I love squirrels, but they're definitely a pain in the a**. We're overrun with gray squirrels here, and suddenly they (or at least, one of them) decided they like the taste of the plastic squirter/nozzle thingies on my car hood that spray the windshield wiper fluid up onto the windshield. They've chewed them up almost completely, so now the fluid squirts in random directions, pretty much everywhere except onto the windshield. And even though I'm annoyed at them about the damage, I still find myself thinking "oh, I hope they didn't get sick from eating that."

At least it's not a squirrel but I'm still going to use drastic measures and destroy this thing.

Oops, my pic when on sideways!

What is that?

Seven Bends wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 10:02 am What is that?

Looks like a rat.

Mouse. Today I bought a new kind of trap, lol!!

TomatoNut95 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 1:14 pm Mouse. Today I bought a new kind of trap, lol!!

Oh, I see now. I thought it was standing on a full-size garbage can, so I thought it was a bigger animal. I ran through and rejected all kinds of possibilities: raccoon, possum, armadillo, wombat (you never know, you've got all kinds of stuff on safari ranches down there in Texas...). Now I see it's a flower pot and a mouse. Much less alarming.

Was it black(Norwegian )or brown,we had our dance with the black and brown ,judging by the size a juvenile ,that means probably kicked out of moms brood.Mom keeps them untill they can forage then they have to fend for themselves,they will find thier niche.We gots a min pin that is a ratter and identifys thier location,then I go to work with the hav a harts traps.I release them at a nature preserve down by one mile away.Possums will not really swim but the rats are really adapt hence those Elizabian collars on the cruise ships to prevent the rats from enrtering ships at foreign destinations and coming here.So preventive maintaining of openings to home screens,openings thru conduits,ac etc.A rat can traverse thru only 3/4 opening,Gots to love them for thier tenacity.

I'm afraid I don't know color but I know not black. Probably greyish-brown. We have either smaller grayish mice (Probably House Mouse) and larger brown mice with white bellies. (Either White footed Mouse or Deer mouse)

That does look more rat like than mouse like, but the photo isn’t all that clear.

What are the two major rat pests, Norway Rats and Wood Rats? Norway rats are bulkier, get bigger and seem to have shorter tail to body ratios than the Wood Rats. Norway Rats are the rats of cities and Wood Rats are the rats of less settled areas, in general. Rats, probably Norway, have been recently eating to a nub all my friend’s newly transplanted tomatoes and peppers in Kemah. He’s lost a couple of plants every night. He’s confirmed they are rats. His place is literally right on the Clear Lake waterfront. Norway Rats, in my experience, are always by waterfront and harbor areas. He’s taking measures to get them under control. But, rats in general are apparently everywhere else people are. There’s no shame in having rats around because they just come with the territory and if people only knew how many were around and where. But, measures should be taken to get rid of them or at least under control and keep them away from the house, rats are destructive and they are disease vectors. Mice aren’t much better either, but maybe a little more cute. Pack rats are fun, they’ll steal stuff and haul it to their nests. I saw them take things like keys even and bring those into nests in some box in a forgotten corner. I used to get paid to deal with all these rodents. Rats shut down an entire chemical plant here on the coast, but thankfully it wasn’t my fault. The rats chewed through fiber optic cables that controlled the entire plant’s operation. Holy smokes, talk about some big time manager’s head exploding over the very costly issue. I got called in after the fact. I could tell you exactly what they did wrong and why the rats destroyed the fiber optics, but that’s another story.

I think our owls keep the numbers of both rats and mice muted here. I’ve seen only one rat on the security camera a couple of years ago and haven’t had any other sign of rats or mice. The gray squirrels are plenty to deal with, I don’t need to contend with rats or mice also.

Maybe for now leave some sacrifice plants in the same spot,monitoring with same cam.We use game cams for perimeter car,truck,porch pirates,and so forth.Thanks for being retired and have the time to protect our stuff.Good luck.

Todays catch,Min Pin located under shed,have to put on cardboard ,image,driven two miles to Mangrove nature preserve.It shat on cardboard,urinated,gots to open windows,turn ac off.Hissed and snarled at transport,had to nuke cage after.Welcome to S Fla.

I feel sorry for possums. They really didn't win nature's lottery for looks and likeability, did they? Or much else, for that matter. Except it's cute the way they carry a line of babies on their backs.

TAH-DAH!!!!! Captured during the night in my JT Eaton repeater baited with bird seed! Bwa-ha-ha!!

For the record, this is a Deer Mouse.

Can you backtrack it’s entry,find nest and dispatch the rest if any?

I have no idea where it's nesting but I intend to keep my trap set out to catch anymore.

Kurt wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 4:42 pm IMG_3013.jpeg

Todays catch,Min Pin located under shed,have to put on cardboard ,image,driven two miles to Mangrove nature preserve.It shat on cardboard,urinated,gots to open windows,turn ac off.Hissed and snarled at transport,had to nuke cage after.Welcome to S Fla.

It's not just S FL that has them. While trying to catch the red squirrels here in Wisconsin, I have caught 6 opossums. They really are a beneficial creature. Yes they have eaten some tomatoes but they also eat tics and lawn grubs. Not such a bad one to have around unless they are living right under your deck. The stench is something awful. I had to plant every fragrant flower I could find and the smell still lingered for months.

The deer mouse sure is cute. (No thanks, before you offer. We're full up with voles.)

Flying squirrels are a pest around here. My brother had some in his attic. I want to say Peanut Butter, the usual choice for a snap trap, is what he used.

In the woods they are cool. I had one glide from a tree I climbed to the tree directly in front of me about 10 yards away. I was about 18 ft up so it must have been quite a bit higher. I went up in the dark. As it got light, I heard something up there, but it is hard to look up when sitting in a climbing treestand seat with back tight to the trunk. I figured it was just a gray squirrel, but no, much cooler.

My mouse had been a mother. Yesterday I caught her 3 babies who were already trained to go in my greenhouse to forage.