In Defense of the Rat
October 10, 2023 9:30 AM Subscribe
Rats are less pestilent and more lovable than we think. Can we learn to live with them? (SL Hakai Magazine)
I feel bad for killing the rats that keep trying to get into my house (including the one who got into my kitchen before I caught it in a daylight affair involving me and two professional exterminators), but the little dudes keep tearing up my walls, pooping and peeing everywhere and trying to eat my tomatoes, persimmons and barley.
Otherwise, they're kinda cute little dudes. I'd keep some domesticated ones for pets if it weren't for their egregiously short lifespans, etc.
posted by drewbage1847 at 10:00 AM on October 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
Otherwise, they're kinda cute little dudes. I'd keep some domesticated ones for pets if it weren't for their egregiously short lifespans, etc.
posted by drewbage1847 at 10:00 AM on October 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
Like many biting or otherwise noxious insects and pests, I do not care that they exist. I do care if they exist in my dwelling, and if they cross that line I will kill them without remorse. If they want to live, they will choose to live elsewhere.
posted by aramaic at 10:13 AM on October 10, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by aramaic at 10:13 AM on October 10, 2023 [6 favorites]
(including the one who got into my kitchen before I caught it in a daylight affair involving me and two professional exterminators)
I had to read this several times before I realized it was not some sort of lurid humblebrag….
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:15 AM on October 10, 2023 [18 favorites]
I had to read this several times before I realized it was not some sort of lurid humblebrag….
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:15 AM on October 10, 2023 [18 favorites]
I'm going with Betteridge's Law of Headlines on this one.
NO
posted by fimbulvetr at 10:40 AM on October 10, 2023 [5 favorites]
NO
posted by fimbulvetr at 10:40 AM on October 10, 2023 [5 favorites]
My D-in-L kept rats for years and was devastated when each of their short little lives ended. They can be charming animals, especially when they have various lovely coat colors and/or Velveteen or curly Rex fur. They come in cute Dumbo (low set ears) and Manx (no tail) versions. (But not the hairless version, PLEASE! That's wrong, just wrong) They love to cuddle and nap with people, especially on a winter's day.
That said, I don't want to live with them, not necessarily just as pets, but certainly the black or brown wild rats. No matter how clean they are kept, there's always that musky stinky ratty odor.
With wild rats, even if you have a fairly clean personal environment, which we don't given sewage, pet feces, food garbage and other trash, they are dirty and spread disease where humans live. Plague may be the big one, but hanta virus is carried by cotton rats also. They also carry worms, tapeworms, pinworms, and red worms (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) which is rarely transmitted to people but does happen. Rats don't care if food is in rat-proof containers--they still poop in the cupboards and on your clean dishes.
We owe wild rats a quick and painless death to keep them out of our homes, and we owe lab rats experimentation that is pain-free and the best captive environment we can provide to them. Their lifespan is so short, we can afford to give them a retirement when we're done with them. (Better than what human retirees get, at least.)
posted by BlueHorse at 10:42 AM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
That said, I don't want to live with them, not necessarily just as pets, but certainly the black or brown wild rats. No matter how clean they are kept, there's always that musky stinky ratty odor.
With wild rats, even if you have a fairly clean personal environment, which we don't given sewage, pet feces, food garbage and other trash, they are dirty and spread disease where humans live. Plague may be the big one, but hanta virus is carried by cotton rats also. They also carry worms, tapeworms, pinworms, and red worms (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) which is rarely transmitted to people but does happen. Rats don't care if food is in rat-proof containers--they still poop in the cupboards and on your clean dishes.
We owe wild rats a quick and painless death to keep them out of our homes, and we owe lab rats experimentation that is pain-free and the best captive environment we can provide to them. Their lifespan is so short, we can afford to give them a retirement when we're done with them. (Better than what human retirees get, at least.)
posted by BlueHorse at 10:42 AM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
No
posted by youthenrage at 11:47 AM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by youthenrage at 11:47 AM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm frustrated right now because we have a rat problem in our neighborhood and I generally like rats but creeping around the yard I don't love it. People leave the dumpsters completely open and the people across the way leave food ON THE GROUND for squirrels so it's a friking rat parade every night. I wish there was a way to say hey rats not my yard ok 😕
posted by tiny frying pan at 1:11 PM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by tiny frying pan at 1:11 PM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
(I've heard they hate peppermint oil but the idea of having to re-apply that daily to my yard sounds like I probably won't keep up with it...and city rats probably don't care anyway)
posted by tiny frying pan at 1:13 PM on October 10, 2023
posted by tiny frying pan at 1:13 PM on October 10, 2023
They're called Siberian hamsters.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:29 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:29 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Rats are lovely pets but I they only live two years and I just can't handle being that sad that often.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:31 PM on October 10, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:31 PM on October 10, 2023 [6 favorites]
//Rats are lovely pets but I they only live two years and I just can't handle being that sad that often.
Pet rats can sort of rewire how you mourn pets. I cherish my time with them and mourn them in little spats while they’re still around, knowing I barely get any time with them. When they pass, it stings but I’ve already studied myself for it but it feels like a close by eventuality that I’m steeled for than a life shattering tragedy like when other pets pass. It’s not because my rats are less important, they just live on different timelines that I’ve adjusted to.
posted by Betty_effn_White at 1:39 PM on October 10, 2023 [8 favorites]
Pet rats can sort of rewire how you mourn pets. I cherish my time with them and mourn them in little spats while they’re still around, knowing I barely get any time with them. When they pass, it stings but I’ve already studied myself for it but it feels like a close by eventuality that I’m steeled for than a life shattering tragedy like when other pets pass. It’s not because my rats are less important, they just live on different timelines that I’ve adjusted to.
posted by Betty_effn_White at 1:39 PM on October 10, 2023 [8 favorites]
We rarely think of infrastructure as habitat, but it is. It’s not rats’ fault that they live short, unhealthy lives in sewers and trash facilities, it’s planners’ and engineers’ fault for designing waste infrastructure that serves as unhealthy rat habitat.
Life fills bodies of water and eats organic matter, so design your water and waste infrastructure as healthy habitat for beneficial creatures. Otherwise it will become unhealthy, often miserable habitat for unwanted creatures.
posted by Headfullofair at 1:51 PM on October 10, 2023 [5 favorites]
Life fills bodies of water and eats organic matter, so design your water and waste infrastructure as healthy habitat for beneficial creatures. Otherwise it will become unhealthy, often miserable habitat for unwanted creatures.
posted by Headfullofair at 1:51 PM on October 10, 2023 [5 favorites]
A couple of weeks ago, I discovered a rat trapped in my bedroom closet. Since I believe in humane capture, I ordered a rat trap online and waited for it to arrive. In the intervening two nights, I endured the rat struggling to claw its way out, climbing and failing again and again. It was horrible.
Then, in the early morning hours, I realized my mistake. I wanted to trap the rat because I wanted to control the rat. The rat was clearly motivated to get out, so why not just... let it go?
I closed all the doors in the house between my bedroom and the patio door. I left the patio door open to the night air. Then I opened the closet door and lay down quietly on my bed. After about an hour, the rat finally trusted that I wasn't coming in to kill it. It stuck its nose out, looked around, then scrambled down the hallway to the exit.
I suppose that there are people who would hate on me for letting a rat escape back into the wild. But I figure the rat and its kin were there before and not bothering me, so why not just let it go and live its life?
posted by SPrintF at 2:07 PM on October 10, 2023 [16 favorites]
Then, in the early morning hours, I realized my mistake. I wanted to trap the rat because I wanted to control the rat. The rat was clearly motivated to get out, so why not just... let it go?
I closed all the doors in the house between my bedroom and the patio door. I left the patio door open to the night air. Then I opened the closet door and lay down quietly on my bed. After about an hour, the rat finally trusted that I wasn't coming in to kill it. It stuck its nose out, looked around, then scrambled down the hallway to the exit.
I suppose that there are people who would hate on me for letting a rat escape back into the wild. But I figure the rat and its kin were there before and not bothering me, so why not just let it go and live its life?
posted by SPrintF at 2:07 PM on October 10, 2023 [16 favorites]
That's beautiful, SPrintF.
posted by tiny frying pan at 2:23 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by tiny frying pan at 2:23 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I suppose that there are people who would hate on me for letting a rat escape back into the wild. But I figure the rat and its kin were there before and not bothering me, so why not just let it go and live its life?
As aramaic said, if they stay out of human homes and buildings, sure. Once they enter, though, they must die. Following on this, since of course they're not going to just stay out, they must all die without mercy, pity, or remorse. Allowing a rat colony to flourish, while it may not bother you personally, could very well be harming other people.
posted by star gentle uterus at 3:17 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
As aramaic said, if they stay out of human homes and buildings, sure. Once they enter, though, they must die. Following on this, since of course they're not going to just stay out, they must all die without mercy, pity, or remorse. Allowing a rat colony to flourish, while it may not bother you personally, could very well be harming other people.
posted by star gentle uterus at 3:17 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I don't think letting one rat go that clearly was going to leave means you're responsible for other's rat experience misery. Ouch take of the day in response to a nice story of kindness. 🤷🏽♂️
posted by tiny frying pan at 4:02 PM on October 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by tiny frying pan at 4:02 PM on October 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
creatures have a right to exist in accordance with their natureWell that's the thing isn't it, 'their nature' does a lot of work here. Rats and people exist in a fundamentally altered natural world, of cities and of complex food and waste systems; it's a fundamentally unnatural state of affairs, that rats and humans happen to be extraordinarily well adapted to. On my own continent---Australia---both of us have had horrific consequences for native species. You can't pick and choose once you start down this route, you have to consider the existence-rights of bandicoots and bettongs and lizards, and all the birds and insects that rats decimate; you've also got to accept that where you have large rat populations, you also attract brown and red belly black snakes. Make your choices about what you want to populate your suburbs, but the snakes are strongly protected under legislation, and the rats aren't. Speaking of which: 'bylaws that give tenants the right to live in rat-free housing' are a great idea, but the rats can't read, someone needs to do enforcement.
I am absolutely not a guns person, and we have very good laws that will stop me ever becoming one, but I used to itch for a .410 to blast the shiny black rats at my last place, off the top of the fence where they used to saunter, into the next world to a ratty Valhalla. My neighbour kept chickens, in a terrace backyard, and despite all pleading, he fed them by throwing grain into the grass. Don't know what he expected.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:08 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Allowing a rat colony to flourish, while it may not bother you personally, could very well be harming other people.
Maybe. I did think about that. But I've lived in my house on the edge of a canyon for over 45 years, and this is the first time I was even aware that there were rats in the area. (TIL about roof rats. I guess that explains why my trapped rat kept trying to climb out of my closet.) If they are so uncommon, I have trouble viewing them as a problem.
Living here, I've seen a lot of wildlife: rabbits, squirrels, possums, skunks, coyotes (and of course lizards, snakes, crows and owls). Rats just seem like one more creature trying to make its way in the world.
posted by SPrintF at 5:50 PM on October 10, 2023
Maybe. I did think about that. But I've lived in my house on the edge of a canyon for over 45 years, and this is the first time I was even aware that there were rats in the area. (TIL about roof rats. I guess that explains why my trapped rat kept trying to climb out of my closet.) If they are so uncommon, I have trouble viewing them as a problem.
Living here, I've seen a lot of wildlife: rabbits, squirrels, possums, skunks, coyotes (and of course lizards, snakes, crows and owls). Rats just seem like one more creature trying to make its way in the world.
posted by SPrintF at 5:50 PM on October 10, 2023
If I had head someone say "roof rat" I'd assume that was slang for squirrels.
posted by RobotHero at 6:33 PM on October 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by RobotHero at 6:33 PM on October 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
Rat person here.
Getting to know rats, and other rat people, has taught me so much about the human capacity for compassion.
Especially the rat rescue people. Loving a creature that's seen as a disposable toy / vermin by everyone else.
posted by Zumbador at 8:24 PM on October 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
Getting to know rats, and other rat people, has taught me so much about the human capacity for compassion.
Especially the rat rescue people. Loving a creature that's seen as a disposable toy / vermin by everyone else.
posted by Zumbador at 8:24 PM on October 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
Everything said about rats here applies to people.
Probably moreso.
posted by AlSweigart at 9:00 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Probably moreso.
posted by AlSweigart at 9:00 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm frustrated right now because we have a rat problem in our neighborhood and I generally like rats but creeping around the yard I don't love it. People leave the dumpsters completely open and the people across the way leave food ON THE GROUND for squirrels so it's a friking rat parade every night.
Sounds more like a people problem than a rat problem, that.
Everything said about rats here applies to people.
I've often thought of rats as almost a mirror species for humans. They're sociable, smart, adaptable, prolific, inquisitive, like us. And many of their worst qualities when feral are very close to our worst qualities when we are trying to survive in difficult conditions. Perhaps that's why most people hate them so much, it's not a pleasant thing to see yourself reflected back at your worst.
posted by tomsk at 12:19 AM on October 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
Sounds more like a people problem than a rat problem, that.
Everything said about rats here applies to people.
I've often thought of rats as almost a mirror species for humans. They're sociable, smart, adaptable, prolific, inquisitive, like us. And many of their worst qualities when feral are very close to our worst qualities when we are trying to survive in difficult conditions. Perhaps that's why most people hate them so much, it's not a pleasant thing to see yourself reflected back at your worst.
posted by tomsk at 12:19 AM on October 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
I've often thought of rats as almost a mirror species for humans.
Same is true for wolves. We see the potential for violence in our own hearts, and search for an animal to project it onto.
posted by Zumbador at 1:15 AM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Same is true for wolves. We see the potential for violence in our own hearts, and search for an animal to project it onto.
posted by Zumbador at 1:15 AM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yep people caused the rat issue, thats how it goes in the city. But it's frustrating that there is nothing I can do about it.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:22 AM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:22 AM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Former rat researcher (now I'm in administration). Pretty clear from my personal observations that the best research results come from the people who actually care about the rats as living beings. One of my colleagues didn't like them, and it was clear that they recognized this.
I told myself that I'd stop working with them if I ever stopped feeling bad for them. I changed jobs well before I lost any empathy.
Anyone who's ever had and loved a pet rat can tell you what cool little creatures they are, if you give them a chance.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:48 AM on October 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
I told myself that I'd stop working with them if I ever stopped feeling bad for them. I changed jobs well before I lost any empathy.
Anyone who's ever had and loved a pet rat can tell you what cool little creatures they are, if you give them a chance.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:48 AM on October 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
The thing is, shooting a rat, or 100 rats doesn’t do anything except give you a thrill and emperor your neighbors. Rats will breed up to the carrying capacity of the area (mostly food availability) in a shockingly quick time. You can eradicate them from islands, but on any large not easily-bounded area, forget it. I read a book about rats a decade or so ago that asserted that, in North America, the only city that had even slightly controlled its rat population was Milwaukee, which had extremely draconian sanitation laws and regulations downtown to keep food unavailable.
It’s the same deal with cats — they breed to quickly to cull, but cats live long enough that trap, neuter, shots, release at least maintains a stable population of relatively disease-free animals. Rats don’t live long enough for that to be practical.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:48 AM on October 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
It’s the same deal with cats — they breed to quickly to cull, but cats live long enough that trap, neuter, shots, release at least maintains a stable population of relatively disease-free animals. Rats don’t live long enough for that to be practical.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:48 AM on October 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Honestly if I didn't have an oblivious elderly dog to walk late at night I wouldn't be particularly fussed about the rat problem in my neighborhood. (Which is severe enough to have merited an entire long-term investigative report in our local news.)
The rats are just doing their thing, sure, but so is a dog sniffing a bush. We already avoid all the alleys, never walk near cars (where the rats are chewing through everyone's car wiring!) and jingle keys and tags to announce our presence. But given the sheer numbers of them, I live in terror that she will go to sniff a bush and get herself bit, and so I repeatedly beg 311 to lay out traps.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:48 AM on October 11, 2023
The rats are just doing their thing, sure, but so is a dog sniffing a bush. We already avoid all the alleys, never walk near cars (where the rats are chewing through everyone's car wiring!) and jingle keys and tags to announce our presence. But given the sheer numbers of them, I live in terror that she will go to sniff a bush and get herself bit, and so I repeatedly beg 311 to lay out traps.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:48 AM on October 11, 2023
I read a book about rats a decade or so ago that asserted that, in North America, the only city that had even slightly controlled its rat population was Milwaukee, which had extremely draconian sanitation laws and regulations downtown to keep food unavailable.
Absolutely not true! The province of Alberta is Rat Free, and proud of it. Last I checked it was part of North America and has a bunch of cities. They even have a provincial rat control programme to maintain their rat-free status.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:45 AM on October 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
Absolutely not true! The province of Alberta is Rat Free, and proud of it. Last I checked it was part of North America and has a bunch of cities. They even have a provincial rat control programme to maintain their rat-free status.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:45 AM on October 11, 2023 [5 favorites]
I'll grant that they're quite intelligent, but clean? Just because rats groomed an ink mark off their tails? There are a number of greasy trails in my basement that were made by something. Our childhood pet rats groomed themselves all of the time but they also constantly leaked piss as they walked across us (marking, I'm assuming) and shat everyplace - they had a cage but they spent long periods of time free roaming in our rooms.
The food thing in the article was another point I had a bit of contention with. Again, talking about hooded rats rather than Norwegians, but ours considered toothpaste and Clearasil to be food, which we discovered after they had gnawed through a travel toiletry bag during some free roaming session in his room. So, does "don't leave food out" here mean the equivalent of "pretend you're camping and need to put anything that might have a scent in a bear canister"? Not to mention paper ephemera, fabric, cardboard boxes... Curious to hear more about how Alberta and Milwaukee actually dealt with this.
posted by queensissy at 9:56 AM on October 11, 2023
The food thing in the article was another point I had a bit of contention with. Again, talking about hooded rats rather than Norwegians, but ours considered toothpaste and Clearasil to be food, which we discovered after they had gnawed through a travel toiletry bag during some free roaming session in his room. So, does "don't leave food out" here mean the equivalent of "pretend you're camping and need to put anything that might have a scent in a bear canister"? Not to mention paper ephemera, fabric, cardboard boxes... Curious to hear more about how Alberta and Milwaukee actually dealt with this.
posted by queensissy at 9:56 AM on October 11, 2023
I read a book about rats a decade or so ago that asserted that, in North America, the only city that had even slightly controlled its rat population was Milwaukee
Alberta would like a word
posted by pullayup at 10:32 AM on October 11, 2023
Alberta would like a word
posted by pullayup at 10:32 AM on October 11, 2023
Everything said about rats here applies to people.
I've often thought of rats as almost a mirror species for humans.
I love rats and I have had them as pets many times, starting when I was a kid.
This is common trope among people who like rats, that people don't like them because they're too human. They eat all the same food and more, they go wherever we go, they're intelligent, they're prolific breeders, and may even use tools. Any rat pet owner can vouch for how clever they are with their hands and able to open complicated locks on cages.
Anyway, rats are *adorable* and like little pocket dogs. Except they have thumbs and little grabby hands that can actually do things that dogs can't do.
Rats are cool. When I was a kid I used to take them everywhere on my shoulders and they'd live in my hoodie or pockets. I even got into trouble a few times bringing them to school. Taking them out on adventures to the local park was always fun because they liked digging in the sand or just going for a run and bounce around the grass and follow me around.
My only regrets about having pet rats is not having enough male rats because they're just way more chill, and if I ever get pet rats again I'll go with at least two boys.
And on the flip side... One of the most emotionally traumatic things I have ever done - at least as far as having volunteered to do it - was dispatching most of a large established colony of feral rats in the art/music/weirdo co-op I was living at in San Francisco so we could pass a health inspection.
I knew we couldn't eradicate the whole colony and the whole thing was pointless, because the building was right next to very large farmer's market with way too many food sources, and plenty of wild bluff lands to live in. Our space was part of the problem, too, because any kitchen with 20-30 depressed weirdos was always going to be a mess, but even if it wasn't we were right between a huge food source and plenty of wild living space.
I volunteered for this task because I liked rats, I knew rats, and I already knew that if I didn't volunteer, anyone who did was going to totally botch the job and prolong their suffering. Because one guy was already thinking he could easily take care of them with a super basic spring-cocked BB gun and taking pot shots at them, which definitely wasn't going to work. You'd need at least a .22 or high powered .177 air rifle for that, not a crappy little Daisy toy BB gun, and, no, you're not that good of a shot anyway.
Warning, this might get too deep into the grizzly details but, man, rats are tough.
Even big rat spring traps weren't enough for these big, tough Norwegian rats. Glue traps were just a complete horror show. I spent like 24 hours basically waiting for traps to pop and then drowning them in buckets of water as fast as I could every time one of them got caught in a spring trap. And since I knew enough about rats I knew they would avoid any used traps so I had to clean and bleach every single used trap before resetting and baiting them.
And when you go after a rat colony in a hands on way like this, they totally KNOW it's on and that it's war. I basically to armor up in heavy boots and coveralls, a helmet with a face shield and vintage leather hockey gloves and wage war on those poor rats. Those big brown wild rats are tough as nails, and they were actively coming after me. I had rats popping up 3-4 feet off the ground and actually screaming at me and and chasing me all over the place. It was like movies The Secret of NIMH and Ben got mixed up together in some kind of extra messed up horror show.
And the whole time I'm just like "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." and extra traumatized because I actually like rats and felt like it was some kind of cosmic-grade betrayal and I still occasionally have nightmares about all of that.
We did end up passing the inspection, and whatever rats were left laid low and stayed out of sight during the whole inspection. I even overheard the health inspector commented something like "I have no idea how you guys don't have rats with the farmer's market right there, so well done whatever you're doing..." and my internal monologue is just like "Yeah, I reeeeally don't want to talk about that."
posted by loquacious at 11:05 AM on October 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
I've often thought of rats as almost a mirror species for humans.
I love rats and I have had them as pets many times, starting when I was a kid.
This is common trope among people who like rats, that people don't like them because they're too human. They eat all the same food and more, they go wherever we go, they're intelligent, they're prolific breeders, and may even use tools. Any rat pet owner can vouch for how clever they are with their hands and able to open complicated locks on cages.
Anyway, rats are *adorable* and like little pocket dogs. Except they have thumbs and little grabby hands that can actually do things that dogs can't do.
Rats are cool. When I was a kid I used to take them everywhere on my shoulders and they'd live in my hoodie or pockets. I even got into trouble a few times bringing them to school. Taking them out on adventures to the local park was always fun because they liked digging in the sand or just going for a run and bounce around the grass and follow me around.
My only regrets about having pet rats is not having enough male rats because they're just way more chill, and if I ever get pet rats again I'll go with at least two boys.
And on the flip side... One of the most emotionally traumatic things I have ever done - at least as far as having volunteered to do it - was dispatching most of a large established colony of feral rats in the art/music/weirdo co-op I was living at in San Francisco so we could pass a health inspection.
I knew we couldn't eradicate the whole colony and the whole thing was pointless, because the building was right next to very large farmer's market with way too many food sources, and plenty of wild bluff lands to live in. Our space was part of the problem, too, because any kitchen with 20-30 depressed weirdos was always going to be a mess, but even if it wasn't we were right between a huge food source and plenty of wild living space.
I volunteered for this task because I liked rats, I knew rats, and I already knew that if I didn't volunteer, anyone who did was going to totally botch the job and prolong their suffering. Because one guy was already thinking he could easily take care of them with a super basic spring-cocked BB gun and taking pot shots at them, which definitely wasn't going to work. You'd need at least a .22 or high powered .177 air rifle for that, not a crappy little Daisy toy BB gun, and, no, you're not that good of a shot anyway.
Warning, this might get too deep into the grizzly details but, man, rats are tough.
Even big rat spring traps weren't enough for these big, tough Norwegian rats. Glue traps were just a complete horror show. I spent like 24 hours basically waiting for traps to pop and then drowning them in buckets of water as fast as I could every time one of them got caught in a spring trap. And since I knew enough about rats I knew they would avoid any used traps so I had to clean and bleach every single used trap before resetting and baiting them.
And when you go after a rat colony in a hands on way like this, they totally KNOW it's on and that it's war. I basically to armor up in heavy boots and coveralls, a helmet with a face shield and vintage leather hockey gloves and wage war on those poor rats. Those big brown wild rats are tough as nails, and they were actively coming after me. I had rats popping up 3-4 feet off the ground and actually screaming at me and and chasing me all over the place. It was like movies The Secret of NIMH and Ben got mixed up together in some kind of extra messed up horror show.
And the whole time I'm just like "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." and extra traumatized because I actually like rats and felt like it was some kind of cosmic-grade betrayal and I still occasionally have nightmares about all of that.
We did end up passing the inspection, and whatever rats were left laid low and stayed out of sight during the whole inspection. I even overheard the health inspector commented something like "I have no idea how you guys don't have rats with the farmer's market right there, so well done whatever you're doing..." and my internal monologue is just like "Yeah, I reeeeally don't want to talk about that."
posted by loquacious at 11:05 AM on October 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
Loquacious, that's awful. As in awe inspiring and also terrible.
I've had to do some extermination, rats and similar, and I always feel a little bad. Like, I'll do it, I get the bigger picture, but they're just little critters, living life in their own way that I happen to perceive as terrible and interfering with mine. The power imbalance always seems unfair.
The funny thing is, while I don't follow the article as far as rats, I have had a change of heart about cockroaches. Assuming you are able to keep your surroundings tidy enough that any you find moseying on through are adults out on a scavenge, and you don't actually have an infestation in your living space, they don't really bother me any more than flies or something. Outside I have no revulsion. Inside I'll squish them out of caution, but have nothing against them.
posted by jellywerker at 2:33 PM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've had to do some extermination, rats and similar, and I always feel a little bad. Like, I'll do it, I get the bigger picture, but they're just little critters, living life in their own way that I happen to perceive as terrible and interfering with mine. The power imbalance always seems unfair.
The funny thing is, while I don't follow the article as far as rats, I have had a change of heart about cockroaches. Assuming you are able to keep your surroundings tidy enough that any you find moseying on through are adults out on a scavenge, and you don't actually have an infestation in your living space, they don't really bother me any more than flies or something. Outside I have no revulsion. Inside I'll squish them out of caution, but have nothing against them.
posted by jellywerker at 2:33 PM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I think loquacious just posted one of those things we will be referring back to for years
we have moved on from cheese to rats, naturally
posted by elkevelvet at 4:13 PM on October 11, 2023
we have moved on from cheese to rats, naturally
posted by elkevelvet at 4:13 PM on October 11, 2023
I think loquacious just posted one of those things we will be referring back to for years
Oh God, I hope not. Though, my building-mates definitely looked at me differently after that night. Granted a whole lot of them were vegan.
But, yeah, I sure did murder like 20-30 chihuahua sized rats that day and night but it probably saved the co-op from being shut down or condemned.
posted by loquacious at 4:41 PM on October 11, 2023
Oh God, I hope not. Though, my building-mates definitely looked at me differently after that night. Granted a whole lot of them were vegan.
But, yeah, I sure did murder like 20-30 chihuahua sized rats that day and night but it probably saved the co-op from being shut down or condemned.
posted by loquacious at 4:41 PM on October 11, 2023
My brother had white rats and taught them to run mazes. They were lovely pets. I have a dog, a lovely pet. Wild, untrained, unneutered, rats, dogs, cats, mice are a problem. Wild dogs will harass wildlife, eat/harm domestic chickens, may threaten humans. Mice got in to my car during Covid, ate wiring and wrecked the ventilation system so I had no heat or AC. Mice got in to my house the winter I had no dog, ruined food and some stored items, were stinky and gross. Wild animals will multiply to beyond the food available, and then things get really unpleasant.
They deserve a humane end. I tried humane traps for mice, you really have to get the mouse to a new location a couple miles away quickly, or it will be too weak to survive. I used snap traps. Now my house has mouse scent trails, so I will be using snap traps again in the basement where the dog doesn't visit, possibly in the kitchen, under a cabinet where the dog can't try to get to the peanut butter bait.
The spray bottle of peppermint that was sitting on the stairs fell over and spilled. The mice may avoid the stairs for a while.
The illustrations in the article are quite charming.
posted by theora55 at 1:34 PM on October 16, 2023
They deserve a humane end. I tried humane traps for mice, you really have to get the mouse to a new location a couple miles away quickly, or it will be too weak to survive. I used snap traps. Now my house has mouse scent trails, so I will be using snap traps again in the basement where the dog doesn't visit, possibly in the kitchen, under a cabinet where the dog can't try to get to the peanut butter bait.
The spray bottle of peppermint that was sitting on the stairs fell over and spilled. The mice may avoid the stairs for a while.
The illustrations in the article are quite charming.
posted by theora55 at 1:34 PM on October 16, 2023
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posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:57 AM on October 10, 2023 [22 favorites]