We had a 4 foot snake die in our back yard. It was acting very sluggish and had a bulge in it's so it looked like it had eaten. I suspect it was a poison rat or critter it ate. I had to bury it under our compost pile.

HA! Yeah, and I shoot straighter when I'm not having caffeine tremors.

My next project is to get rid of 5-6 ground squirrel burrows. I've got a loaner Rodentator I'm going to try and see what happens. The varmints are starting to chew holes in our 1" PVC irrigation lines, never done that in the 30 plus years I've been around here helping. I'm tired of having to dig down 5-6 feet to patch the leaks.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1533431225.jpg

For that sort of job, in an orchard, Jack Russel Terrier maybe?

That maybe Plan B. the Rottweiler hasn't been successful so far this year.

Oh yeah?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1533434861.jpg

UPDATE: To close the loop on this. Used the rodentator on about 20 burrows (found lots more than expected) with about a 50% kill rate based on return squirrel activity. However, due to complaints about the noise from the neighbors, I only used it about three days before quitting. I need to wait until the three neighboring wineries are all having events that may drown out the booms.

Had to do a search...kinda looks like fun (if only Bill Murray had one SmileWavy )

rodentator:

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What about dry ice? The CO2 will sink down into the burrows and kill them? Better than poison if it works.

In CA I just use CO. Worked for about 5-6 months at a time.

I wonder what the next season's result is with the rodenator? Soil loosened up..around here, they would be back in full force.

I have the best results with the step-in traps. At the first sign on raised tunnels..I set 3 or 4 traps and catch the dirty B right away. It's amazing how much damage one mole can do.

If its a gopher...the milk jug w/water works every time.

Dry ice is quite effective for ground squirrels, though it may not work on the levee, too many points of egress that are lower than where you put it in the hole.

Neighbor just hired a guy who uses a CO2 device that injects it into the hole with some pressure. I'm waiting to see how that goes.

It's a blast (pun intended). I did have to watch out though, it sometimes shot flame back out of the hole.

One supposed advantage of the Rodenator is it collapses (at least partially) the tunnels preventing the animals from repopulating them immediately. I'm trying to make a home made one, but it's on hold right now because I have other things in the works. The main problem seems to be getting the gas mixture right.

getting the gas mixture right with the rodentator is by trial and error after you set them as per the instructions. You adjust the mixture with the torch handle on the older model I'm using.

I was using a tip with an open propane outlet and trying to adjust the mixture with the knob. I've replaced the open tip on the gas tube with one with a propane orifice, so when I try it next I'll see how that works out. What were the instruction from Rodenator for the initial settings? Thanks for the input.

I need to pull out the sheet to be sure but IIRC is was 3/4 turn on with the propane and 1/4 turn with oxygen

Thanks. The propane side must have a nozzle with a propane orifice on the Rodinator you used. Usually the oxygen supply side, especially if it's compressed air, is open several times the amount of the propane side.

I'll find the instructions for the exact specifications. Everything gets mixed together in the tip assembly as it's injected into the burrow on the rodentator which also has the ignitor. Once the mixture is set, you inject it into the burrow for a set amount of time, close off the valve to prevent back flash and hit the ignitor