At our last virtual SCCO meeting (Nov. 5, 2020) some neighbors indicated they’ve had challenges with rats on their properties recently. If you have any rodent experiences you’d like to share, including how you’ve dealt with them, please let us know in the comments. We would especially like to know if this problem seems to be worsening in Santa Clara so that we can be proactive in our response.
OSU Extension Service has some knowledge to share about dealing with unwelcome rodent pests. That information and other items can be found here: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/search?search=rats
The City of Eugene has some “Rat Education Materials,” though personally I think the rats are smart enough on their own. 😉
Here’s the city resources page: https://www.eugene-or.gov/3943/Rat-Education-Materials.
That page includes a link to this Rat Prevention & Control Brochure.
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We have a major problem with rats.
We have to keep paying Pointe Pest to refill the rat traps. It’s impossible to have a compost bin, or feed the birds in the back yard, or have a water feature in the back yard. Which breaks my heart.
One of the major challenges, is a neighbor that raises Ferrets. There is constantly feed all around her yard. She lives on Exeter Ave. Consequently, the whole neighborhood on our block, has issues. Total bummer, especially since rats carry disease and can bite dogs and pets which can then transfer it to humans.
Last year we had to replace our ducts due to rate infestation. We hired an exterminator to try to control the problem. Swanson Pest Control tells us the rat infestation is horrible in the Santa Clara area. Said a lot of it is due to neighbors with chickens.
Have had problems in the past and have seen one as recently as a month ago. Fixed the crawl space they ate through and used some traps. Bait stations out now. The neighbor behind is a renter and for a long time there were blackberries and an apple tree that supplied food. Most of that is now cleared up, but the rats are still around, so something is still attracting them.
This year was the first year we had noticed a rat problem. We have bird feeders and they were getting into them. We had a pest control company come in and aren’t having as much of a problem. We will see how the rats are in the spring.
We found several dead and dying rats in our yard this past spring/summer which means someone near us is poisoning them. Whoever is doing that I wish they’d stop as it’s not safe for pets or any animals that might eat a poisoned rat. It’s also extremely sad seeing a rat gasping for air and writhing in pain…there are much more humane ways of killing them. The neighbor behind us has a ton of bird feeders in their yard.