Our cat nailed a big sewer rat a couple months back. She brought it in to show it off. We'd seen small mice before, but no big rats prior to the arrival of our slop bucket.

We have opossum larger than cats, so those cute little rats don't scare me.

My dachshund got hold of an opossum this past summer, and she was quite pleased with her huntress self...luckily she did not harm him and he scampered away after she was told to drop him. What he was doing out in the light of day, I have no idea...

This city already has a rat problem, and I don't see that it makes a difference if the garbage is in a gray cart or a green one. A thin plastic bag doesn't make a difference to a rat's sense of smell.

I believe that's a "Western Spotted Wood Rat" and is Dept. of Fish and Wildlife is on their way over to take a DNA sample which is the only way to be certain.

IF it turns out YOU have killed an endangered Western Spotted Wood Rat, you may be subjected to a fine of $ 5,000 and imprisonment of up to 5 years.

Officials are also plotting the geographic location to determine if this is an environmentally sensitive area and needs a special designation to protect endangered species from human contact.

A hearing will be conducted next week in Salem...all interested persons are urged to attend and submit their written testimony in advance.

Include The Food, Humans!

Time For Your Furry Friends To Get Fat And Happy!

It's not a "rat problem"...It's an homage to our pre-modern European roots.

You were lucky to get the whole carcass. My cat generally deposits the tail and internal organs just outside the door where I am likely to step on them in the dark.

My neighborhood has a few rats, but also a lot of cats and a couple of opossums that like to hunt them. Finding the occasional dead one in the alley, with the head gnawed off by a possum, reminds me to be nice to all of them. Now, finding an armadillo sniffing around the compost bin, though...

That's a Western Barred Wood Rat. You can kill all of those you want.

Inhumane, Jack administer CPR. now.

We have a few resident rodents like that. Didn't know it until we started feeding the birds... then the squirrels... then the rats. (We used to have a cat, but one of the local coyotes took care of her when she accidentally got out last year.) Had a few cougar sightings, too. The whole food chain right outside my window. Within the city, of course.

That's the second hideous picture on this blog this week -- though the one of Wyden is probably still the worst.

Cats, unite!

Chairman Meow says:

Occupy Ratville!

Well Tom...IF it turns out that IS a Western Bard Wood Rat...it would have a contact hit out on it.

BUT...not just ANYONE can kill one of those. It takes a special Western Bard Rat eliminator specialist employee of ODF & W and they are the only people authorized to whack that rat.

While ODF & W has issued a whack on sight order for the Bard Rat, any non professional so attempting to do so would be fined as if it was a Western Spotted Wood Rat.

The seven licensed Bard RAT Whackers are currently paid $ 120,000 per Bard Rat cadaver upon completion of the DNA confirmation.

I really have a bad rat phobia, they creep me out something fierce. But someone sent around a thing about this group and I'm thinking maybe I have to reevaluate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APOPO

What's Tom Miller doing in your yard?

Not to worry. The Investigators will be gone by midnight and you can have your yard back. You might keep some Yellow Tape as a souvenir and did you check out the new CSI motor home with four push-outs?

In Houston, we use those little critters for target practice, but use your .22 because the .45 just makes a mess; and it costs more too (plus it's noisier).

There used to be a site called Ratkill.com. Unfortunately it seems to be off the air.

There were tales of rat hunting prowess by guys who had a fire in their belly for writing as much as they had it for polishing off those brown vermin.

Alas, all I could find was this poor example from the Wayback.

http://web.archive.org/web/20100201181118/http://ratkill.com/test.html

Ben the two of us need look no more

We both found what we were looking for

With a friend to call my own I'll never be alone

And you my friend will see you've got a friend in me

(you've got a friend in me)

1-2 a quarter dead in the yard since the "slop bucket" program started in our neighborhood over a year ago. Rest assured Vector Control told me that all we had to do is to put out poison boxes and they would be "controlled". I complained about the "Wood Rats" I'd seen in my yard and the gentleman from Vector Control assured me it was my imagination, until I pointed one out running along the fence, and he had to excuse himself to call his boss, because he didn't believe they were in "Mid County" in East Portland. The Birch Tree Across the Street, in the Parking Strip, there now hosts a rats nest, and the city hasn't returned my call.

Mark -
Have a heart, rats are people too (just ask PETA, or the city of Portland). Besides such a minor inconvenience when you consider the positive actions that this will have on the earth (like increasing the rat population).

My dearly departed dog Lili used to love to eviscerate stuffed animals. Then came "the thing that lived under the deck" which I suspected was a rat. Lili was fast then and one morning she presented to me looking mighty happy - I went outside and apparently Lili thought friend rat was a stuffed animal. Took me two five gallon buckets of water to wash the blood off the bricks.

But, end of rat problem.

Last summer I was roused from deep sleep to the sight of a raccoon fight in the fir tree right outside my window. One raccoon was straddling the end of a long branch, which was hanging at a 45 degree angle due to the weight of its visitor. Another raccoon was at the base of the branch, trying repeatedly to approach the enemy, who would bounce wildly up and down to shake the branch, forcing the approaching raccoon to retreat before being shaken off. Then, suddenly, they saw me watching. The werewolf soundtrack ceased, they looked at me with the classic ghetto what-are-you-looking at? facial expressions. I dutifully retreated, not wishing to put them out any further.

This reminds me to say a little incantation for my cats.

Native Oregonian, I recently read about the guy in Moscow who uses a high-tech BB gun with a laser sight to hunt rats, and apparently he's a crack shot. Not only do I approve, but I'd hire him in a heartbeat to take care of my treerat problem.

Bwwaahahahaha! This Stenchy post takes top prize. Hilarious!

Good thing Stenchy got rid of the bike that the rat was riding...

As far as Vector Control goes, poisoning anything is one of the cruelest ways to kill anything, even a rat (and BTW they are pretty smart animals). They hemorraghe (however you spell that) internally and basically bleed out. Nasty.

My dad and I took care of my short infestation with light load 22's. Much more humane because even if you don't hit 'em, the percussion usually kills them. And since they usually run along the ground, if you have a good wood fence you don't need to worry about stray shot. Don't tell anyone I was discharging a rifle in the city limits...

And BTW, my dad was a crack shot in WWII so I was pretty impressed he could shoot rats with a .22. Probably how he stayed alive to have yours truly.

Jack Russel. The most viscous rat killing dogs I've ever seen. Soon to take over Pugs as the preferred dog of Portland.

I use subsonic .22 rounds for all manner of vermin. Quiet and accurate. Not likely to travel far or ricochet. I even use them indoors when firing against cement walls.

Pellet guns work but it's hard to find one with a good rate of fire.