Rats!

[beenthere]

Just read a news article about children eating rat poison scattered about to kill rats. For some reason the kids think it is candy. Biggest rat problem is in Manhattan. The article included the following information;
""Complaints about rodents have increased 40% in the last two years, the city health department says, and the city exterminated 84,000 rats at a cost of $13 million in the last 12 months. ""   Some estimate there may be from 8 million to 44 million rats altogether.
   Now, that works out to be about $154 per rat to 'exterminate' each one. At the rate they are going, if there are 8 million, they need to spend an additional 1.24 billion to get rid of them (that is if they don't breed and multiply).

Seems its time to put a bounty on rats and pay maybe $25 per rat tail, and then see how many rats die.  ;D  A mere $200 million.  :    May end some poverty and welfare checks too. But then, I am probably not seeing the bigger picture here, like it would also put many city, county, state, and federal Gov't workers out of a job.  :

[Tom]

Or maybe the authorities could start pushing  "Rat Roasts" or "Rat Stew". :D

[sawdust]

I don't know how we keep the rats out of Alberta. Geography partly, I do know we don't have any. I have never even seen one,,, except the political kind. not allowed to shoot them.

[Ianab]

There is a certain Rat at one of our customers premises that has a bigger bounty than that on his head  >:(

Some background, they are timber merchants and run finger jointer and large profiling machines. They have recently upgraded their computer system to include terminals out in the factory. All the packets of timber are bar coded to track stock movement thru the manufacturing process and wharehouse. Obviously this is a pretty hash environment for a PC so we got custom built cabinets for the PC, dust resistant with basic filters for the cabinet cooling fans. So far so good... system has been working well untill a couple of weeks back I get a call. The PC beside one of the Weinig planers wont boot. I head out to investigate and eventually find all the cables to the mouse / keyboard / barcode scanner have been hacked through  
I repaired the damage and later found out the whole story.
The cabinets had a storage draw under the CPU, to keep pens and stationary etc. One of the worker had put his ham & cheese roll in there on Friday and forgot to eat it at lunch time
Anyway said rat comes along and cant resist the smell wafting from the cabinet. UNfortunatly the only way into said cabinet is a small hole thats stuffed with wires. No silly wires were gonna stop this rat  :D

Seldom a dull moment in the PC world  :D

ian  

[J_T]

Beenthare I would think they could hire a bunch us to shoot them cheaper than that ???

[fstedy]

 8) 8) 8) Don't think the Politicians would like a bounty on their heads. People would shootem just for sport. 8) 8) 8)

[sawguy21]

We don't have rats in Alberta because there is an active campaign to keep them out. The border with Saskatchewan is patrolled regularily by control officers who go into the farms (with the owner's permission). They inspect buildings and hay bales. They scare the rats into a corner and open up with .410's. Labour intensive but it works.The Sask. government is also involved.
A little tough to use this method in NYC with all the maritime shipping. The urban anti-gun nuts and PETA would probably get involved too.

[Cedarman]

At $25.00 bucks a tail, rat raisin' could pay better then log sawin'. A good entrepreneur is always looking for a new way to make a buck. Where's a good rat terrier when you need one?

[Tom]

There might even be a pretty good export market.  ;D

[Roxie]

This sounds like a job for CFI.....where's CK?   :D

[Murf]

A rodent you say?

Where is he?


 :D

[Bro. Noble]

A few years ago,  the town north of us,  Mtn. Grove,  had a pidgon problem.  The city council announced the day and hours that it was OK to shoot them  (along with other guidlines)  and suggested that anyone that didn't like the idea could arrange to be out-of-town at that time :D :D

Might not be as successful in NYC :

[WH_Conley]

Just tell the gang members that the target practice will make them more accurate on each other. Rats probably gone by the end of the week.

[Patty]

Rats can do alot of damage. Norm had a Corvette stored in a garage that was near a walnut tree. The walnut tree seemed to attract the rats, and the rats proceeded to build a nest in the car. One day when the car was running pretty ragged, Norm checked and found the nest.  >:(     To rid the car of the rats, he had me drive it like a maiac (normal driving for Patty) while he stood there with a shotgun. As the rats fell out from under the car he blasted them. It was fun, until we had to pay to have all the wiring replaced in the car.  >:(

[Norm]

Ya know sometimes I wish Patty wouldn't tell all of my "just between you and me" stories. :D

[sprucebunny]

I like that story and can really relate cause mice lived in my van one year. I could hear them running around in the roof at stoplights.
I could just picture them with thier fur blowing in the wind peeking around the wheel well as we zoomed down the road.  ;D

[DonE911]

13 million for 84,000 rats?  

Sounds like NYC should be sending a contract out to bid on that one.

Maybe even apply for federal funding... could we ship the rats out and call it AID.  
 I saw some discovery chl show where there is a church somewhere for the worship of the little rats. I think it was in India, but I could be wrong

[etat]

One time back years and years ago a bunch of big ole rats invaded my dad's place.  They was tearing up the barn, eating the corn, playing in the hay, chewing up everything, and digging up under the foundation of his house.  Them things was big enough to gang up on a cat and whip his butt.

After a while me and my brother declaired war on em.  We armed ourselves with 410 birdshot, 12 guage bird shot (along with the ocassional load of buckshot ;D), smoke bombs, and the weapon of choice, a 22 rifle loaded with rat shot.  With the 22 rifle rat shot you got to be much quicker, a much better shot, and it gives the rat a fighting chance, specially if it's on the run..

We tore the hay out of the barn, dug through the corn, and throwed smoke bombs in the holes to smoke em out.  I gotta tell ya, all in all that was LOTS of fun.  

It took a few weeks or so to completely clean em up.  To completely finish the job we'd bait 55 gallon drums in the barn with corn, and peanut butter.  Run ya a ramp up to the top of that barrel and have the bait down in the bottom of it.  They jump off the ramp to get to the bait inside the barrel, and can't climb out.  Later you drag the barrel out of the barn, and with a loaded gun in hand turn it over and give em a few seconds head start.

I reckon once we got rid of the big ones the cat took over with the little ones.  

Might be the ocassional mouse, but ain't seen a rat, or signs of a rat over at my dads in years. ;D

 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[woodbeard]

I am normally one to let critters be, but rats are a notable exception. I don't own a gun, but many a rat has met it's fate under the heel of my boot. What is it about electrical wires that they find so tasty? I can see where they would want to enlarge the holes that wires pass through, but often they will chew through a bundle out in the open. I have one old van that would always start, even if left sitting for a year or so, that is until the rats started nesting on top of the engine, and chewed up all the plug wires, vac hoses, and anything else.
In my shop, I have at least two 5 foot black rat snakes. I caught them mating last spring, so hopefully there are more now. Every now and then, I hear a terrified squeal from inside the wall followed by much thrashing about.
I love snakes. ;D

[TN_man]

Woodbeard,
Come on over here, my wife has a few she will give ya ;D

[woodbeard]

Well... I could use some for the house. :D

[DonE911]

woodbeards story about his van made me recall that some rats chewed the vac hose in my dakota one time..   cuased th ac to stop working....  I couldn't beleive it when I found those telltale chew marks that only come from rats and mice...  this was my daily driver and was only parked over the weekend....  no other signs of rats anywhere in the engine bay...

I love the rat shot int he barn story...  when we were kids we handled the flying rats (pigeons) the same way... shot many a boxfull of .410's at them things... they are so dumb they came to the cracked corn in the pasture even while we were blasting them as fast as possible with the single shot .410's.. must have killed hundreds of them over one summer.