A rodent again

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Latest news, a rodent got into my GH and was making a nest under my RO tank and lining it with pieces of Dendrobium. My cats are now spending there days in the GH. Think I may have scared him off before I sealed up a hole he may have been using. No further damage seen this morning. I'm going to put hardware cloth up between tank and GH, and the openings to the cold frame.

Tried to turn on my back up heater to drive him out if he might be hiding there, and found the thermostat was defunct. Great back up heater. I'm burning a ton of propane to keep the pilot going and couldn't get the heater to run if needed. After a lot of looking on the internet, I now recognize I would need a 750 mv power supply to cause the heater to start, and tho I have a power supply in the basement, in a power outage, I'd probably would have a hard time finding it. Think I will go down and see if I can locate that power supply while I am waiting for my new thermostat.

The last time a rodent got into my GH back in Glendale, he came in the roof vent, later covered by hardware cloth, and ate and killed an Isochilus linearus coerulea. Have you ever heard of such a plant? If so, let me know, as I'd like to replace it. But, for the last 20 years I have not seen it offered anywhere, and Andy of Andy's Orchids and some of the South American growers have never heard of such a plant. Well, it was a recent jungle collected import and bloomed on a few of the old stems while getting established. I certainly knew coerulea when I saw it back then. I am hoping the current rodent has not killed such a valuable plant, and it looks like I can live with the damage so far.

[Orchidflowerchild]

I was telling my grandmother about my new GH and she was asking me what I would do to prevent rats and mice. My answer was to remind her I have five cats, who love to nap in the GH.

Also helps to keep squirrels away.

-Cj

[pikevi]

I am sorry to hear about the problem with that rodent, Cynthia. It is good that no valuable plant was lost.

I hope that is the end of the story as far as the rodent is concerned.

Good luck.

[Tarad]

You need a Rat Terrier they live to kill those varmits. I have one and have not seen a critter since he took the job ) Yep that is him in my pic Tara

[digitalgate]

Originally Posted by Orchidflowerchild

I was telling my grandmother about my new GH and she was asking me what I would do to prevent rats and mice. My answer was to remind her I have five cats, who love to nap in the GH.

Also helps to keep squirrels away.

-Cj

ha , ha , ha , ha that a good one

[evagentry]

hope you catch your varmit, but be careful with cats, sometimes they can knock things over in the excitement if the chase.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Hardware cloth is now in place. Our male cat is a terrific mouser/ratter. There was no damage that I could tell this morning, so I am hoping he is now caged out of the GH, and not inside it. I'll know in another day or two. Seems he is not attracted to the mouse poison I put out at night. But what mouse would be with all that luscious green stuff around?

[LeftCoastAngler]

Cats: The NATURAL rodent deturrent!