- show quoted text -
"These are all roof rats (rattus rattus) AKA fruit rats, black rats,
tree rats or palmetto squirrels if you are not trying to scare the
tourists.

I doubt they are really any more dangerous than gray squirrels in this
environment but they did kill half of Europe several hundred years
ago. They are the rats implicated in the plague and they will make
themselves right at home in your house. They are pretty sneaky and you
might not even notice right away.

I haven't seen a Norway since I left Maryland. We used to see them in
the bird feeders up there quite a bit. One reason why I don't feed
birds.

I have actually had as much luck catching rats in a live trap as any
other method except, maybe a glue trap. Just wash it out well between
rats. They will pee in there with some extra pheromone and alert other
rats that this is a bad spot."



When I lived out in the burbs, we had a rat that would get into our backyard squirrel feeder. I took my trusty 22 cal rifle with it's 4x scope up to the 2nd floor bathroom window and blasted the rat right out of the feeder. I could see where it fell so I put another round into it on the ground. Then I saw the neighbours 2 houses over looking up at me. Called out that it was a rat and hoped they wouldn't call the Mounties. They didn't.