An alert reader sent me this. No description is really necessary, though the notes say that if you put a gallon of antifreeze in the bucket you never have to check the trap.
Considering how very effective this trap is likely to be out here, at least for smaller rodents, I think it might be best to sieve out the trap from time to time.
They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means “The Ultimate Argument of Kings,” and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. “We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it’s about: You’ll do as I say or I’ll send my goons to kill you.”
I thought about that for a long time. If there’s an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I’ve got bullets – he’s got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that’s not going to happen. So if there’s an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain’t bullets.
It finally came to me – and that’s when I abandoned the city and most of my stuff, and gave all that was behind me a good stiff Randian Shrug.
The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.
Little Bear 2009-2018
Laddie the Amazing Torso Boy 2011-2020
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A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.
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Aristippus passed Diogenes as he was washing lentils.
He said, “If you could but learn to flatter the king, you would not have to live on lentils.”
Diogenes said, “And if you could learn to live on lentils, you would not have to flatter the king.”
Sandy Hook was a Gun Free Zone. So was the Westroads Mall. And the Aurora Theater. And Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Should I go on? They were all Gun Free Zones.
– Reality
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If ever a man should ask you
For your business or your name
Tell him to go and fuck himself
Tell his friends to do the same.
For a man who'd trade his liberty
For a safe and dreamless sleep
Doesn't deserve the both of them
And neither shall he keep.
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We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
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The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for his country.
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There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
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John Moses Browning - The most badass Mormon who ever lived.
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Read, every day, something no one else is reading.
Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.
Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do.
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ESSE QUAM VIDERI –
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― Father Alfred d’Souza
And you absolutely need to keep the dogs out of it. Anti-freeze kills a lot of dogs and cats. A couple tablespoons of it are enough.
I’ve seen this done by just hanging the bait by a string over the center a bucket partially filled w/ water. Poisoning by antifreeze is probably a bit quicker than drowning them, but dead is dead.
That’s awesome. I wonder how big it needs to be for racoons.
As I just posted on Facebook…yes, I do, but in my defense it’s the only way I could keep up with the old crew; MB, Erin(who are now Mr & Mrs. Erin Batherick) LilP, Shelley, Jac and PSM…as I just posted there I have been in a war with the Asian rodents at my house in the jungle. We managed to use Coumadin to murder off about 30 of them in less than a few days.
The issue at hand was not being able to kill, but rather being able to locate the dead. Bamboo houses are a veritable funhouse of nooks and cranny’s for a rat to die in once suitable toxicity is applied.
In 100º+ with about 89% humidity it’s only a few hours to fragrant. They liquify alarmingly fast.
Find them too late and it’s the maggots that guide you.
I pondered the wet bucket and a stick devise but lacked all the ingredients. I think I could have rigged this spinning bottle contraption and had my trophies at hand.
Another old method, often used in Europe, is to use a barrel filled with Beer! Float corks on the top of the Beer and the rats will try to walk on the corks and fall through and drown.
But at least they die happy, or inebriated, or both.
Geoff… beer must be a lot cheaper in Europe…
As for mice and rats in the jungle, my advice would be to leave it to them and find a better place to live. That sounds truly horrible. 🙂 I find a mouse carcass here once in a great while, but they are dried out mummies. D-con rules.
The bottle is a really good idea, I’d only seen elaborate bent metal strips before.
Anti freeze in the bottom actually works as a bait. Rodents can break glycol down harmlessly, if you can leave a saucer with a little glycol somewhere only rodents can get to it, they’re likely to get a taste for it – it tastes sweet.
I try to avoid poisoning near the house – even a mouse takes a long time to dry out, and the little darlings seem to go for somewhere warm when they’re feeling poorly.
What is that – peanut butter ? Man, I like that idea – thanks for posting this.
You don’t need to put anything in the bucket. Once there are two (or more) rodents in the bucket for a few days the strong will eat the weak. If you use a liquid, then you will have drowned rodents rotting and stinking.
Also if you don’t want to kill the rodents transferring the live ones is just a matter of putting a lid on the bucket and delivering the contents where you want.
Forgot to add. Don’t use a plastic bucket, they rodents will chew there way out.
They the, I can’t spell.
Depending on the quality of your rodent, and the bucket, they might just chew their way out of a metal bucket too. Had a hamster that gnawed it’s way through metal water bottle holders and the metal gates that kept the cage secure. If they can get a hold on it with their teeth, I’m convinced there’s not material that can hold a determined rodent.
R.V. antifreeze(the pink stuff) is not toxic it is polypropylene gloycol.
The rodents will definitely eat their way out of a plastic bucket. That’s why my food storage is NEVER in plastic buckets unless it’s mylar sealed. They can’t seem to smell through the mylar.
We hillbillies were always told that a bit of Coke (meaning any brown, carbonated soft drink) would kill them. The theory is that mice can’t burp & they suffer an internal explosion. I know Coke bottles were effective traps; mice got in but didn’t get out.
I just keep cats about the place, but then I don’t live in a desert. As long as they avoid the raptors, they’re fine.