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View Full Version : Rat Patrol: Tools of the trade



awp101
07-28-2010, 08:30 PM
During the recent downtime, I discovered we had rats in the attic. When I found out it was more than the random, individual rat up there I decided to stake out the attic with a BL22 stoked with .22 Shorts. Spending time in an attic during a Texas summer isn't the brightest idea I've ever had...

Set out some traps, "homebrew" bait/killers and nothing worked. One day my wife called and asked if I'd put out poison. "Nope, why?" The Boy came home and found one dead in the garage. When I got home he came out and asked if I'd seen it. "Nope. Where was it?" He pointed to where it HAD been. We looked around, then looked UP. Well, more at eye level. The little bastard was on one of my hats on the safe. And between the hat and the safe was the new to me Ruger Super Single Six I had loaded with Shorts for just this occasion.:rolleyes:

It just sat there looking but not seeing. It showed no fear, no aggression, it seemed that it didn't even recognize we were humans. Later I figured out it had already been poisoned.

A quick look around turned up an old, metal yard stick. I whacked it with the thin edge and it fell between the safe and freezer. Fished it out and saw the yardstick cut through the skin and broke his back. Tossed it in the yard just outside the garage, made sure no one was coming down the street, quickly grabbed the Single Six and put a Short through it's head from about 3" away.

The next morning I made a check of the traps and saw one was missing. Looking around to see where it might have fallen, I saw a tail sticking out of an old Chinese ammo crate. Moved a couple of things still in the box and there it was but it wasn't moving. To be safe I put a Short through the brain pan from about 2" out. Good thing, it started flopping and twisting so it wasn't dead when I found it.

The following Monday I had an exterminator out and after I described how those two had acted he agreed they'd already been poisoned (I didn't know if their actions were due to poison or something like rabies) which tells me someone else around here is having this problem too.

I don't have a pic of the yard stick, but here's the Rat Gat:
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/uu306/awp101_2009/92041517.jpg

AKTexas
07-28-2010, 08:38 PM
During the recent downtime, I discovered we had rats in the attic. When I found out it was more than the random, individual rat up there I decided to stake out the attic with a BL22 stoked with .22 Shorts. Spending time in an attic during a Texas summer isn't the brightest idea I've ever had...

Set out some traps, "homebrew" bait/killers and nothing worked. One day my wife called and asked if I'd put out poison. "Nope, why?" The Boy came home and found one dead in the garage. When I got home he came out and asked if I'd seen it. "Nope. Where was it?" He pointed to where it HAD been. We looked around, then looked UP. Well, more at eye level. The little bastard was on one of my hats on the safe. And between the hat and the safe was the new to me Ruger Super Single Six I had loaded with Shorts for just this occasion.:rolleyes:

It just sat there looking but not seeing. It showed no fear, no aggression, it seemed that it didn't even recognize we were humans. Later I figured out it had already been poisoned.

A quick look around turned up an old, metal yard stick. I whacked it with the thin edge and it fell between the safe and freezer. Fished it out and saw the yardstick cut through the skin and broke his back. Tossed it in the yard just outside the garage, made sure no one was coming down the street, quickly grabbed the Single Six and put a Short through it's head from about 3" away.

The next morning I made a check of the traps and saw one was missing. Looking around to see where it might have fallen, I saw a tail sticking out of an old Chinese ammo crate. Moved a couple of things still in the box and there it was but it wasn't moving. To be safe I put a Short through the brain pan from about 2" out. Good thing, it started flopping and twisting so it wasn't dead when I found it.

The following Monday I had an exterminator out and after I described how those two had acted he agreed they'd already been poisoned (I didn't know if their actions were due to poison or something like rabies) which tells me someone else around here is having this problem too.

I don't have a pic of the yard stick, but here's the Rat Gat:
http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/uu306/awp101_2009/92041517.jpg

Seems like some badass rats you got there.What part of Texas?

awp101
07-29-2010, 08:07 PM
DFW. Near as I can tell they're Norway Rats.

slamfire51
08-06-2010, 12:47 PM
Sharp looking grips on the Ruger.
Did you do them?

awp101
08-06-2010, 09:53 PM
Thanks! They're comfy too!:thumbspbig:

I didn't do them, they were already on it when I picked up it but they sure helped seal the deal...:lool:

raxar
08-07-2010, 12:43 PM
ratkill.com

63DH8
10-06-2010, 03:26 AM
DFW. Near as I can tell they're Norway Rats.

I've seen Norway Rats when I was living in Hawaii. They can get a large as a medium sized housecat! There was a local warehouse that would pay us kids 25 cents per rat we brought in. That ended when we were bringing in several dozens a day.

robert
02-16-2011, 09:32 PM
my uncle had a ship merchantile and bought a old ware house he paid me and my friend to shoot them as he took the old pallets to the dumpster as he picked them up with the forklift they skattered well like rats we had a ball for about two hours till police showed up seems like the warehouse was in city limits.

FunkyPertwee
02-16-2011, 10:20 PM
One day my cousins pet rat escaped in the house. Everyone knew to look out for it, and when my aunt got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, she saw something move in the bathroom trash can. She lunged at it, grabbed it, pulled it out, and it was the wrong rat!

Amazingly, it didn't bite or anything. She just took it to the door and let it out. They found the pet rat later.

alismith
02-17-2011, 08:44 PM
Awp101, those aren't Norway rats. From your description of the way they acted (no reaction when you came near), they can only be Mexican rats that crossed the border illegally. The reason they had no reaction was they don't understand English. If you had spoken Spanish, they would have reacted. We need to seal the border with rat wire, too.:mouse2:

old Grump
02-17-2011, 09:26 PM
Awp101, those aren't Norway rats. From your description of the way they acted (no reaction when you came near), they can only be Mexican rats that crossed the border illegally. The reason they had no reaction was they don't understand English. If you had spoken Spanish, they would have reacted. We need to seal the border with rat wire, too.:mouse2:
ĦAy, caramba!