David E. Lantz

“ The value of carnivorous mammals and the larger birds of prey in destroying rats should be more fully recognized, especially by the farmer and the game preserver. Chief among the animals that are useful in destroying these rodents are the fox, skunk, and weasel, and the larger species of owls and hawks. Rats destroy more poultry and game, both eggs and young chicks, than all the birds and wild mammals named combined, yet some of our most useful birds of prey and carnivorous mammals are persecuted almost to the point of extinction. ”

“ The Biological Survey has undertaken an investigation of the feasibility of successfully fencing against the coyote. If a coyote-proof fence of sufficient cheapness and durability to be practicable can be brought into general use for pasturage, there is no reason why the sheep industry in the west should not be revived and greatly extended. If such a fence should at the same time prove efficient against dogs, the benefit would extend to the whole country and result in an enormous increase of the productive resources of our farms. ”

“ Small Irish, Scotch, and fox terriers, when properly trained, are superior to other breeds and under favorable circumstances may be relied upon to keep the farm premises reasonably free from rats.
Cats.—However valuable cats may be as mousers, few learn to catch rats. The ordinary house cat is too well fed and consequently too lazy to undertake the capture of an animal as formidable as the brown rat. Birds and mice are much more to its liking. Cats that are fearless of rats, however, and have learned to hunt and destroy them are often very useful about stables and warehouses. ”

“ Shooting is undoubtedly the best method for hunting this animal. Ferreting is often impracticable, since our native rabbits do not habitually burrow; besides, the use of ferrets is forbidden by law in many States that protect the rabbit. Coursing with greyhounds is popular in the West, where the swifter jack rabbits are abundant. Cottontails are often chased with foxhounds, but the beagle is rapidly taking precedence as a favorite for hunting these animals, the gun being used to secure the game. ”

“ Trapping has special advantages for small areas where a limited number of mice are present, but it is also adapted to large areas whenever it is undesirable to lay out poison. It is then necessary to use many traps and continue their use for several weeks. If mice are moderately abundant, from 12 to 20 traps per acre maybe used to advantage. These should soon make decided inroads on the numbers of mice in an orchard if not practically to exterminate them. For pine mice the tunnels should be excavated sufficiently to admit the trap on a level with the bottom. ”

“ The best way of excluding rats from buildings, whether in the city or country, is by the use of cement in construction. As the advantages of this material are coming to be generally understood, its use is rapidly extending to all kinds of building. Dwellings, dairies, barns, stables, chicken houses, ice houses, bridges, dams, silos, tanks, cisterns, root-cellars, hotbeds, sidewalks, and curbs are now often made wholly of concrete. In constructing dwelling houses the additional cost of making the foundations rat-proof is slight as compared with the advantages. ”

“ It is better to cover the trap than to leave it exposed. A short board should be laid on the trap and an old cloth or bag or a bunch of hay or straw thrown carelessly over the top. Often the trap may be placed with the entrance opposite a rat hole and fitting it so closely that rats can not pass through without entering the trap. If a single rat is caught it may be left in the trap as a decoy to others.
Notwithstanding the fact that sometimes a large number of rats may be taken at a time in cage traps, a few good guillotine traps intelligently used will prove more effective in the long run. ”

“ Before setting the traps many trappers rub their feet and hands on a skin or some strong-smelling meat or carcass to conceal the human odor. Oil of anise or rhodium is sometimes used for the same purpose. Any strong odor is likely to attract the attention of the coyote and allay suspicion. Care must be taken not to spit on the ground or kneel or throw down any clothing in the vicinity of the trap. A good plan is to set a line of traps and leave them for a day or two, and then go the rounds with a horse and drag, and bait the traps without dismounting. ”

“ Feeding rabbits in winter to prevent their attacks on orchards has been practiced successfully, on the theory that it is cheaper to feed than to fight them. One plan is to leave the winter prunings of apple trees scattered about the orchard. Another is to furnish corn, cabbage, or turnips in sufficient quantity to provide food for the rabbits during cold weather. These methods have considerable merit, particularly the first, which seems to give satisfactory results when both mice and rabbits are present. ”

“ Household supplies.—Similar care should be exercised in the home to protect household supplies from mice and rats. Little progress in ridding the premises of these animals can be made so long as they have access to supplies of food. Cellars, kitchens, and pantries often furnish subsistence not only to rats that inhabit the dwelling, but to many that come from outside. Food supplies may always be kept from rats and mice if placed in inexpensive rat-proof containers covered with wire netting. ”

“ They are less prolific than meadow mice, but this is more than made up for in the fact that in their underground life they are less exposed to their enemies among birds and mammals. Like meadow mice, they sometimes become abnormally abundant.
In the eastern part of the United States pine mice do more damage to orchards than do meadow mice, partly because their work is undiscovered until trees begin to die. The runs of meadow mice under grass or leaves are easily found and the injury they do to trees is always visible. ”

“ Rats may be destroyed in their burrows in the fields, and, still more important, in levees and rice-field dikes, by the use of carbon bisulphid. A wad of cotton or other absorbent material is saturated with the liquid and pushed into the burrow, the opening being packed with soil to prevent escape of the gas. All animals in the burrow are asphyxiated. Fumigation about buildings is not so effective, as the gas can not readily be confined. ”

“ We do not know that a coyote has ever scaled or jumped it. A very large coyote that got in through an accidentally 'propped' floodgate, though chased by dogs all day, could not be made to jump out, even when cornered. Considering the steep, wild, and broken nature of the country, with several 'slides' in the fence that could not be avoided when building, and which move and displace the fence during hard storms, it is net surprising that a few coyotes have gotten in. ”

“ Dogs and ferrets must be thoroughly accustomed to each other, and the former must be quiet and steady instead of noisy and excitable. The ferret is used only to bolt the rats, which are killed by the dogs. If unmuzzled ferrets are sent into rat retreats, they are apt to make a kill and then lie up after sucking the blood of their victim. Sometimes they remain for hours in the burrows or escape by other exits and are lost. There is danger that these lost ferrets may adapt themselves to wild conditions and become a pest by preying upon poultry and birds. ”

“ Barium Carbonate.—One of the cheapest and most effective poisons for rats and mice is barium carbonate, or barytes. This mineral has the advantage of being without taste or smell; and, in the small quantities used in poisoning rats and mice, is harmless to larger animals. Its action on rodents is slow, but reasonably sure, and has the further advantage that the animals before dying, if exit be possible, usually leave the premises in search of water. ”

“ The establishment of pioneer homes throughout the country has always resulted in restricting the numbers of the larger wolves, which have gradually become extinct over large areas in the eastern and middle parts of the United States where they were formerly abundant. Not so with the coyote. Except in a few thickly settled regions, it has thrived upon civilization and is practically as numerous as it was before settlements began. Indeed, in many parts of the West coyotes are said to be increasing in spite of a constant warfare against them. ”

“ Merchandise in stores.—In all parts of the country there is a serious economic drain in the destruction by rats and mice of merchandise held for sale by dealers. Not only foodstuffs and forage, but textiles, clothing, and leather goods are often ruined. This loss is due mainly to the faulty buildings in which the stores are kept. Often it would be a measure of economy to tear down the old structures and replace them by new ones. However, even the old buildings may often be repaired so as to make them practically rat-proof ”

“ The coyotes usually catch the rabbits by lying in wait behind bushes and bunches of grass near their paths and pouncing upon them as they pass. Sometimes they have been known to hunt jack rabbits in company. While a single coyote would not be able to run down a jack rabbit, by hunting together, taking turns in the drive, and by taking advantage of the tendency of the hare to run in a circle, they are able to capture it. ”

“ The roof rat is common in many parts of the South, where it is a persistent pest in cane and rice fields. It maintains itself against the brown rat partly because of its habit of living in trees. The common house mouse by no means confines its activities to the inside of buildings, but is often found in open fields, where its depredations in shock and stack are well known. ”

“ Many of the pastures are not half eaten down, and the dead and dry vegetation becomes a nuisance. After harvest cattle and horses are usually turned into cotton and grain fields, where they do good work in cleaning up grass and weeds in the field and along the borders. Still there is abundance of feed constantly going to waste, and a small flock of sheep could be kept with great profit and no expense on almost every farm. ”

“ Not only are mice and rats, especially the brown rat, a cause of destruction and damage to property, but they are also a constant menace to the health of man. It has been proved that they are the chief means of perpetuating and transmitting bubonic plague and that they play important rôles in conveying other diseases to human beings. ”

“ Any kind of fresh meat will do for bait—rabbits and other small rodents are often used, but larger baits seem to be more attractive. it is also of advantage after setting the trap to make a 'drag' of the bait for a quarter to a half mile, at the end of a rope from the saddle horn, and finally to fasten it to a bush or stake close to the trap, or cut it in bits and scatter all around the trap so that not all can be reached by the coyote without walking over the trap. ”

“ Among the natural enemies of rats and mice are the larger hawks and owls, skunks, foxes, coyotes, weasels, minks, dogs, cats, and ferrets.
Probably the greatest factor in the increase of rats, mice, and other destructive rodents in the United States has been the persistent killing off of the birds and mammals that prey upon them. Animals that on the whole are decidedly beneficial, since they subsist upon harmful insects and rodents, are habitually destroyed by some farmers and sportsmen because they occasionally kill a chicken or a game bird. ”

“ Fifty to two hundred sheep on a farm would at once make this part of Texas the most important woolgrowing section of the State. Other advantages to be gained would be keeping down the cactus and chaparral, which are inclined to spread and occupy much of the ground, keeping the edges of pastures and fields cleaned up so that they would not harbor a host of predaceous insects and rodents in close proximity to growing crops, and furnishing to the farmers and small towns a supply of fresh meat other than chicken. In this warm climate beef is rarely available, except in the larger towns. ”

“ Mice and the black and roof rats produce smaller litters, but the period of gestation, about 21 days, and the number of litters are the same for all.
Rats and mice are practically omnivorous, feeding upon all kinds of animal and vegetable matter. The brown rat makes its home in the open field, the hedge row, and the river bank, as well as in stone walls, piers, and all kinds of buildings. It destroys grains when newly planted, while growing, and in the shock, stack, mow, crib, granary, mill, elevator, or ship's hold, and also in the bin and feed trough. ”

“ In the western part of the United States the practice of keeping sheep in vast herds has resulted in much deterioration of the ranges, due to overcrowding, and the cost of herding has absorbed much of the profits of sheep raising. The process of withdrawing lands for homesteads and the various reservations has diminished the free range and increased the crowding, until flock owners for their own protection have been compelled to purchase lands for range purposes. ”