[Allison]

Some of you may know the author of this as Uncle Tricky at cascadeclimbers.com, others may know him as the smiling bartender at the Twisp Brewery, but everyone who knows him, knows him to be funny: Snafflehounds Reloaded

[sooperfly]

Well, he's a great guy, but with this rat difficulty it's obvious he is a transplant. Growing up in the Methow, I had my share of pack rat encounters. Usually a minor nusiance and fun to chase in the mines in the area. Only when they decide to put up residence in your abode, it's war. Mr. bartender should have just seeked out one of really old timers, and they could have solved his problem. This has never failed to work for us. All you need is a regular rat trap, a piece of rope or wire, and a piece of old stove pipe about 3 feet or so long. (Should be easy to scrounge in that area.) What you do is put a couple small holes in the pipe about halfway, run the rope/wire through here fastening the trap inside. You can bait the trap if you like, but it works a lot of the time unbaited. We have found chips, or peanut butter and bacon to be irresistible. Place the stove pipe pretty much anywhere around/in the house. Under decks work great, or in the basement. For whatever reason, even if the trap is unbaited, the pack rats can't seem to help themselves, they just have to check out and run through the stove pipe. So much cleaner than poison too because of the rats propensity to eat the poison, and go off and die in wall where ya can't get to him. Oh, and like mice it's usually rats, not rat.

[paul]

sooperfly, great tip on the enhanced traps. I've had so many rodents living in my walls over the years that I'm claiming them as dependants at tax time. I've had my peanut butter traps licked clean and unsprung. Lately I've wired gummy-bears to the trigger. The stove pipe trick sounds fun. Paul

[sooperfly]