I got such a kick out of your email. Thank you Robin. You have a kind heart.
As someone who lives on a real farm, infestation, wild animal encounters, and rodent control are frequent challenges. A year ago I had to chase a mountain lion until she let go of one of our kid goats. I prevailed only because the big cat had selected the largest kid goat and could not leap the fence with the extra weight. A few weeks ago a family of four baby raccoons took up residence too, only 8 weeks of age and barely weaned if at all. Fearful that their mother had been killed by a car, I tried to feed them but they would not eat any solid food. The Division of Wildlife scolded me for that when I called for advice, telling me they will survive or won't but in any case a wild animal habituated to humans will certainly have an early death. Nevertheless, I had the same anxiety you are experiencing about the fate of motherless children.
We have a lot of rats, mice and gophers on our property which includes a large community garden (80 households). Rats breed at least 5 times a year with a gestation of 21 days, and young rats become reproductive when they are just five weeks old. By some estimates, perhaps exaggerated, a mother rat can have up to 2000 descendents in one year, if no one dies of the usual causes, including lack of food, disease, predators and human interventions. Fortunately 95% of rats don't survive their first year or we would be deep in rats.
If you truly don't want to have the lives of baby rats on your conscience, you can probably borrow a small live trap from your local animal control unit to catch the mother. Pick up the babies and transport the entire family to a rural area. Be careful where you release. You can be arrested and fined for releasing live animals - especially those considered pests - on private lands. The people who loan you the live trap are likely to have a good recommendation for where to release although they may be touched and amused by your efforts.
Our primary defense against rodents is a pair of barn cats. If you can keep a garden cat on the property, it will go a long ways toward minimizing rodent infestation. If you can't keep a cat but a neighboring establishment - residence or business - has a good hunter, then you will want to make sure the cat can climb a wooden fence pole to get in and out of the garden. Of course raccoons can get in that way too. But a good hunting cat is very useful because it can catch rodents and because its presence alone scares rodents away. Our barn cats are very popular with the gardeners, and the cats have learned the garden visitors often bring cat treats. But in some cities cats won't chase rats any more as they have learned the encounters can go badly. Not sure what you do about this, except perhaps look in the rural want ads for "free barn cat" as this cat may be less jaded about catching city rats. Most people say female cats are better mousers but we have a male cat that catches several rats, mice and gophers every day. Of course your garden cat will need the usual veterinary care to protect it from disease and to avoid disease transmission.
We also - but rarely - use rat traps - which can be purchased at any hardware store. It is just a big version of the familiar mouse trap. If you kill the mother, the humane thing to do is kill the offspring quickly. I can tell you won't like the sound of this, but we have had to use a hammer blow to the head once this summer, when a feral cat had been hit by a car and staggered into the garden with a partially crushed skull and nonstop convulsions. It was a horrible moment, but it was the humane thing to do for a wild animal that was sure to have a slow painful death.
We once used rat poison but I do not recommend it. Pack rats carry it away and hoarde it. Perhaps they die from it, but the relocated poison means you have no idea who will eat it. A small dose will kill a domestic dog.
I hope I have not offended the tender-hearted members of this list. Nothing is cuter than a baby wild animal and I want to live cooperatively with our wild neighbors. We have a deer that visits the garden often and she does so little harm that I don't try to keep her out. A bear also pops in each fall to feast on the apple trees, but for some reason leaves the compost and garden alone the entire year. So we are tolerant of wild visitors. But human and rodent conflicts have been around since the beginning of time, and the quiet removal of a pest by whatever means will be greatly appreciated by all of your garden members.
Jama Crawford Durango Colorado _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: community_garden@list.communitygarden.org To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
