Some people without food prep and handling just really don’t get why I’m so up tight about food hygiene
I must admit the night sight for the .22 is a really useful bit of kit to get the odd rat
You have a .22?
Deals with the grey squirrels too.
I have a S&W .38 Magnum, but it is overkill for rodents…
That would make mush of any british rat
Firing it would probably knock me over too …
My cats have eliminated any rat, mice or other rodent problems around my house.
I am not that strong, but with .38 ammo, it is fine. However, with .357 ammo, it packs a punch that I don’t like at all. Stings worse than a bee! [quote=“Bruce_Choate, post:7, topic:5323, full:true”]
My cats have eliminated any rat, mice or other rodent problems around my house
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Unfortunately I am extremely allergic to cats… I haven’t had a rat problem yet. We did find a young mouse once, but we managed to live trap and release him in an expensive neighborhood a mile or so away…
We had Dirty Harry with .44 now we have Dirty Dawn with a .38.
I’ve always had cats till a few years ago and I must say I miss them. Having none and living in very rural settings we have birds nesting all over the garden so I guess there’s an advantage to not having any marauding felines.
Hi Dawn, my activities lend themselves to the occasional rat problem. I like to catch them as soon as they turn up, mainly because they LOVE sweet corn & sweet potatoes as well as pineapple. I catch them live. They get put to sleep, not relocated. Sometimes I get two for the price of one.
This video shows the reason why I like to catch them live. cheers
Good one Jeff…keep 'em coming
Does the lizard eat your bees?
Not if you give him enough rats, I guess
Hi Jeff,
I am waiting for video recipe for Rat Stew…
Hi & thank @Dawn_SD & @Dee. I’m sure the lizard gets a few crawling in the grass. The cane toads get quite a few also, I keep my hive high enough off the ground so the cane toads don’t get too good a feed. They get all the old ones that get kicked out of the hives.
Now about the rat stew:) I keep asking Wilma if she wants to try some one day. Joking of course. As you can imagine she keeps declining:) However I always look at them & imagine how they’d look cleaned & skinned ready to cook.
You have a famous “Prepper” over there (in the US) that advocates keeping rat traps in a survival kit. Cody Lundin.
PS & in reply to your question, does the lizard eat my bees, he/she probably gets a few off the grass, however take a look at what he/she likes:)
That lizard’s mother didn’t do a good job - mine always tells me that if I take a bite out of something, I have to finish it!
I bet it would taste like squirrel, not that I have ever eaten that. I have eaten rabbit - in a nice wine-mustard sauce, it is pretty good. I am probably allergic to rat meat though - I certainly needed to wear an occlusive mask when working with rats and mice, to avoid sneezing continuously.
Dawn
You Lot are Mean!!!
I was trying to say why it is important to keep good hygiene in hives because we are ultimately going to use any Honey we purloin as food and we need to bare this in mind
We are like a bunch of Elementary school kids having fun with a ridiculous idea. Don’t worry, we won’t make you try it!
I agree that hygiene is important, although honey does a pretty good job of keeping itself preserved, if it is harvested when properly ripened by the bees. Of course Clostridium botulinum is still a concern, which is why honey should not be given to infants under the age of one year. It doesn’t multiply and spoil the honey though.
I am a hygiene nut in the kitchen, and I have the cracked, dry, split skin on my hands to prove it. The most used cloth in my kitchen is my hand towel - I wash my hands before and after just about everything - I hate the feel of anything sticky or slimy remaining on my hands! I should probably see a doctor about that… We wipe down surfaces with paper towels, and if I didn’t feel bad about the environmental impact, I would use those to dry my hands too.
Ah well, you made a good point Valli. We kids are just having some fun.