04-13-2012, 02:25 PM
oh gross, Bullwinkle.
I feel lucky now.
Well, my one cat has been catching rats here for over seven years, and no problems yet. I don't use any rat poison, not sure what my neighbors have done though. In Hilo, I had a lot of neighbors. Guess I lucked out. Ugh. Not a fan of poison bait. I use spring mousetraps or stickies if I do need a trap.
I know people keep saying this about cats decimating birds, but I don't believe that domesticated cats of one or two per household have that impact.
At my property, I have two cats and there are probably a dozen ferals slinking around, and my neighbor has two cats. In my yard there are not hundreds but thousands of birds in spite of all this cat action. For one thing, there are lots of tall trees that cats can't begin to climb, as well as the wires and the roofs. My cats very rarely catch a bird, and if they do, usually a mynah, which is itself an invasive. My lawn is typically full of birds feeding by day ... the cats sleep all day and hunt at night.
I also put belled collars on my cats so the birds can hear them. Perhaps that is why they rarely catch birds. Rats are hard of hearing? <j/k>
I feel lucky now.
Well, my one cat has been catching rats here for over seven years, and no problems yet. I don't use any rat poison, not sure what my neighbors have done though. In Hilo, I had a lot of neighbors. Guess I lucked out. Ugh. Not a fan of poison bait. I use spring mousetraps or stickies if I do need a trap.
I know people keep saying this about cats decimating birds, but I don't believe that domesticated cats of one or two per household have that impact.
At my property, I have two cats and there are probably a dozen ferals slinking around, and my neighbor has two cats. In my yard there are not hundreds but thousands of birds in spite of all this cat action. For one thing, there are lots of tall trees that cats can't begin to climb, as well as the wires and the roofs. My cats very rarely catch a bird, and if they do, usually a mynah, which is itself an invasive. My lawn is typically full of birds feeding by day ... the cats sleep all day and hunt at night.
I also put belled collars on my cats so the birds can hear them. Perhaps that is why they rarely catch birds. Rats are hard of hearing? <j/k>