I hate freezing in the dark. I’d much rather freeze in the light, which is why it has become a tradition for me to sleep as late as I can in winter, at least until the sky is light.
But sometimes a man’s gotta do etc. A rat has gotten exceptionally brazen about eating out of the chickens’ feeder, and so the rat must die. But that involves setting a trap inside the chicken yard, which raises logistical difficulties. A chicken absolutely will peck at that dollop of peanut butter and get her neck broken.
So when the chickens have put themselves to bed, I go out and close up the coop so they can’t get back out. Then I put away the feeder and replace it with the rat trap. And that means I have to get up early in the morning, to set things back right and (hopefully) collect my trophy.
As nearly everyone within the sound of my keyboard knows, the big problem with this is that it’s frickin’ cold outside first thing in the morning. Hardly worth it just to kill one of my ubiquitous and multitudinous rats, no matter what Zelda says.
But this one is cutting into my chicken pellet supply and therefore must die. The chickens are nestled all snug in their beds, though I hear Seymour becoming rather restive…
And I see by the splash of the flashlight that the trap is not where I left it. Which is good. Should be a kill. Which means I can stop this nonsense and stay in bed tomorrow morning.
Dammit! Missed.
Ah, well. If at first you don’t succeed…
I always had better luck with multiple traps. The rat/mice get complacent when there are more tidbits around to tempt them. I usually found at least half of the traps empty… but the other half were full. Even when there were only two of them. LOL
Assuming that he dragged that trap, you may have at least winged him.
And yes, I also have had luck with multiple traps. I once had one little critter who was apparently born with hair trigger reflexes, and so always left me with an empty trap. I set four traps in a circle with the bait towards the center. When he triggered the first trap and then jumped back to escape it, he stuck his ass in another trap and got it solidly caught! Unfortunately it then became my job to catch him and the trap, and then kill him. 🙁
Ah, yeah. That’s why I always tether the traps.
You obviously have a teenage mutant rat, and need a bigger trap.
What Ben and ML said. You’ll get him for sure that way. Think of your mental contentment, knowing your pellets are safe. You could take a bucket when you go out, in the hope that you might have more than one caught rat. Toss all the traps in the bucket, let the chickens out, go back to bed until it’s light. You are wearing gloves, right???? And washing your hands really well? FOMCL