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Burrowing animals a problem

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-11-19          158000

Have you seen this?

I know burrowing animals have been discussed and thought some of you may like this.



Link:   

Click Here


 
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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2008-11-19          158002

Hey, that's pretty cool!
....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-11-19          158005

I have a better, all natural solution.

See my picture # 4 ....... ;)


Best of luck. ....

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auerbach
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 2168 West of Toronto
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2008-11-19          158010

Thanks, KT, good to know it's available (if I want to spend $3220 on gopher removal). I'm looking forward to the larger version, the Neighborator.

Murph, where are those pictures? And would you explain how the bookmark options at the bottom of the postings work? ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-11-19          158012

If you look directly under each persons avatar there is a little icon of a camera and the word "pics" in light blue. Clicking on that will take you to the persons profile, their pictures are at the bottom of that page.

The link function allows you to insert the URL for something you (like Kenny did) are referring to in a post. As an example, you are asking about one of my pictures that I mentioned. By inserting the URL of it, I can insert a smaller copy of it into this post as below, and if you click on it it will take you to the full-sized image directly.

To do that all I did was copy & paste the URL link to it into the box "Picture / Image URL" in the posting form.

Best of luck. ....

Picture Link
Garden and Landscape Burrowing animals a problem
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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-11-19          158017

Ken, was it you or Iowa fun who had problems with gophers?

auerbach, understand.

It does not seem it would be hard to come up with your own set up giving you the same results. The method to provide the spark would be where I stumbel but would want to be further away that the guy in the video. Maybe the striker from a grill? Also, how much gas is safe in yard a few feet from house?

....

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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2008-11-19          158018

We have gophers and ground squirrels but I don't worry about them. No finished landscape to screw up :)

Now, the bats in the attic are another story... but I wouldn't want to try that rodenator thing in the attic ;-) ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-11-19          158019

The problem is that you need to inject the propane already mixed into the correct ratio of fuel to air to obtain the proper (stoichiometric) mixture that it will ignite properly and burn completely.

If you have too much air or fuel it won't do much at all.

In my case the solution is already well mixed (scrambled?) and very much a self-igniting and self-inserting solution. LOL

I had a squirrel who decide the attic was a good place to over-winter one year. I put one of the dogs up the access ladder while the 'little lady' stood watch outside to see it if it came out the hole in the gable end it had chewed. It did.

She said it did a flat-out sprint right out the hole (~26' up) and into a swan dive. He did not walk away from that landing! He was DOA. ;)

Best of luck. ....

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kthompson
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2008-11-19          158022

Quote:
Originally Posted by kwschumm | view 158018
We have gophers and ground squirrels but I don't worry about them. No finished landscape to screw up :)Now, the bats in the attic are another story... but I wouldn't want to try that rodenator thing in the attic ;-)


Not sure which would be worse but how about Rap Music playing in the attic? It was only a few years ago I learned bats can create a real health problem being in the attic. I seldom see them. Even put up a bat house and still no bats. ....

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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
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2008-11-19          158023

Murf, a few years ago I pulled a dozen squirrels out of the attic using live traps. Two adults (momma and poppa) and ten babies. I found where those were coming from and plugged the holes with copper wool.

Now the bats... Years ago they were roosting in a small gap between the gutter and fascia boards. I chased them out with a hose, cleaned up the mess, stuffed copper wool to block them off, and erected a 24 foot high bat house a hundred feet from the main house. Five years later, the bat house is empty and bats are in the attic. We have lights in all areas of the attic so I turned them all on, but the bats didn't blink. So I'm calling a pro. Apparently they have these little gizmos that will home in on their radar at dusk so they can find out where they are coming and going. This will be interesting to watch. ....

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cutter
Join Date: Feb 2000
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2008-11-19          158030

I generally have a booth directly across from the inventor of the Rodenator at Empire Farm Days, he has some interesting stories. It appears that the quantity of propane is a bit of a guess, even with his expensive machine given you really don't know the volume of the chuck hole.

....

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bvance
Join Date: Jul 2004
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2008-11-19          158031

I would be very suspicious of this method. Growing up on a farm in southern Idaho as a kid, I trapped hundreds of gophers. In those days, the farmer gave you $0.25 for each gopher tail and then you could take the tail to the local conservation office and get another 2 bits.

I learned all the tricks to catching gophers and sometimes when I ran into one that was too cagy to catch I would try to smoke him out. We had an old Massey Ferguson tractor that had a manual choke and we would hook up 3 inch flexible hose to the tractor muffler, pull out the choke and put the smoke to him. We would step back and could see exactly where his tunnels were by watching the smoke seep up through the ground. It was always amazing to see the complicated runs they made, how far they went and the many complex intersections.

In my opinion, by the time the gas mixture found it's way to where the little bugger actually lived, it would be too weak or not the right mixture to explode. And then you never know if you got him or not.

The only method I believe in is the trap. When he is in the trap and dead, you got him. Same with the moles we have here. All sorts of stupid concotions people sell to get rid of moles. But the only thing that I know that truly works is a trap. I get so obsessed with trapping the little buggers, I keep track of how many I kill every year with a grease pencil out on my fence. It's my wall of honor! My neighbors laugh at me, but I don't have any ugly mole hills any where on my 2 acres....or if I do, it's only for a day or two and then he is a grease mark on my fence! :)

Brian ....

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auerbach
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2008-11-20          158034

What's copper wool? Something like a Brillo scouring pad?

I built two different-style bat-houses, following authoritative instructions about design, materials, installation location, etc., to the letter. Not a single tenant in five years. ....

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
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2008-11-20          158036

My father used to sit and watch for a mole run to show the soil lifting then sneak up on him and shoot into the ground with his twelve gauge. The neighbors were a bit wary of a ninety year old man shooting into the ground, but none of them called the cops. He dug up a couple to prove he got them. ....

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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
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2008-11-20          158037

Quote:
Originally Posted by auerbach | view 158034
What's copper wool? Something like a Brillo scouring pad?I built two different-style bat-houses, following authoritative instructions about design, materials, installation location, etc., to the letter. Not a single tenant in five years.


Yes, copper wool is just like steel wool except it's copper (or copper-brass) so it doesn't rust.

Like you, our bat house was built to the letter, painted black for our region, facing the right direction, and far from any tree branches or other things they don't like. Since bats like to roost in areas that have been used before I even bought some bat guano and spread it high up on the pole to attract them. Maybe I forgot the welcome mat. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
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2008-11-20          158044

Quote:
Originally Posted by kwschumm | view 158037
Maybe I forgot the welcome mat.


That's exactly the problem Ken!!

Bats like 3 things in a nesting site; 1) a warm spot, 2) a safe spot, and 3) a spot near a good food source.

In your case you have bats, so there's food.

However, to nest in a warm spot, a bat house, even painted black, but out on a pole (in an effort to provide safety) will be too subject to drafts and cooling from the breeze. They will not use it, period, if it's drafty or cool. Try making a big wooden box, and inside the box put the bat house. This will protect them from the wind.

The best spot for a bat house is on the south face of a building and up under the eaves. Don't be afraid to put it on your house, they will nest in a nice box long before they will try to force a way into your house.

If you want the bats out of the attic, just blow them away, literally!!! Put a big barn vent fan at one end, and a grill at the other and blow a LOT of air through the attic. It will be cool and drafty and they will bugger off, and fast!!!

Best of luck. ....

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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2008-11-20          158046

Yep, the bat house is painted black and facing south but I'm sure it gets plenty of breeze. Building a big box around it sounds like it would cause a bird problem - either create a nesting site or a sounding board for woodpeckers (who I've already battled with once). Maybe extending the sides of the bat house down a few inches to add more wind protection would work?

Our house doesn't actually have an open attic - there are four gable ends but they're blocked off from each other and vented with ridge and mushroom vents. Not quite sure how to put a power vent on without it looking like a restaurant :)

....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
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2008-11-20          158048

Gottcha!!

It might be a PITA to get power there, but there are powered vents that look just like the usual roof vents. See the link below.

In my experience it doesn't take much in the way of venting to make a better choice look like a MUCH better choice.

I suspect your best choice would be to paint the bat houses brown and put them right on the gable end themselves, then vent the attic to get them to move next door.

Just be sure to mount the bat house on a stand-off a little out off the house wall so that the bat guano drops to the ground instead of streaking down the wall.

Best of luck. ....


Link:   Powered Roof Vents

 
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kwschumm
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2008-11-20          158050

Thanks, Murf, I'll look into those. Power shouldn't be a problem, there's outlets and lights in every gable.

But I'd hire someone to install them. I'm too old and too chicken to work on a three story 12/12 roof :)
....

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-11-20          158051

Quote:
Originally Posted by kwschumm | view 158050
Thanks, Murf, I'll look into those. Power shouldn't be a problem, there's outlets and lights in every gable.But I'd hire someone to install them. I'm too old and too chicken to work on a three story 12/12 roof :)



Or too wise.. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
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2008-11-21          158062

My grandfather learned to fly during World War I, although he was too young to be a combatant. He continued to fly under his own license until just before his death at the age of 93.

One of his favourite sayings when someone asked about whether or not flying was scary was "You have nothing to fear about falling, nobody has ever been hurt not even from falling from a great height. It's the sudden stop at the bottom that gets you every time though."

I agree with Kenny, wise, not chicken.

Best of luck. ....

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