This old house came with rodent issues, which were never properly addressed by the previous owners.

There was just no way I would ever use poison.  Our property is surrounded by woods, so we have Owls and Hawks who frequent our yard.

We even have nesting Northern Goshawks.

And all those birds of prey eat rodents.  And all these birds of prey will die if they eat a rodent who has ingested poison.  Period. 

None of this nonsense of about second generation poisons being safe, that is simply untrue no matter what unscrupulous sales people might say.

Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides. SGARS are the deadliest concoction of ingredients used to (mis) manage nuisance rodents.  All anticoagulant rodenticides kill birds of prey or other wildlife who eat rodents who have ingested poison.

So yeah, hard no for me.  And makes no sense anyway as the birds of prey will eat the rodents. And honestly I don’t want the rodents dying a miserable death from poison anyway.

So, rats were what we had to deal with.  Norway Rats are super cute and not much of a concern frankly if not in the house. 

As long as nobody in the neighborhood is using poisons that kill the Owls and Hawks then the rodent population will stay low as they are a source of food for raptors.  See, Mother Nature has a plan. 

I was unhappy to have to kill any critters at all but because the rats were so well established in our crawl space for many years, I had no choice but to trap them.  I killed 4 in total, and they all died super fast and happy with a taste of peanut butter being their last experience.  I got super strong heavy duty plastic traps that were specifically for rats.  You must use the right size trap (don’t use a rat trap to kill mice or a mouse trap to kills rats) so it works instantly and not cheap out on the wooden ones.  The last thing you want is an injured animal suffering.  It’s bad enough you must kill them so quick is best. Don’t use traps outside either, you run the risk of injuring or killing other wildlife and birds, and for the love of all things good never use a glue trap.

Rats don’t go very far from their nest.  And they like familiarity.  They like food and nesting materials.  Temperature is not as important. And because they stay close to the nest if they venture out they are quickly exposed to predators. So if you can discourage them from being close to the house that also helps nature take it’s course more quickly.

The crawlspace under my office has a dirt floor, and the rats were tunneling into the space because it had batts of insulation they like to nest in.  So, sealing the tunnels and removing the insulation were step one.  Of course, we tried trapping the rats first to hopefully encourage them to vacate the area, but again too well established so they ended up sealed in and trapped.  Then we removed the insulation which was no easy task.  Rodent urine is not good for you to breathe in so had to be done by professionals and I had the space spray foamed at the same time.

Also, the crawl space had some spots where rodents might enter the proper basement.  That would be a problem and thankfully none were coming in but picked up heavy duty steel wool that is designed for rodent control and sealed everything up and covered over with heavy poultry wire.

There are also 4 mature apple trees in the yard.  And when I first moved in I was overwhelmed with home repairs so lost control of the apples on the ground so was actually feeding the rats. They were dragging apples into the crawlspace to eat.  Oh my.  So, I’m also much more mindful about that now and did a lot better this fall.  Made a few apple pies, and the rest went to friends with horses and the odd apple gets thrown in the woods for deer.  I’m not a fan of feeding wildlife but try to find some balance of course and if you leave them on the ground the deer eat them anyway so I just try to do my very best. And I figure a green bin full of apples won’t be good if a Black Bear comes through the yard either.

It’s been about 6 months and there is no sign at all that any rats have come back so problem solved.  Now the crawl space is clean and conditioned and heated too, so it makes the room above warmer, and there is nothing bad to breathe.  Money well spent.

I mean you could just keep paying 100 bucks a month for people to bring poison and never have your problem solved, or you can do things right on your own.

Depending on what type of rodents are entering your space, different solutions will be needed but it’s all the same.  Make it so they have no access.  Clean so there is no food or nesting material.  Trap the ones that are already in.  Lather rinse repeat as needed.

Any rodents that are outside will be very quickly eaten up by birds of prey.  And who doesn’t love to hear an Owl or see a beautiful Hawk fly by?

Our resident rodent eaters include Barred Owl, Northern Harrier, Northern Goshawk, Coopers Hawk, and Sharp-shinned Hawk.  I have seen all of them in my yard, here is a Sharpie doing a quick flyby.

I have seen the Coopers many times but not gotten a decent photograph yet.  I think it’s really neat I have all 3 Accipiters visiting the yard.

There are also Great-horned Owls in the neighbourhood although I haven’t seen or heard one since I moved in.  I saw them once at my other house about 2km away in Eastern Passage.

There are also Bobcats around, and we’ve seen a Short-tailed Weasel.  Of course, lots of Fox too.

Mother Nature has a plan.  It is possible to coexist in harmony and do as little harm as possible. 

Being a nature lover and hobby wildlife photographer, I want things to survive and thrive.  The most annoying critter we had visit the yard yet was a porcupine.  I mean they are cute and quite harmless but with two dogs that is not a creature I want hanging around my hard.  But just picking the apples from the tree the next morning sent him packing.

All creatures need to eat and have shelter.  You just need to do some research and stay a step ahead of things to enjoy a little wildlife in your yard.

Beautiful critters are all around and don’t generally cause much harm unless humans create problems.  So that means keep your garbage bins locked up, clean up fruit and veggie gardens.  Don’t use poisons.  And enjoy the results.