Having animals, any kind of animals, comes with a pretty steep learning curve. Most people know about pests that come with cats or dogs, and are familiar with fleas, or at most worms. When you have larger animals there are larger pests involved. Enter rats. I see now why people have barn cats that they feed very little and expect them to hunt for the remainder of their food. Sadly our cats won't take on anything larger than a shrew.
When we first got goats we put their food in the garage thinking it would be safe. The rats found it right away. It took me a week to find the rats. They were coming in from multiple areas including under the garage door through a small gap, and actually digging in under cement for at least twenty feet just to come up through the one foot square dirt hole where the plumbing came in. I had no idea they were so smart! Having had a pet rat at one time I should have seen it coming.
Just over a week ago we moved some hens and a rooster we had separated for breeding purposes back into the fold. The feeder was still in the pen for a few days without a rooster to protect it and the rats found it. T saw the rats running along the back fence to eat and then run back. We thought it was a rat that we had seen sporadically throughout the winter. Today I saw one in the garage eating the chick food when I opened the door fast. I set a trap then went to milk the goats. While milking I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. There was a younger rat looking at me from the doorway. It took off when it saw me.
This meant we had a problem. Next it was to the garage for the pellet gun. I wish there was a humane way to deal with this pest, but I haven't found one. I sat by the back of the chicken run and waited. The rat kept looking out at me and the goats and ducking back into the hole under the fence before I could get a shot off. One thing I have learned is that rats learn fast. No way was I going to take that shot unless I had a clear shot. While waiting there was a snap from down in the goat barn. The barn is actually the half underground cement cellar of a former chicken coop. Anything that is down there can't get out except through a three foot tall window, or through the door. So of course I investigated. The trap was set off, but it was empty. I closed the door and secured the hole under it that they like to use with a brick and wet hay. While I was at it there was a repeating grunting sound from under the hay pallet where the trap had been. It seems that a scarred rat grunts! After looking for any other areas it could run and blocking them with wet hay I lifted the pallet slowly.
This is where it gets crazy. Think clowns and a circus. Think Three Stooges. That rat shot out right past me. I grabbed my weapon of choice; a shovel that happened to be near, and pursued. It went straight under a pallet I thought was blocked. I pulled that pallet up and set it against a wall and off we went again. It jumped the two foot wall between stalls in one leap and went back to the hay pallet only to see that I had lifted it already. Then it made for the door and stanchion. Running after it I came as it realized that there was no escape, so it reversed course. I was standing on plywood and as I tried to reverse too my feet went out from under me. I saw my rubber boots hit the water bucket that was just filled this morning. As I swore loudly the bucket did a full flip in the air and landed on it's bottom in between my legs! Of course half the water landed between my legs. Well, actually in my lap! As my head nearly connected with the ground I looked left to see the rat scurry past my face within inches. At this point my lap was soaking wet, I could feel the damp goat crap water from the floor soaking into my tidy whities, and the rat was untouched.
It was time to outsmart it. I set a piece of the pallet from the hay out from the wall at the bottom, grabbed the pellet gun, turned off the safety and went to scare it out again. I found it under the stanchion where there was a little hay hiding. I managed to get what I thought was a perfect shot off into it's gut. It ran. And ran. And ran. Fifteen minutes it ran. And I kept rooting it out. Finally it stopped in my spot behind the pallet. Back there I had a clear shot from against the wall. Perfect shot. I took it. Right between the eyes. Finally. This is how it's supposed to be. Fast.
There are more, but they can eat my grain for a few more days.
- P
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