This one has me baffled and almost out of rabbits

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Dropped it in the post box this evening. Fingers crossed it works!

Rats. Have put plaster bombs out and have a big bowl under the sink. Had one all over the pantry shelf eating and despoiling, as they do. :evil:

Am playing an interesting game outside, feeding them in one plant pot linked via a walking stick to another pot they can climb up. On the walking stick is now a can that spins freely and under it is a half-full of water, 3-gallon bucket.

As they are all bold as brass I can tweak the setup and then see how they get round it. An hour ago I lifted the feed pot up onto two more plant pots and moved it out of jump reach of another pot.

Because they can't reach the rabbits and eat their food now, they are getting really hungry now. The trap I bought is useless.
 
GBov":2u9pwuox said:
Dropped it in the post box this evening. Fingers crossed it works!

Rats. Have put plaster bombs out and have a big bowl under the sink. Had one all over the pantry shelf eating and despoiling, as they do. :evil:

Am playing an interesting game outside, feeding them in one plant pot linked via a walking stick to another pot they can climb up. On the walking stick is now a can that spins freely and under it is a half-full of water, 3-gallon bucket.

As they are all bold as brass I can tweak the setup and then see how they get round it. An hour ago I lifted the feed pot up onto two more plant pots and moved it out of jump reach of another pot.

Because they can't reach the rabbits and eat their food now, they are getting really hungry now. The trap I bought is useless.
Look at more of Shawn Woods' videos, see if you can find a trap that'd work for you.
 
I will check out the traps as my bucket one is being messed up by the wind today.

The rat that is coming inside has taken away two of my three sweet potatoes :evil: which is insult added to injury! :lol:

Yesterday the wind was from off the sea and everyone had good eyes, including the bunnies. Woke this morning to the wind from the land, my eyes gummed up (and other nasty symptoms) and two of the three kits have eyes glued shut.

Got eye drops and am watering them down in a cup to bathe their eyes with and it does seem to help.
 
ohiogoatgirl":28nnnxlu said:
If ever I was to move that part of the world.. I'd probably be most tempted here.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ronaldsay They are known for an island specific sheep that spend most of the year on the beaches eating seaweed.

Have seen many things about Ronaldsay, it is super cool and the sheep are even cooler.

It is a bank holiday weekend so no chance our letter got to the island dr. yet, waiting is hard.

Now playing a game with the hoards of rats, I put food in a pot and then a water filled trash can beside it and a stick to cross from the table to the food with.

Did not know rats can jump straight up 30 inches. :shock: <br /><br /> -- Sat May 30, 2020 9:56 am -- <br /><br /> Forgot to say no chance of a cat here as all the rescue places are closed and it really isn't safe for one here, the road is too close.

Have killed 6 rats in the bucket trap but the rest learned how to walk over the cans without tipping them. Now have it set up with a false floor and am baiting them in to feed on it, then will replace the floor with water and floating feed. Should get the three litters of youngsters now eating from the trap, at least.

No word back from the island dr. but Scotland is in phase one of lifting the lockdown and moves are allowed in phase two so we should be able to move soon.

Realized that one of the two remaining bucks had gone stone-blind and mostly deaf from whatever it was that killed all the does. He was blind for over a week but yesterday he could see again so I am thrilled at that, he is a sweet bun.

The other buck has gone very aggressive and tried actively to bite me yesterday and, as he has no purpose other than as "spare buck" I will keep his hide and give the rest to the garden, I won't even eat him.

Wound up not giving that crazy red doe to the chickens either, just buried her.

Watching the news today, the world has gone insane.
 
I feel rly bad for your bunnies, not your fault at all but its just horrible what they've suffered. Good thing you're not eating em, could be a health hazard if you did.
 
GBov":nuvpwnp5 said:
Watching the news today, the world has gone insane.

yes it has, ...In the US, it's another election year...
The much televised, and well organised violence and craziness,..was so predictable.
I'm so sick of politics,... and, there is nowhere to hide from it..
I spend a lot of my time out in my garden, I leave my cell phone turned off ...

Even though I stopped "participating" in the divide and conquer tactic ,
that we call politics , many years ago ,
it still frustrating to see "that same show" going on and on...
it repeats the same episodes, over and over , every time ......

"Where have all the flowers gone,
Oh ,when will we ever learn"...
 
Oh my word, what a nightmare!! I'm so sorry you have to deal with all of that- best of luck getting out of there asap!

Rats are such a pain to deal with- I've had trouble in the past too, though not with my animals thankfully. They're such clever little fiends. I've actually enjoyed them as pets, but dealing with a rat problem is like waging war. Store bought traps are totally useless, and so was my cat! For what it's worth, I did have luck blocking off openings from them with steel-wool. I guess touching it hurts their little hands- keep it well away from electrical stuff tho, it's super flammable.

You've got me thinking about the crop spray issue actually- I'm constantly closely surrounded by farmland, there's no getting away from it here, and I wonder if some of my "allergies" might stem from that. Dunno what Canada's restrictions are like tbh, but it can't be good for you.
 
It is exactly like a war, 5 more in the bucket trap which brings my total to 24! :shock: Only 6 adults of which only ONE was female.

Have tweaked the trap to catch the slightly older and more agile youngsters. Wonder what rats are called at the "Out of the nest, on their own, not ready to reproduce" age?

That is what I am killing right now.

What is interesting is the few I have to encourage into the water, most just run like normal but some of them attack with shocking aggression, not met attack rats before.

You know the numbers are at dangerous levels when a doe dies in the night and most of her head is gone by morning. <br /><br /> -- Sat Jun 27, 2020 3:58 pm -- <br /><br /> CanineWild, NO amount of poison is good for you and don't kid yourself, what is being sprayed on crops is poison! :evil:

A bit of an update.

My youngest son went ridged and fell backward into my arms in the kitchen and recovered like a switched on light when I pulled him into the living room and sat him down on the couch.

Two days later my daughter was standing in the kitchen door watching the telly when she stiffened, fell to the floor, and had a seizure. She also recovered with no wooziness or faintness when dragged onto the couch.

At that point we called in the emergency gas leak people - no leak - no carbon monoxide detected - oxygen levels normal.

But SOMETHING in the house is dangerous and potentially deadly. This spring our neighbor died of no known reason and the rabbits died on windless nights.

We had found a house on Shetland to rent already so asked the owner if we could come on the next ferry and she said yes. Keep in mind I had already checked with the ferry that we could take up residence on the island at this stage in lockdown.

Rented a truck, loaded it all night long (all the windows and doors wide open, OMG it was cold) drove most of the next day to get to the ferry in time to be told.......

NO! You may NOT travel to the island! New governmental guidelines made us not eligible to travel.

So there we were, all ultra tired and for the first time ever, I had no plan B. Just had no idea what to do at all. Not a very nice moment in time, I will admit.

Sent the big van back with our friends who had driven it for us and spent almost two hours finding food - fish and chips - and a hotel with room for us. One of the highlights of the entire thing was the hotel, AMAZING! Just an amazing old place.

And despite not having slept in almost two days, my brain felt clear and everything felt real for the first time in ages. You know how you never really know how sick you have been until you start feeling better? Like that only times about 100.

Came up with a plan B next morning and drove all the way back to where we started and booked a hotel on the way so imagine our surprise when we got there to be told they were full and even if they had not been they would not let us in, we were not essential workers. :eek:

Scotland, where we were not allowed on the ferry let us into a hotel no problems but England which is solidly in phase 2 of lifting restrictions would not let us in a hotel, despite our not being able to go back to our house due to an unknown agent making us all dangerously ill.

Can anyone say mental?

I even tried the police just to find us emergency shelter but was told they are all closed due to covid.

Myself, my 76-year-old mum and my three teenage children were properly homeless in a pandemic.

Thank gods for friends, we were given the use of a caravan parked in a back yard while we tried to sort any kind of housing which we did, in the next town over from where we started. 1,000 miles of driving and the huge cost of the van only to wind up moving less than two miles away.

Our sea view with large yard front and back has turned into three beds on a main road with no front garden at all and only a concrete courtyard in the back and goodness, is it noisy. :(

But while we were sorting housing we were also researching what on EARTH could be wrong in our house and did you know hundreds of people every year die from gasses seeping into their houses from mine workings below them?

Nope, neither did I.

The environmental health agency says there is a shaft 75m right under the house and says the Coal board is the proper place to get help, the Coal Board say the NHS is where we need to get help and the NHS say the Environmental Health agency is who needs to help us.

Can you say run around?

Having read LOTS now about the effects of the various mine gasses Carbon Dioxide fits the symptoms best and, despite the loudness of the people on the road right now I am grateful down to the tips of my toes to be here and all of us to be alive.

If I had not been there when my kids went down in the kitchen they would have died right there on the floor. It takes my breath away just thinking about it.

Working now on finding the proper people to survey the house to find out what gas we are actually dealing with and how to fix it and if that is even possible and worrying about our other neighbors, they could be in mortal peril but no one seems to care and they all think we are insane. :roll:

Oh, and now that we have a roof over our heads the housing people have made contact to offer us housing. *sigh*
 
Oh my gooooosh, I was hoping things would have gotten better, not worse!! I'm so sorry you had to deal with all of that and what a time for it all to come down too, with the pandemic making everything ten times harder! So glad you were able to get to a safer place, even if it isn't the ideal. Time enough to find something else, now that you all have safe air to breathe. I never would have thought of mining! There isn't much of it where I am, so had no idea it could pose a danger to surrounding areas. Not that I'd expect them to be upfront about that sort of thing anyway...

Best of luck getting to the bottom of what you've got and how to fix it. Really hope things will start looking up for you and the fam!
 
Out of the frying pan, into the fire?
So sorry to hear there was even more since I've last been on. *Hugs!*
 
ohiogoatgirl":2l786hhv said:
Out of the frying pan, into the fire?
So sorry to hear there was even more since I've last been on. *Hugs!*

Safely distanced (((HUGS))) right back acha. :D
 
michaels4gardens":zn2aawoz said:

Yeh, wow indeed. My goal now is to be boring and dull.

What chance do you give me? :lol:

Investigation is ongoing in the house and so far, NOTHING has been found! :shock:

I have offered to build a cage and place it in the kitchen with a rat or bunny in it, enough food and water for a week (as I get an instant headache just going in the door) and a wifi camera aimed at it so it can be filmed and recorded to prove what happens but no one likes the idea.

Settling into this house, for now, saving money once again for a move and will look again in the spring. Not to the island of my dreams but something easier to reach and almost as good, ancient pasture lands like the Tyne valley region or coastal Highlands perhaps.

The bunnies are happy though, I turned a wire dog crate and some cage wire into a four-level highrise for them all and they do make me laugh bouncing up and down the ramps. :D
 
I'm glad you and your children made it out safe!! I can't imagine the horror of trying to find a place to stay for you and your children during a pandemic with so many restrictions.

Now, you are stuck with a house that you won't even be able to sell in good conscious, at least, not without finding out what was wrong with it. I can't even imagine. I just bought a home in an old coal mining part of Pennsylvania. I sure hope nothing goes wrong.

As for the neighbors, I think sometimes,.. When people can't easily pack up and move, denial is the easier option.
 
@
It is already in the UK but the Isle of Coll is in Scotland and they are being, rightly so, more cautious.

We are going to send a letter to the island Dr. and explain our cause and see if that might help. Will also keep looking and once the restrictions lift we will get moved into the first thing we can get, if we haven't managed before that.

Providing we all live through the spray season. This has been the longest, hottest, dryest spring on record in this area which is NOT helping. :roll:
hi I am just reading your post through- can I ask approximately where you are from? I am from the US and am in the state with FFF in air quality- we have tons of air purifiers - IQ air is the best one I’ve used personal!
 
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