Spent some time this evening working on a trap for El Raton . I spend a good amount of time hanging out in the garage. I keep the door open most of the time and while I wasn't looking or paying attention, a visitor decided to move in. I first found signs of it's presence after noticing a bag of bird seed with a small hole chewed in the bag. A day or two later I found a new bag of dog treats with a hole in it. I thought at first that it was a small mouse. My wife bought a few live traps and I set them out. I checked 2 days later and they were gone. I set one more larger trap. It too disappeared. It couldn't have been the wife or kids. The wife wants this thing gone and the kids are too small to get to the places where I put them. Finally, my wife got a glimpse of it. She says its a rat. Big, ass rat! I had a problem with rats once before. I used to own a large boa and python and raised my own rats for a while. At least, until they got out one day. Anyhow, I no longer underestimate the brainpower of a rat. They're really smart creatures. I bought a couple old fashioned rat traps. The big ones that would break your finger if it got hit by the bar. I initially put some bread on them and came back to find them raided clean 15 minutes later. I decided to put peanut butter coated in oatmeal, thinking it would definitely cause them to trip the lever. Wrong again. They simply licked it clean. I next put some bread on there and took a small piece of 26 gauge wire and wrapped it around the bread. This almost worked. It set the trap off but El Raton got away. Now the traps have sat untouched for three days. I think he knows what the traps look like and is avoiding them. I disguised them in paper towels and placed a box over it. Hopefully I can get this little bugger out before he causes any major damage.
Saw that Ron Paul has come in second in the New Hampshire primarys. Go Ron Paul!!!
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