Try and vary your approach as much as possible. Placing them in different areas might help, too. A wide variety of bait changed frequently may help.

In other words, keep the little SOB's off-balance and guessing."

Thanks, JES. Feels good to tap into the Southern oral tradition. We had our own tribal wisdom back in Brooklyn, of course, but it ran more to optimized subway routes and bagel critiques. Not so much on critter trapping tips.

JES also recommends a trip to Richmond's Science Museum, where "you can watch a fairly interesting game of - you guessed it - rat basketball. The real thing with live rats. You should check it out."

True that. But why is something so compelling and educational, featuring "operant conditioning and basic theories of learning," the last thing on the page? Crowd control? Must be.

Fetchez La Cottonball!

Very quiet week. No kills, no false positives, nothing. So I just dropped a moist cottonball into the Zapper. Science marches on.

Moist Cottonballs?

A faithful reader (now there are two!) sent this tip: moist cottonballs as bait.

Worth a try. Of course we'll have to define the protocol, set up a control group, get some NIH funding...stay tuned.

Repeated False Positives Yesterday

The missus tracked it down to a piece of kibble that had lodged in the trigger mechanism.

False Positive Saturday Night

Yesterday, we moved the Zapper back to the old location.

No News Is No News

No action. The Zapper is still in the new location. The missus reports a couple of mouse sightings. We're talking about moving the Zapper back where it was. It's a lazy, disjointed conversation.

Taking The War To The Evildoers

We've been keeping the Zapper in the northwest corner of our backyard. We moved it a few times, but always within the same small area.

Yesterday evening, the missus saw a mouse in the southeast corner of the yard. So we moved the Zapper over there. No action yet.

False Positive

Research!

Gotta love the web. I googled "rat mouse" and the first result was this quiz. I scored 8 out of 12 right! That gets me a doctorate at a state school, no?

The tips link is helpful, too. I think we're facing the dread young rat-adult mouse conundrum.

And how cool is it that ratbehavior.org is out there, waiting for nutjobs like me to find it?

Death In The Afternoon

Okay, it was evening. But what's a blog without the occasional gratuitous literary reference?

Kill #5. Once again, it was either a big mouse or a modest rat. (I'm really going to have to spend five minutes on research one of these days.) A little trouble shaking the body into the plastic bag, but it hit the ground with a satisfying thump when it finally came loose. Freaked out the missus, big time.

False Positive

Up And Running

The RZ is back online. No more immediate false positive. The game is afoot.

I Got Mad Skillz

Drenching rain last night, and another false positive. So I decided to clean the RZ this morning. Skilled technician that I am, it's now shorting out constantly - flashing a red false positive as soon as I turn it on, every time I turn it on.

I've taken the RZ out of action for now. I dumped the bait, and the RZ is standing on end, under shelter, so that it can drain and dry thoroughly.

False Positive

Another one. It rained hard last night - maybe that's why. Or maybe it's time to clean the RZ again, oh joy.

Still no critter sightings lately. But we don't spend much time in the garden during the week. This weekend will be a good test.

False Positive

Did We Win?

Nothing at all for a few days now. No kills, no false positives, no rodent sightings.

Just to keep my edge, I knocked a mourning dove nest off the windowsill last night. Relax! There were no eggs in it. And it's a whole lot less cute when you see the shit they leave behind.

Quiet Time

No kills or false positives lately.

I find myself wondering if we're seeing less action because we've already made a dent in the local rodent population, or if it's just one of those random things. To be continued, I guess.

The Surge Is Working

Yesterday was quiet - no kill, no false positive. This morning, the red kill light was flashing, and we had a dead mouse.

False Positive

Cleaning Your RZ

I noticed another false positive this morning. I reset the RZ, and got another false positive right away.

According to the docs, this means it's time to clean the RZ. The docs detail a 6-step cleaning procedure, including an hour of soaking time, scrubbing with a brush, flushing with "a gentle stream of fresh water..."

Sounds idyllic. I opted to just scrape the hardened turds out of the death chamber (latex gloves, paper towels). Seemed to work: no more immediate false positive when I turned the RZ back on.

False Positive

Yesterday evening. Surprising. No rain recently - seemed like ideal dry conditions.

That's 5 false positives to 3 kills. The kills are great, but the frequent false positives are a nuisance.

A Mouse!

Finally, unambiguously, we zapped a mouse. Midday Saturday. Based on its small size, the other kills are looking more and more ratlike.

So, in a week, 3 RatZapper kills total: 2 rats and 1 mouse. And the pace has picked up.

False Positive

Kibble intact.

Friday, June 15, 2007

A Kill!

#2. Another large mouse (or rat? The debate rages.) This one was textbook - slid right out of the RZ. No hassles.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

False Positive

And the kibble was missing. Weird.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

False Positive

Peanut butter doesn't seem to be helping. Switching back to kibble.

Earlier posts