Eggs (week ending 9/30): 20My daughter has had a couple of rat sightings over the last few days, so Friday night I decided to try a new tactic - the same one I use to train dogs. Namely, I identify an animal's behavior, and then exploit it.
Eggs, September 2006: 56
Eggs (9/1/06 to date): 56
plus sixty or seventy collected 7/06 - 8/06
In the case of a dog, I take something they already do (say, jump up) and put it to work to create an impressive trick (teaching a dog to jump through a hoop). I plan to do this with Ripley, who tends to jump up and put her forepaws up on the gate to the barnyard. So I'm going to use that and teach her to close and hold the gate.
In the case of the rat, I picked up the Jaws Of Death-type rat trap I'd bought at Tractor Supply. I'd baited it with peanut butter to no effect. Since there was evidence the rats were after the scratch grain (before I bought an aluminum can to hold it), I baited it with scratch and put it on top of the container that used to hold the scratch (that I'd just found fresh rat droppings on).
Twelve hours later the trap was gone. I wondered if maybe a raccoon wasn't walking around, wearing it on one paw, but that turned out not to be the case. I found the trap eventually. Apparently, when it snapped shut, it did with such impact that the trap and its prey (a rather large rat) flew up into the air and landed in a container several feet away.
Rigored rat disposed of, trap reseeded with scratch and reset in the same place.
Not much other news. No other predators to speak of since Ripley has been living in the barnyard (or for that matter, since we've had Ripley). She's getting used to her job as goat/chicken watcher and has even been found sleeping in the stable with the goats on occasion. We should be set for winter, then.
