Re: Unknown critter in the house

Posted by paula_oops_sorry on December 17, 2001 at 18:19:30:

In Reply to: Re: Unknown critter in the house posted by paula on December 17, 2001 at 18:14:22:

: : Can somebody help? We have some sort of unknown critter in the house, but I don't know what it is! Our new home is a 200-year old farmhouse in the mountains of Vermont. We have an old stone foundation with gaps everywhere, which I am gradally filling, and holes in floors from old heat pipes, which I am also gradually covering. The house is situated near a brook. The cellar is cold, damp, and unheated and the house is warmer.

: : There is one spot in the kitchen that has been attracting a nocturnal visitor for the past several nights. It nibbles bread in bags, takes approximately one-inch diameter bites of apples, and steals the food from 2 different sized Hav-a-Heart traps without setting the traps off. It leaves a notable odor that seems urine-like, and leaves small dark droppings that are black and somewhatlarger than mouse droppings. It knocks cakes off the top of the refrigerator and makes its way to the top of the kitchen table, maybe jumping from the fridge. What IS this unwelcome visitor, and what do we do about him? (We've named him "Hector.")

: : Complicating matters is the fact that we have two dogs and a parrot, which limits the exterminating options. Help! Suggestions please!?!?!?

Hector the Rat...seems to go togeather...it is a RAT....this does not need to hurt your pets or tear your house up.....put large rat snap-traps around in the cupboard or behind the fridge...use peanut butter as bait...put in inaccessable places where dogies and kitties and humans go...I guess your parrot will be ok but until you catch the rats...I wouldn't let him out of his cage....birdseed is a big attractant to rodents....fruit on the ground...nuts on the ground....lots of grasses for them to hide in and multiply.

I think it's a rat...or maybe 2.

Follow Ups: