rodent problem

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  • #597960

    alicekuder
    Participant

    Can anyone recommend a good local pest control company? I suddenly have evidence of rodents in my basement now that I no longer have a dog in residence down there.

    #717519

    hammerhead
    Participant

    Pesticide free you can relocate a feral cat and that should take care of the problem, and yes I am serious.

    #717520

    cclarue
    Member

    HH how does that work??we have seen rats running along the back fence… ewww

    #717521

    maplesyrup
    Participant

    We’ve used Eden in the past. Not sure if it’s exactly locally owned but they do have an office in South Park. And they got rid of the problem.

    #717522

    HunterG
    Participant

    Go for the feral cat!

    #717523

    hammerhead
    Participant

    Lots of info to much for this, but basically, you would be saving a feral cat(s) that ends up in a shelter to be killed. Well in general feral cats will hunt rats or mice, now that being said, not all ferals will hunt but the smell of a cat being around does help. We relocated feral cats to barn ALL the time and the process does work.

    If you would like more info on this you can call me at 206-427-6454 or email feraltrapping@gmail.com.

    #717524

    angelescrest
    Participant

    Pam–Can you give a bit more info in your posting? Where does the feral cat live? Eat? Any social interactions with humans?

    Thanks!

    #717525

    hammerhead
    Participant

    ok there is an acclimation period of about a month which mean the feral cat(s) would need to be a large pen or even a garage that it can NOT escape from. YES they will use a litter box don’t worry about that part. All the human has to do is feed and water it and give it a warm place to stay or be safe. Again no rescuer can guarantee the cat will hunt. It is better than using pesticides and those nasty traps. Now as the caretaker of the cat(s) there could possibly be some interaction but this will depend on the cat itself NO it will NOT attack. Feral cats DO NOT attack, they will run away and hide.

    I kinda wanted to keep this on the down low as there are some people who HATE cats (feral or friendly) outside pooping and/or spraying in their yard. (This is why you should always keep a litter box for the cat(s))

    I am sure this will get some negative responses but whatever, trying give you another option instead of poisons. It does not cost anything other than feeding the cat(s). Now maybe down the road it may need something medically but lets not worry about that right now. So hopefully I was able to give you enough info with out boring you and even pissing some off.

    #717526

    cclarue
    Member

    I will take cats over rats any day!! West seattle has rats and lots of them I was in denial until I saw them in broad daylight acting like they owned my back yard. We have 4 fruit trees which doesn’t help. I thought my stepdad was crazy before i saw them when he wanted to add some caulking to my storage area that was built as an addition to the house fairly recently and looks pretty nice and secure… I’m glad I let him do it!! I would love to have a feral cat hanging around hunting!!

    #717527

    christopherboffoli
    Participant

    John at Adept Pest Control is excellent: http://www.adeptpest.com/

    Their focus is on alternatives to poison and physical exclusion from the property.

    A few years ago we had some rats coming over from an improperly-baited trap at a neglected neighboring property. John did a great job of verifying that there were no rats currently in the crawlspace and added metal mesh to places where they seemed to be getting through.

    John actually came out recently for a check-up and he didn’t want to charge me anything. Really nice guy.

    #717528

    HunterG
    Participant

    I still say go with the cats!!

    Hello, food chain folks, ever heard of it? If a cat can get rid of a rodent problem without horrible chemicals being used, isn’t that a good thing?

    #717529

    christopherboffoli
    Participant

    Just make sure the cats are fiercer than these softies:

    Honestly. What is the world coming to? If it were up to me these cats would lose their union cards.

    #717530

    I concurr that cats are pretty good at rodent control… if they don’t get all of them… their presence on the property will be a good deterence for possible future invasions… though as you may know cats like to play w/ their victims… so as in my personal experience … my two cats easily dealt with the rat invasion living in the ivy surrounding the bldg… but they had fun doing it… there was usually one or two rats on my front door step over the next few weeks… I had the feeling that my cats were either showing off their kills or offerring gifts… so you may have to handle/deal with a few dead or living-wounded rats…

    #717531

    hammerhead
    Participant

    Curiouslyinquisitive you are right they are just showing you what they did for you:)

    christopherboffoli great video, again not going to promise any feral I relocate will hunt, but the scent of a cat will detour the problem.

    FCAT

    #717532

    redblack
    Participant

    coyotes also eat rats. i’m still not sure where you can find it locally, but i’ve heard that coyote urine is a good alternative to pesticides.

    and, no, i don’t know how people procure coyote urine.

    oh. looky:

    http://www.predatorpee.com/

    more than you’d ever want to know… but with free shipping.

    #717533

    Sue
    Participant

    I had a cat many years ago that was so gentle that he would catch birds and mice, but would hold them gently in his teeth, without harming them, and then bring them inside and say “look mom, a gift!” and drop it on the kitchen floor, at which time it would run or fly throughout the house. :)

    #717534

    alicekuder
    Participant

    The feral cat idea is one I never would have thought of. I’m not much of a cat person and don’t want to adopt a cat as a pet, but this might be a great alternative!

    I’ll give John at Adept a call as well, to hear his approach.

    Thanks, all :)

    #717535

    lucky chick
    Member

    Please, please, please reconsider a feral cat. They are really horrible for songbirds.

    Please just think about it and read any of the widely available information.

    http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/index.html

    Letting a domesticated animal loose in an urbanizing area where native bird are concentrated on too-small breeding territories is not nature taking its course.

    #717536

    justcuz
    Member

    lucky chick, “really horrible for songbirds” is not necessarily fact. There is widely varied opinion, research, support and many – including myself – believe that ferals are no more a “danger” to birds than human encroachment or people’s pet cats who are allowed outside. This information is also widely available.

    #717537

    lucky chick
    Member

    Actually, it is fact. Here’s a very short list of peer-reviewed research, much of it local (and yes, I’m familiar with the outdated Comam and Brunner 1972-?)-

    Actually, all the current lit is reviewed here:

    Longcore, T., C. Rich, and L. M. Sullivan. 2009. Critical assessment of claims regarding management of feral cats by trap–neuter–return. Conservation Biology 23(4):887-894

    and local lit here:

    Marzluff, J.M., R. Bowman, and R. Donnelly, editors. 2001. Avian Conservation and Ecology in an Urbanizing World. Kluwar Academic Press, Norwell, MA. 585pp.

    .

    Marzluff, J.M and K. Ewing. 2001. Restoration of fragmented landscapes for the conservation of birds: a general framework and specific recommendations for urbanizing landscapes. Restor. Ecol. 9:280-292.

    #717538

    justcuz
    Member

    Kudos, but I’m not going to engage in a battle of the Google with you.

    #717539

    lucky chick
    Member

    It’s not googled, it’s what I do professionally.

    #717540

    F16CrewChief
    Member

    Get another dog. Maybe a Schnauzer(sp)?

    #717541

    Lucky Chick, who on Earth pays you to write on neighborhood blogs about how feral cats have an adverse impact on songbirds? Is there a big demand for your particular skillset? I want to be a fly on the wall at the unemployment office if you ever get layed off. Don’t hate me – it’s just a poor attempt at humor (at your expense). I am sure you are very good at what you do and are certainly very passionate about it. It just struck me as funny. I should have probably hit delete instead of post but occassionally we all make errors in judgement so here’s mine. . . . . delete or post, delete or post, delete or. . . .

    #717542

    hammerhead
    Participant

    Woo Woo Lucky Chick, First you are dead wrong all those statistics are very ONE side, and a few of them are kind of old each area of the USA is different.

    Here in WESTERN WA feral cats are nocturnal, birds in this area are diurnal.(yes a big word) I can take you to over 30 sites of feral cats and prove to you that bird population is NOT depleted. I have 5 and I have yet to find a dead song bird. I even have hummingbirds.

    I even just got a call from the Seattle Center of a colony and they don’t find dead birds ever, but they don’t have any rats or mice.

    So if you really want to come and see how feral cats survive then lets go for a ride and I can educate you. As of a matter fact I am trapping over 60 cats this weekend. So give me a call or get your facts straight for Western WA.

    Again to make myself very clear this is for Western Wa. This is NOT Los Angeles where it always warm and different birds exist.

    Pesticides are far more worse than a feral cat ever will be, do you fertilizer your yard?

    Domestic cats are actually more a problem to birds in general then feral cats too.

    FCAT

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