Is this some kind of crapmunk?
November 25, 2013 6:13 PM Subscribe
Heya, people. I live in an apartment in a rural area and I have a question about what appears to be giant mouse poop, but perhaps the reality is truly more monstrous. My cat is alert and caught a couple of mice in the past and I assumed that he had it under control. However, this showed up in his bowl today, and I'm wondering WTF kind of animal left this. I found something similar earlier this year, and it felt like mud and smelled like mud, so I dismissed it as a fluke....now I ask: what the f kind of animal could this be from? I don't want to utter the R-word, but brutal honesty and trapping techniques welcome.
I'd be voting for rat myself. I used a havahart humane trap for awhile but switched to regular victor rat traps when they moved into the attic.
posted by jquinby at 6:25 PM on November 25, 2013
posted by jquinby at 6:25 PM on November 25, 2013
Omnivores like Raccoons have really stinky poop, as I understand it.
posted by annsunny at 6:26 PM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by annsunny at 6:26 PM on November 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
I understand the denial of the rat, I've been there. Another sign that brought me to the realization was the quantity they ate when they did find our food. We'd lose half a bagel in a night.
Keep in mind if you use traps, that rat traps have the power to break a cat's paw or their nose, so if you do use them, don't set them with anything that would be tempting for the cat. The guy who helped us with our rat problem just used a bit of bread, 'toasted' on by holding a lighter under the metal plate.
posted by scrute at 6:39 PM on November 25, 2013
Keep in mind if you use traps, that rat traps have the power to break a cat's paw or their nose, so if you do use them, don't set them with anything that would be tempting for the cat. The guy who helped us with our rat problem just used a bit of bread, 'toasted' on by holding a lighter under the metal plate.
posted by scrute at 6:39 PM on November 25, 2013
That looks exactly like mouse poop to me. Big fat mouse, yeah, but a mouse. I have extensive countryside experience with mice, rats, mouse poop, and rat poop. Rat poop isn't articulated like that, each "bead" is distinct.
Get some cat-proof mousetraps, your cat can't keep up with the influx anymore.
posted by bricoleur at 8:26 PM on November 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
Get some cat-proof mousetraps, your cat can't keep up with the influx anymore.
posted by bricoleur at 8:26 PM on November 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'd guess a large field mouse, but I'm no expert. I've lived out in the sticks and gone round after round with field mice, though - you won't win, but you can discourage the little devils.
I want to say two things: 1) Pretty, pretty kitty! and 2) where on earth are you living that you have so many wonderful mushrooms nearby? Aaaarrgh - I need to get out of the city and back to the wild where the good stuff is.
Oh - but don't, whatever you do, eat any of those mushrooms unless you know what you're doing - the first one, the pretty, pretty white one, couldl ruin the rest of your life - or shorten it altogether. I see a nice King Bolete (Boletus edulis) and if I were there I'd verify that for you and we'd have a delicious omelet, but you must get educated, if you aren't already, in fungus feasting. I personally would consider it nearly sinful for a person who lives in such surroundings to do so without learning how to appreciate such gifts.
Sigh.
posted by aryma at 9:48 PM on November 25, 2013
I want to say two things: 1) Pretty, pretty kitty! and 2) where on earth are you living that you have so many wonderful mushrooms nearby? Aaaarrgh - I need to get out of the city and back to the wild where the good stuff is.
Oh - but don't, whatever you do, eat any of those mushrooms unless you know what you're doing - the first one, the pretty, pretty white one, couldl ruin the rest of your life - or shorten it altogether. I see a nice King Bolete (Boletus edulis) and if I were there I'd verify that for you and we'd have a delicious omelet, but you must get educated, if you aren't already, in fungus feasting. I personally would consider it nearly sinful for a person who lives in such surroundings to do so without learning how to appreciate such gifts.
Sigh.
posted by aryma at 9:48 PM on November 25, 2013
I'm thinking rat, myself. I used this snap trap which has a great deal of power behind it. We baited it with a small dollop of peanut butter covered in bird seed, and 24 hours later, rat was dead.
As others have said, make double sure that your kitteh isn't tempted by whatever you bait it with.
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 5:30 AM on November 26, 2013
As others have said, make double sure that your kitteh isn't tempted by whatever you bait it with.
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 5:30 AM on November 26, 2013
Response by poster: Ugh, it HAS to be a rat, or several. I woke up this morning to even more giant and unarticulated droppings, more of them than before. I am at a loss as to where they are coming from, maybe I'll dust the floor with something before laying out traps? I'm worried about my cat and the traps, and it's curious that there were pretzels across the kitchen on the floor (I have a small kitchen) and they didn't touch those, just the cat food. I am slowly coming out of the rat denial and it is like waking up into a horror story...haha. But no. Seriously. Rats!!!
posted by lakersfan1222 at 5:44 AM on November 27, 2013
posted by lakersfan1222 at 5:44 AM on November 27, 2013
Best answer: You can try a humane trap, but it means transporting the rat a good distance away before cutting it loose. I stopped using mine when a rat went bonkers within and managed to get its head well and truly stuck in the mesh trying to escape. There was no choice but to kill it and extricate it from the mesh.
These were roof rats, btw, that had been attracted to the house by us feeding our hilariously messy dog outside. When they moved into the attic looking for winter homes, I escalated to poison, which resulted in dead stinky rats in the walls. I never used poison again. From there to snap traps. They're a little more gruesome, but generally work pretty well. You definitely want them someplace where kitty can't get to them, though.
They are enterprising creatures, so don't overlook any possibilities for ingress points. Check along the walls, behind appliances where water lines are coming in, under cabinets, and so on. If you have a crawlspace, you can check the underside of the house to see if they're coming in that way. If they were in your attic, I expect you'd be hearing them running around up there. If all else fails, call an exterminator for help.
Then all the usual stuff - secure all the food, don't leave anything out, etc. I'm surprised that they're bold enough to come waltzing in with a cat hanging around. But then again, our dogs were no barrier either.
Good luck!
posted by jquinby at 6:57 AM on November 27, 2013
These were roof rats, btw, that had been attracted to the house by us feeding our hilariously messy dog outside. When they moved into the attic looking for winter homes, I escalated to poison, which resulted in dead stinky rats in the walls. I never used poison again. From there to snap traps. They're a little more gruesome, but generally work pretty well. You definitely want them someplace where kitty can't get to them, though.
They are enterprising creatures, so don't overlook any possibilities for ingress points. Check along the walls, behind appliances where water lines are coming in, under cabinets, and so on. If you have a crawlspace, you can check the underside of the house to see if they're coming in that way. If they were in your attic, I expect you'd be hearing them running around up there. If all else fails, call an exterminator for help.
Then all the usual stuff - secure all the food, don't leave anything out, etc. I'm surprised that they're bold enough to come waltzing in with a cat hanging around. But then again, our dogs were no barrier either.
Good luck!
posted by jquinby at 6:57 AM on November 27, 2013
Best answer: If it is rats after all, the first thing you need to do is figure out where they are getting in, and fix that. Rats can get through a surprisingly small opening, but not nearly as small as will admit a mouse. You should be able to find where the rats are getting in by visual inspection. Block that ASAP.
Beyond that, it's going to depend on what kind of rats you have. My experience is with Norway rats, and I never had any success catching them with snap traps. I did catch a few with a homemade Chinese rat trap, but then you have to drown the rat before removing it (or shoot it with a .22), unless you're brave enough to let an angry rat out of a cage while you're holding the cage. If you are, wear thick gloves, and do it far, far (at least a couple miles) away from your house. So it's a messy solution at best, and once you catch a couple that way, the other rats figure it out and steer clear of the traps. But if you only have a couple of rats, it would be worth trying. For that matter, try the snap traps mentioned above--"your" rats may not have encountered one before. Meat--or wet cat food--is supposed to make good bait.
If that doesn't work, you may have to resort to poison. That sucks, but it doesn't suck as much as having rats in your house. Just make sure to put it where no pets or children could possibly access it (like in the attic, if the rats are getting in through the eaves), and police your yard for sick rats, because they try to go outside to die and you don't want a cat or dog to kill and eat it. And be alert for "migrating" poison--I once put poison in the trunk of a car that rats had infiltrated, and the next day found that the rats had reduced the poison blocks to kibble and then cached that kibble in the glove box...
Good luck, having rats in your living space is really unpleasant.
posted by bricoleur at 10:04 PM on November 27, 2013
Beyond that, it's going to depend on what kind of rats you have. My experience is with Norway rats, and I never had any success catching them with snap traps. I did catch a few with a homemade Chinese rat trap, but then you have to drown the rat before removing it (or shoot it with a .22), unless you're brave enough to let an angry rat out of a cage while you're holding the cage. If you are, wear thick gloves, and do it far, far (at least a couple miles) away from your house. So it's a messy solution at best, and once you catch a couple that way, the other rats figure it out and steer clear of the traps. But if you only have a couple of rats, it would be worth trying. For that matter, try the snap traps mentioned above--"your" rats may not have encountered one before. Meat--or wet cat food--is supposed to make good bait.
If that doesn't work, you may have to resort to poison. That sucks, but it doesn't suck as much as having rats in your house. Just make sure to put it where no pets or children could possibly access it (like in the attic, if the rats are getting in through the eaves), and police your yard for sick rats, because they try to go outside to die and you don't want a cat or dog to kill and eat it. And be alert for "migrating" poison--I once put poison in the trunk of a car that rats had infiltrated, and the next day found that the rats had reduced the poison blocks to kibble and then cached that kibble in the glove box...
Good luck, having rats in your living space is really unpleasant.
posted by bricoleur at 10:04 PM on November 27, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by DoubleLune at 6:19 PM on November 25, 2013