This week in Thorne

[Ronaldo47]

My uncle once lost a rat trap. With this in mind, I fixed a length of light chain (similar to the sort used for sink plugs) to the one I keep in the shed, clipped to the handle of a metal tool chest by a snaphook. The chain makes it easier to retrieve the trap from under the table where it lives.  Dead rats' corpses are often accompanied by live fleas, so need to be disposed of with care. I wear gloves and double-bag them in freezer bags for disposal. We only trap one or two a year, but I keep a dish of bait replenished. I used to use grain bait from the local shop, but they stopped supplying this in favour of "new improved" corn-based bait that our rodents won't touch. Had to get grain-based bait on-line. 

Edited August 19, 2020 by Ronaldo47
Typo, further observation re bait type

[tree monkey]

2 minutes ago, Ronaldo47 said:

My uncle once lost a rat trap. With this in mind, I fixed a length of light chain (similar to the sort used for sink plugs) to the one I keep in the shed, clipped to the handle of a metal tool chest by a snaphook. The chain makes it easier to retrieve the trap from under the table where it lives.  Dead rats' corpses are often accompanied by live fleas, so need to be disposed of with care. I wear gloves and double-bag them in freezer bags for disposal. We only get one or tw a year.

Found a dead rat by a horse stable once, I was aware there had been some baiting going on so to ensure it wasn't snacked on by the dogs I decided to move it.

 

It looked fresh and I had no shovel so I picked it up by the tail, I got it to about waist height when the skin basically degloved from the body and the rat slid to the floor, I felt every vertebra as it slid.

 

As it hit the floor it split open exposing the maggot filled body and released the smell.

 

I spent some time retching before I went for the shovel