...'rodent fully committed to trap.'...? What does that even mean? It only works on suicidal rodents that WANT to die?
Ahem. That said, I love trapping mice and rats. A couple of rats typically wander in from a nearby stables every fall and try to take up residence and of course that's when the cute little local deer mice look to move into my mudroom as well. I feed the wild birds all winter right next to the chicken house, and between the feeder fallout and the scratch grain I toss for the pheasants and in the chickens' runs, I'm sure my little visitors initially think they have it made. Fresh snow makes it especially easy to see what routes they take to get to the food, and after that it's just a matter of time. The old-fashioned snap traps still work best for me. Once in a while I get a trap-wise, smarty-pants rat, and I have to try the two small live traps I use for squirrels and weasels, but I always get them eventually.
As for the corpses, I usually put them out where the crows and ravens can see and get them. Once I've got some snow cover, that means tossing them out in the backyard on the open 'lawn' where I can watch the corvids gather them up. One morning I found a huge rat in a snap trap right next to the chicken house and it was obviously fatally injured (broken neck), but still faintly alive. Threw it out on the snowy lawn and within half an hour, a raven came looking and found the rat. What pleased me to no end on this occasion was that the raven felt secure enough to kill and eat his prize right them in my backyard while I watched from my kitchen window and what a gory mess it was, all that fresh blood on the snow! Sure gave me new respect for the strength these big birds have and confirmed my feeling that they could easily take apart a small chicken, let alone gulp down a little chick. Nonetheless, potential predators though they may be, they're still always welcome to my rats and mice.
Ahem. That said, I love trapping mice and rats. A couple of rats typically wander in from a nearby stables every fall and try to take up residence and of course that's when the cute little local deer mice look to move into my mudroom as well. I feed the wild birds all winter right next to the chicken house, and between the feeder fallout and the scratch grain I toss for the pheasants and in the chickens' runs, I'm sure my little visitors initially think they have it made. Fresh snow makes it especially easy to see what routes they take to get to the food, and after that it's just a matter of time. The old-fashioned snap traps still work best for me. Once in a while I get a trap-wise, smarty-pants rat, and I have to try the two small live traps I use for squirrels and weasels, but I always get them eventually.
As for the corpses, I usually put them out where the crows and ravens can see and get them. Once I've got some snow cover, that means tossing them out in the backyard on the open 'lawn' where I can watch the corvids gather them up. One morning I found a huge rat in a snap trap right next to the chicken house and it was obviously fatally injured (broken neck), but still faintly alive. Threw it out on the snowy lawn and within half an hour, a raven came looking and found the rat. What pleased me to no end on this occasion was that the raven felt secure enough to kill and eat his prize right them in my backyard while I watched from my kitchen window and what a gory mess it was, all that fresh blood on the snow! Sure gave me new respect for the strength these big birds have and confirmed my feeling that they could easily take apart a small chicken, let alone gulp down a little chick. Nonetheless, potential predators though they may be, they're still always welcome to my rats and mice.
