Goodbye, Mr. Templeton...

[witzend]

While husband did bring a trap over to the neighbor's house but I'm pretty sure that they're not up to the task of killing their Mr. Templeton. So, today before dinner, husband set two traps on that neighbor's side of the house.

Snap! Mr. Templeton is gone. At least, someone is gone. husband says it is a mouse. It could be a baby rat. Who knows? I think the dimwit neighbor can tell the difference, but then again, I never thought that I'd meet someone who thought it was ok to use rats in their (and the neighbor's) yard as a romantic learning tool for Charlotte's Web. I'm hoping to get the entire family. Soon. (The rat family, that is.) The neighbors are a lost cause.

 

[susiestar]

I guess it is hoping for too much to think that it might make the neighbors move. I am boggled by their naming of a rat.. Whoda thunk a rat in the neighborhood would be thought of as a good thing - by anyone!

 

[ML]

Strange neighbors. There's more I could say but I'll leave it at that.

 

[hearts and roses]

We always respectfully addressed our mice as Mr. & Mrs. Mouse before killing them. As in, "Okay, Mr. Mouse, it's your time to die" and then we'd kill them.

Your neighbors are just weird.

 

[DammitJanet]

Do they have a pig and a spider too? LOL.

I will actually admit to finding a writing spider in the yard when the boys were young and them naming it Charlotte...lol.

 

[tawnya]

It's funny that you said Mr. Templeton. We had a horrible mice problem in our house this winter. easy child would always scream into her room before she went in there "Get out of here, Templeton!"

I think we are done with them except Templeton in her room. We can't seem to trap him yet. He must be smarter than the others, LOL.

 

[muttmeister]

Too bad you don't live in a rural area like mine (my town has 179 people). If my neighbors had a rat running around in their yard I'd get out my BB gun and shoot it - and not get in trouble as that is how people handle things like that here. Actually, I'm pretty conservatie as most people would use a regular gun as opposed to a BB gun.

 

[witzend]

MM, these folks are bass ackwards. Their son has a BB sniper rifle, and last year all summer long while they got to know Mr. Templeton he shot at his back neighbor's fence until things got so heated the sheriff was called. Never once did it cross his mind to kill the rat as it went about it's business.

Don't know if husband checked the other traps this morning. Given how quickly "Junior" was trapped, I have a feeling we may want to re-use them. I only bought 4...

 

[klmno]

LOL!!

Although I noticed Star hasn't said too much about this!

 

[Fran]

Hopefully, you won't see anymore.

 

[Star*]

Catch and release --------Catch and RELEASE......I think it should be your NEIGHBORS that ........well never mind they dont' make snap traps that big - UGH. Certainly sounds like it wouldn't be hard to catch them. Dummies. I sat here like - WHAT?

FYI - if there is one - two? There can be up to 13 babies. Those babies are sexually mature to mate at 3 weeks and in 35 days or so can have litters of their own - 1-13.

I hope they don't get a spring Pig - we all know what happens to them.

 

[witzend]

A rat was in the trap this morning. husband has decided that he's not going to toss them trap and all anymore, it's too easy to empty the newer traps out & reuse them. It's kind of like a clothesline pin...

We're just going to keep putting the trap out until there's nothing there, then we'll make it a regular part of our household routine.

Trap and release? Are you kidding? husband came through the house with the dead mouse inside a plastic bag last night and I about had a fit! I'd have to drive to Mt. Hood to find someplace that wasn't a neighbor's yard to let it go! And I'm not that kind of neighbor!

 

[muttmeister]

In lots of places, trap and release is illegal anyway. In my state, if you trap ANY wildlife, it is illegal to release it anyplace more than (I forget exactly) either 50 or 500 yards from where you trapped it.

 

[witzend]

In lots of places, trap and release is illegal anyway. In my state, if you trap ANY wildlife, it is illegal to release it anyplace more than (I forget exactly) either 50 or 500 yards from where you trapped it.

Heck, you might as well put a leash on it and take it for a walk!

I know that when we thought we had raccoons last winter, they set out live traps and said that they would have to take it off site to kill it.

 

[susiestar]

I can think of no reason to trap and release a rat or mouse. I do have a neighbor I wouldn't mind giving them to, but they would scare the animal. I don't believe in cruelty to even rats. But I have no problem killing them.

I did see on that exterminator show on A&E that even that guy just kills rats and mice. They are just too large a population for killing them to cause problems. They can travel up to 2 miles to come back to your home, according to an exterminator I know!

I do hate the glue traps. They just seem mean. The A&E guy does show using vegetable oil to get animals off of glue traps. Didn't know that would work, so it was interesting trivia.

Your neighbors are strange. The whole BB sniper would upset me. If I were the one on the other side of the fence I would have sued. Out where I live there are no hard and fast gun rules, but if you shoot in a neighborhood you do get arrested. Our next door neighbor got a handgun and kept shooting. Even though he was shooting into his lawn when the sheriff arrived he still got taken in for endangering the neighborhood. He told officers he was hunting a mole!! He almost shot himself in the foot when he shot straight down between his feet and the bullet hit a rock.

Have you considered doing voodoo ceremonies on your lawn? I can guarantee that they will run scared if they ever see you again! It can be fun, LOL.

 

[tawnya]

I catch them in my traps and release them into the garbage. Nope...not sharing my house with any kind of rodent.

husband did get the BB gun out the other day, but I took it away from him, LOL. We didn't need any eyes shot out.

 

[witzend]

The sheriff was called about the bb gun when the backfence neighbor complained and got some lip. It really creeped me out. There had been a lot of talk amongst themselves about their rights being taken away, and defending themselves, and then the little bb gun turned into a bigger sniper bb gun and I really didn't like it. I didn't mind that it was gone at all.

"Junior" Templeton was in the trap this morning. He's been disposed of and the trap has been reset. That makes one mouse and two rats in two days. UGH! I have looked and looked and there aren't any vermin or rodent laws in our state for private property owners. There are for landlords, but not for homeowners. I'm going to call the county tomorrow and ask if there is any kind of flyer that they send out regarding vermin. This is clearly a problem in this area, and half the neighborhood is feeding their "outdoor cats" (don't get me started) by leaving the giant bowl of food out 24/7. They just don't and never will "get it".

 

[gcvmom]

Templeton shmempleton. That's why we have cats. And snakes. And failing that, chickens.