Dad (Bill in Ballaugh) has been enjoying feeding the birds and watching them from his kitchen window. But he phoned me up for advice when he saw a rat helping itself to the bird food.The chances are he's always had rats in his garden. He just hasn't spotted one before. He lives on a hillside in rural Ireland, surrounded by small dairy farms. The landscape will be full of rats, and it's OK. It's probably also full of field mice, foxes, squirrels, bats, rabbits, hares and all sorts of lovely things. If he saw any of those in his garden he'd be delighted, but he's not so keen on the rat. I don't blame him - if I saw a rat I'd wonder if it might come in the house, where it definitely would not be welcome. I wouldn't welcome squirrels or bats etc. in the house either. But still, I don't think spotting a rat in your garden is cause to panic.
There's no need to stop feeding the birds. But there are steps he can take to try to make sure the birds get the food and the rat does not:
- Feed on the bird table, not on the floor.
- Rat-proof the bird table - an inverted cone of metal or chickenwire, or one of those big round tins you get chocolates in at Christmas, inverted and attached round the post, might stop rats climbing up.
- Only feed enough for one day. Feed in the morning, and clear up any leftover food at night. Birds don't come to the birdtable at night so this doesn't deprive them of anything. But it deprives the rat of a midnight snack. I know dad saw his rat in the daytime, but it could have been visiting the table at night for weeks before he saw it.
- I wonder if those squirrel-proof bird feeders also keep rats out? I've seen a spinning bird-feeder - the weight of a squirrel or a rat causes it to spin faster and faster, flinging the unwanted mammal right off. The video is hysterical. I think if I had one I'd be praying for squirrels and rats to vsit it, just for the laugh.
6 comments:
Replace the pole of the bird table with a shiny metal one. However clever rats are I have yet to see one scale a 4' metal pole.
The rats will still eat the food that falls off the table, though, unless you can fashion a shelf to catch the dropped bits (in a way that birds won't land on there, and toss the food onto the floor too...)
...hmm...
I knew we had rats. The made their presence known last year when I had furniture stored in my barn/shed during building work.I wasn't panicking at seeing it, in fact I thought he was quite handsome in his russet brown coat it's just as you say - I don't want him in the house. As for not putting food on the floor, that's the only place the chaffinches feed. They never use the table at the top, or the boxes at the sides, and they are beautiful. I'd miss them if they stopped coming. We do have lots of other wildlife around. I've got two hares resident on the haggard, along with a pheasant. I've seen mink in the garden and a vixen and three cubs patrolling the hedgerow last year. And I know rats are a given in such a rural area.
The Droll Yankee video is great - cause many a titter in the office.
We have recently had rats in our compost heap, which prompoted my post at http://wigglywigglers.blogspot.com/2008/02/rats-and-random-ramblings.html
However, not likely to try the rat recipes. If you put Rat Recipes into Google you get some interesting results!
I have only just come across this so please forgive the 'late' comment BUT I do wonder why you would not welcome bats in your house?????? They do absolutely NO harm whatsoever and are practically always nowhere near where humans are, ie. in the attic ( perhaps ) but even more likely just tucked into the inbetweeny spaces of 'up there somewhere'. Find out all you can about bats and you'll end up like a lot of others who wish fervently that bats would grace and honour them with their presence, even just as a rest/temporary roost - they are the most amazing creatures as you will find out if you endeavour to do so! Cheers, Cornelia
aaaa片, 免費聊天, 咆哮小老鼠影片分享區, 金瓶梅影片, av女優王國, 78論壇, 女同聊天室, 熟女貼圖, 1069壞朋友論壇gay, 淫蕩少女總部, 日本情色派, 平水相逢, 黑澀會美眉無名, 網路小說免費看, 999東洋成人, 免費視訊聊天, 情色電影分享區, 9k躺伯虎聊天室, 傑克論壇, 日本女星杉本彩寫真, 自拍電影免費下載, a片論壇, 情色短片試看, 素人自拍寫真,
做愛的漫畫圖片, 情色電影分享區, 做愛ㄉ影片, 丁字褲美女寫真, 色美眉, 自拍俱樂部首頁, 日本偷自拍圖片, 色情做愛影片, 情色貼圖區, 八國聯軍情色網, 免費線上a片, 淫蕩女孩自拍, 美國a片, 都都成人站, 色情自拍, 本土自拍照片, 熊貓貼圖區, 色情影片, 5278影片網, 脫星寫真圖片, 粉喵聊天室, 金瓶梅18, sex888影片分享區, 1007視訊, 雙贏論壇, 爆爆爽a片免費看, 天堂私服論壇, 情色電影下載, 成人短片, 麗的線上情色小遊戲, 情色動畫免費下載, 日本女優, 小說論壇, 777成人區, showlive影音聊天網, 聊天室尋夢園, 義大利女星寫真集, 韓國a片, 熟女人妻援交, 0204成人, 性感內衣模特兒, 影片, 情色卡通, 85cc免費影城85cc, 本土自拍照片, 成人漫畫區, 18禁, 情人節阿性,
免費成人影音, 彩虹自拍, 小魔女貼影片, 自拍裸體寫真, 禿頭俱樂部, 環球av影音城, 學生色情聊天室, 視訊美女, 辣妹情色圖, 性感卡通美女圖片, 影音, 情色照片 做愛, hilive tv , 忘年之交聊天室, 制服美女, 性感辣妹, ut 女同聊天室, 淫蕩自拍, 處女貼圖貼片區, 聊天ukiss tw, 亞亞成人館, 777成人, 秋瓷炫裸體寫真, 淫蕩天使貼圖, 十八禁成人影音, 禁地論壇, 洪爺淫蕩自拍, 秘書自拍圖片,
Post a Comment