thanks for telling me there's an electric one. i have the snap ones, but some mice are too smart forthem. so,i also have to use poison. 

cats are better, but coyotes think cats are yummie. i've gotta do something, since i've read mice kill wrapped trees in winter.

today tho, i lost 12'' of my HC to a bunny. loaded my .22

EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD WANTS TO EAT MY FIG TREES !!

I used to take each live packrat for a drive and then let it out of the trap about two miles away, but after a dozen such relocations realized it cost too much in time and gas. So, I devised a humane way to dispatch them, but it's not for everybody. I sleeve a Costco-size mesh onion sack over a big plastic bread bag to form a double, reinforced bag (the plastic bag alone isn't strong enough), and then slip the neck of the double bag over the end of the trap, keeping it tight so the rat can't squeeze out and escape. Then I open the door leading into the bag, and usually simply blowing at the rat once or twice makes it run into the bag. I gather the neck closed and remove the bag from the end of the trap; then, holding the bag securely by the neck I swing it (with rat inside), hard, in an arc against the concrete walkway. The rat dies instantly and is already in a plastic bag for disposal.

i'm glad to hear that  you've stopped dumping vermine where they can bother others.

they need to be dead, dead, dead.

I noticed my trusty Havahart trap was closed this morning. Expecting to see a pack rat, I was surprised to find I had caught a paloverde root borer beetle, too big to squeeze between the wires.

 


 
When I removed it from the trap and let it go, an overly-optimistic lizard ran up to eat it--only to discover that the beetle was way, way too big. The lizard gave it an experimental nip and then retreated to wait for something smaller.

Note to self - another reason not to move to AZ

Ken i an going to have nightmares 

While you're at it look up Asian Hornets.

Are You Kidding Me Jurassic Park Is All That Comes To Mind

 

Looks like his thumb & fore finger already got stung!

Yikes! I'll stick with our big, clumsy beetles, thank you very much. At least they aren't venomous, are only around for a few weeks in summer (the rest of the time they're underground as big white grubs), and the only way they're apt to bite is if you're foolish enough to stick a finger within reach of their mandibles.

Conibear 110... problem solved....'cept for the big scary bugs in AZ and NM

Ken, that is one innovative and amusing way to "humanely" get rid of the rat problem.   I'm not sure I would want to be in the vicinity when that happens.   That is one creepy beetle.  I've never seen that.   My palo verde has scars all over it's trunk.  I wonder if those beetles did it.  

Dave, you really have that hornet?  That is crazy. Are they here?  

Seriously, gardening in AZ has the least amount of creatures.   I've got zero slugs, deer, squirrels, relatively few birds and there seem to be no snakes where I'm at.   I don't feed them.  They feed on the insects around the property.   I've not seen any scorpions but they are around.   The worst are the pill bugs eating my newly planted veggies and stink bugs.   I've gardened elsewhere and am glad to not have to encounter again gigantor frogs, creepy geckos, millipedes, and snakes.