So very interesting week so far.
I received a call yesterday morning about a rat on the loose.
A business had spotted a little white rat on their property. The owner Sam, feeds the squirrels and Chipmunks outside every morning and she made her way over. She had first been spotted 2 yards over near a shed. They were unsure whether there was 1 or 2 or more.
So at about 945am yesterday I went over to assess the situation.
There is very little in the way of humane animal removal here...and any animal groups in town are dedicated to wild specifically or larger domestics. Sam did not want her dead, just gone before she multiplied. Only people in town who handle rats is the pest control and they will only give 24 hours for live capture and the live traps are usually too big for rats.
Anyway Sam showed me where she had been hiding and within a minute I saw her nose pop out. She came to the sound of my voice. She was a dirty little white rat. Dirt all over her face.
I gave her some peanuts and talked to her a while. Then I made my first move. I needed to be able to get my hand into her hiding place...so we removed the storage bins from atop the platform she was on (which looked like a little deck platform). And I had them remove 2 planks. One near to her entrance and one in the middle so I could watch her movement.
After nearly an hour in the 30°c sun she took off through an alternate exit and went missing.
I packed it up for the day and asked what time Sam usually sees her most active. 730-830 am when he sits to feed the critters.
I made a plan to return at 7am to set up plan B.
I knew 2 thongs
1) it was a female
2) she was hungry and knew food would be available at 730/8am
I decided to try something that would either result in 2 rats hiding or 2 rats in cages.
I took Louie (and Edwin) with me. I set up a few checkpoints early before she even came around. One cage over her hole and the boys in a pen near the food.
I let the boys wander for a while. Watching their reactions to smells and then....boom...Louie locked on her smell. He got running and bouncing toward where we saw her go the day before. So I kept taking Louie back to the food pile and letting him run back to where he smelled her. I could tell it was her he smelled because his nose was pressed into the ground and he left a pee trail to mark it for her.
Finally it paid off and I see a tiny white fluff appear from under the fence behind the neighbours garage. Louie spotted her right away and they went to each other. I let Louie guide her back toward us and gain her trust. He did exactly what I needed him to do. He lured her back under the platform. Louie came right out the other side with her close behind! He was being bribed with hashbrowns! I brought their cage over and locked them in safely so I could just worry about her now. She was skittish as expected but she also really wanted that hashbrown. I kept trying to get her to come to the corner near the hole so I might just grab her and put her in the carrier. But she knew I was there and was quite alert to my movements.
Suddenly after losing sight of her I felt whiskers on my arm. She was down by my hips (in laying on my stomach on the platform at this point) I manage to carefully move my arm down my side toward where she is. She thinks she has outsmarted me at this point which is where she loses this! Haha I wait for her to jump out toward the boys and with cat like reflexes I grab her and pull her into my chest and get two hands around her. (I had leather work gloves on). She fought and tried to bite but I got her into the carrier and secured. By the time I had cleaned up and packed up the boys and cages she was eating the snacks I left in there for her and was cool as a cucumber.
When I got home she was even more chill. This was someone's pet! She's young and tiny and of course on pregnancy watch for 3 weeks! Preparing for halfies!
I am astonished the male lure worked and I am such a proud momma of Louie for doing exactly what I needed him to do and for listening even though he really wanted to explore more.
Sam and Stephanie (his DIL) decided on Paddy as her name as their business does padded accents.
She is super sweet and I think after a nice bath and some good food she will be a very good adoptable candidate.
Hello pretty girl
Dirty baby
