While up at the Armadillo Ranch last week, I closed off all the holes in the pole barn where the rats were getting in and the tractors are kept. These Eastern Woodrats are a native species that are driving me nuts. They chew up anything and everything including tractor wiring, fuel lines, air compressor hoses, welder cables, Romex building wiring, you name it. My nephew's nine year old daughter was concerned that they would all starve to death trapped inside the barn so I set live traps. She conned my son into driving her and the traps a few miles down the road to release them. I did not tell her that one must have had some nursing pups that were left to starve.
