I'm next to a field and the little rat critters always eat half the fruit or more every year. Too many in the field for traps or poison to have much effect. I read where rodents hear higher frequencies than dogs & cats, and am wondering if a whistle in that range might keep them away without irritating the pets next door?

Or some other way to keep them out of the trees? Maybe trimming the trees so that the limbs are not touching anything might work for some trees, but not practical for all of them. And then wrapping aluminum foil or some other guard around the trunks?

Snuffy,

What does your ag/ext person recommend?

Dave M.

On Fri, 3 Jul 2015 02:33:47 -0700, "Snuffy \"Hub Cap\" McKinney"
wrote:

I'm next to a field and the little rat critters always eat half the fruit or more every year. Too many in the field for traps or poison to have much effect. I read where rodents hear higher frequencies than dogs & cats, and am wondering if a whistle in that range might keep them away without irritating the pets next door?

Or some other way to keep them out of the trees? Maybe trimming the trees so that the limbs are not touching anything might work for some trees, but not practical for all of them. And then wrapping aluminum foil or some other guard around the trunks?

Hire a pro...

Some info tips he

http://jspestcontrol.com/rodents

On Fri, 03 Jul 2015 04:33:47 -0500, Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney
wrote:

I'm next to a field and the little rat critters always eat half the
fruit or more every year. Too many in the field for traps or poison to
have much effect. I read where rodents hear higher frequencies than
dogs & cats, and am wondering if a whistle in that range might keep them
away without irritating the pets next door?

Or some other way to keep them out of the trees? Maybe trimming the
trees so that the limbs are not touching anything might work for some
trees, but not practical for all of them. And then wrapping aluminum
foil or some other guard around the trunks?

We usually had stray cats on the farm to keep the rat, mice and
ground squirrel population down. The strays with kittens seemed to
be the best hunters.
Feeding them made them lazy just as it does with humans.


--
Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On Fri, 03 Jul 2015 12:07:06 -0500, "Dean Hoffman"
wrote:

We usually had stray cats on the farm to keep the rat, mice and
ground squirrel population down. The strays with kittens seemed to
be the best hunters.
Feeding them made them lazy just as it does with humans.

Feed a feral cat rabbit fur with scent glands. They teach the
youngsters.

No more wild rabbits on the garden. YMMV

On 07/03/2015 12:07 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

[snip]

We usually had stray cats on the farm to keep the rat, mice and
ground squirrel population down. The strays with kittens seemed to
be the best hunters.
Feeding them made them lazy just as it does with humans.

Some cats aren't good at catching rats. However, I have 2 that are, and
so haven't had a rat problem in 6 years (I've had those cats that long)

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"The world is proof that God is a committee." [Bob Stokes]

On Fri, 3 Jul 2015 02:33:47 -0700, "Snuffy \"Hub Cap\" McKinney"
wrote:

I'm next to a field and the little rat critters always eat half the fruit or more every year. Too many in the field for traps or poison to have much effect. I read where rodents hear higher frequencies than dogs & cats, and am wondering if a whistle in that range might keep them away without irritating the pets next door?

Or some other way to keep them out of the trees? Maybe trimming the trees so that the limbs are not touching anything might work for some trees, but not practical for all of them. And then wrapping aluminum foil or some other guard around the trunks?
a couple of Jack Russels will make a dent in the problem.

In article ,
wrote:

On Fri, 3 Jul 2015 02:33:47 -0700, "Snuffy \"Hub Cap\" McKinney"
wrote:

I'm next to a field and the little rat critters always eat half the fruit or
more every year. Too many in the field for traps or poison to have much
effect. I read where rodents hear higher frequencies than dogs & cats, and
am wondering if a whistle in that range might keep them away without
irritating the pets next door?

Or some other way to keep them out of the trees? Maybe trimming the trees
so that the limbs are not touching anything might work for some trees, but
not practical for all of them. And then wrapping aluminum foil or some
other guard around the trunks?
a couple of Jack Russels will make a dent in the problem.

A couple of Jack Daniels will also.
--
"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive,
but what they conceal is vital."
-- Aaron Levenstein

wrote in message ...
On Fri, 3 Jul 2015 02:33:47 -0700, "Snuffy \"Hub Cap\" McKinney"
wrote:

I'm next to a field and the little rat critters always eat half the fruit or more every year. Too many in the field for traps or poison to have much effect. I read where rodents hear higher frequencies than dogs & cats, and am wondering if a whistle in that range might keep them away without irritating the pets next door?

Or some other way to keep them out of the trees? Maybe trimming the trees so that the limbs are not touching anything might work for some trees, but not practical for all of them. And then wrapping aluminum foil or some other guard around the trunks?
a couple of Jack Russels will make a dent in the problem.

I had one of these rat terriers years ago and come to think of it never saw a rodent. Good animal but kind of yappy and moody - liked to snip at you. Training helped but didn't change the attitude problem.

No snakes here - lovely Miseries goes nuts at the sight of a garden spider or slug...

On Sun, 5 Jul 2015 08:05:25 -0700, "Snuffy \"Hub Cap\" McKinney"
wrote:

wrote in message ...
On Fri, 3 Jul 2015 02:33:47 -0700, "Snuffy \"Hub Cap\" McKinney"
wrote:

I'm next to a field and the little rat critters always eat half the fruit or more every year. Too many in the field for traps or poison to have much effect. I read where rodents hear higher frequencies than dogs & cats, and am wondering if a whistle in that range might keep them away without irritating the pets next door?

Or some other way to keep them out of the trees? Maybe trimming the trees so that the limbs are not touching anything might work for some trees, but not practical for all of them. And then wrapping aluminum foil or some other guard around the trunks?
a couple of Jack Russels will make a dent in the problem.

I had one of these rat terriers years ago and come to think of it never saw a rodent. Good animal but kind of yappy and moody - liked to snip at you. Training helped but didn't change the attitude problem.

No snakes here - lovely Miseries goes nuts at the sight of a garden spider or slug...

The definition of a Jack Russel IS attitude. Another definition is
"all heart and mouth" They make the energizer bunny look lazy. They
will chase a ball untill your arm falls off, and they are loyal almost
to a fault. Just don't **** one off!!!

On Fri, 03 Jul 2015 11:07:22 -0400, wrote:


Wrapping the trees might help but a black rat (rattus rattus) can
climb and jump as well as a squirrel so you will have trouble making
the tree inaccessible to them
AKA roof rat, tree rat, fruit rat or "palmetto squirrel"
http://gfretwell.com/wildlife/rattus_rattus.jpg


G
http://jspestcontrol.com/uploads/content/norway-roofrat.jpg

Some of these might help

http://gfretwell.com/wildlife/adult%...at%20snake.jpg


Yes sir!

On 7/3/15 1:00 PM, wrote:

Yes sir!

We have a lot of experience with rattus rattus around here., Everyone
seems to want a fruit tree or five, then they wonder why they have
rats.
In the wild like this, rats are really just squirrels without a
publicist so I am not freaked out about them (they carry the same
dangers) but we do try to keep them down. Promoting my long skinny
reptiles is a small price to pay but most of the damage they do to the
rat population is eating the babies. I suppose a big rat snake could
take down an adult but I doubt it is their main target. That is the
problem with "natural control". They want to eat but I think they will
not eat the last one and endanger the food supply, even if they could.
Rats are tough to eliminate. A few will always get away and they breed
very fast.

The most common snake here is actually the black racer and they tend
to keep most of the other snakes down. They will take a rat tho.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/Blacksnake_rattler.jpg

One exterminator site claims 10 mph for the Black Racer. I think it's
more like 3 mph. They can be aggressive. A South Carolina man reported
that he was haying with his brother when he felt something bite his
calf. It was a Black Racer. He carried it across the field and resumed
haying. It returned and bit him again. He carried it farther. It
returned and bit him a third time. As the bites were harmless, he didn't
hurt the snake.

We have lots of black rat snakes. They're slow and docile, but
neighbors kill them. They get rat infestations. I don't. I'm always
glad to see a rat snake in my yard, in my trees, in my cellar, or on my
steps. When I find a snake skin in the attic, I know my friend has saved
me from an infestation of bushy-tailed gray rats.

One winter my BIL had mice in his kitchen. Extermination could have been
a long process, but suddenly they were gone. In the spring, he found a
snake skin behind the refrigerator. The difference between a mouse and a
rat snake is that the rat snake won't do you any harm.

Neighbors across the street loved to kill rat snakes. Then they had an
infestation of rats who did thousands of dollars' worth of damage to
electrical equipment, electronics, and plumbing.

A neighbor had a chronic mouse infestation. A couple of years ago, she
called me to kill a rat snake in her car port. I refused. I said a
kitten was more dangerous, and she was right to be afraid because if she
stepped on it she could injure it.

I told her rat snakes are like beagles, going where they smell prey. The
snake had gotten wind of her mice. It would eat them and move along to
another home where it was needed.

She checked with others, who confirmed what I said. In a week or so,
there was no sign of a snake or mice. Year after year, she paid an
exterminator $300, and he never accomplished what the snake did for free.

A couple of weeks ago, the neighbor on her other side was removing
shrubbery with a front loader. I saw a 5' rat snake on the road in
front. it was rippled, so I knew it was frightened.

I saw the neighbor lady the next day. She said he'd killed the snake
out front, and she'd called him about a smaller rat snake on her patio,
where the mice used to get in. He chased it into a pipe hole in her
brick wall. He stood back and the snake came back out. Obviously, the
snake hadn't wanted to enter her house, but because it had dared enter,
she felt that it had to die. The neighbor killed it.

The difference between rat snakes and neighbors is that rat snakes are
intelligent and well behaved.