Visitors to box turtle habitat

[Mmathis]

#1 -- RATS! No, really, RATS! Gotta get the yard cleared out so they won't have a home [plus, I put out some baits].

I have been noticing lately that the turtles always seem hungry. Now I know why!

Turtle in the picture is "Draco."

#2 -- Skinks! This little guy is chowing down on a squishy piece of banana!

And I think he's smiling at me, LOL! "Thank you, Lady!"

 

[Big Lou]

Oh drat, it's rats!

 

[addy1]

yuck

 

[Dave 54]

Rats OMG Maggie you really need to trap them out they spread all sorts of disease

DAve

 

[Mmathis]

Rats OMG Maggie you really need to trap them out they spread all sorts of disease

DAve

Normally I prefer humane traps, but this time I put baits out. This means war, 'cause the rats could actually attack & harm the turtles. I used to use snap-traps, but have accidently caught wrens which was devastating -- I love wrens! Wrens are very inquisitive and can/will get into almost any space looking for bugs.

The REAL problem is that our yard has become a mess, with all kinds of junk stacking up. Then that makes it hard to rake for leaves, etc. So this week end, Hubby and I are going to attack the back yard and clean out the accumulated "everything." Hoping that we'll get rid of their living quarters and the ones that survive the bait can go live at someone else's house!

 

[snoozer]

The bait will take care of the rats but it can come at a price. The raptors that feed on the rats and other rodents that eat the bait will be poisoned as well.

 

[Dave 54]

I used to use the sticky traps for mice in the UK when we found Mum's Sweet shop had Mice sadly though very effective at catching mice (once stuck there was no getting off)...it was later banned as being cruel
However bait has its draw backs when it impacts on other species such as Raptors scavenging animals etc .
Traps though brutal are fast normally breaking the rodents neck so that they didnt know what hit them , however how do you safely trap for rats without anything else as Maggie said she once caught a wren, the only other way to rid yourself of them is to find the main nest and attack that with snap traps clering up the yard as you go .
Now I'm worried about our own as we are still part building site part pond OMG some of the pipes in the filter housing have little foot prints on the pipe work (hopefully mice).

DAve

 

[SE18]

That might be a vole? One of my beagles likes to catch and snack on them so our area is vole free