AnonymousBy an edhat reader
Does anyone know what critters are hollowing out my oranges? I noticed it when fruit fell from the tree but now I’m seeing it when I pull an orange from the branches. I’m assuming their rats, unfortunately, but does anyone know for sure?
My first guess is rats. It has been a big problem for us in the past. 22cal snake-shot loads work great and present minimal down-range safety issues.
That suggestion is idiotic on several levels, not least of which is that it is illegal.
MACPUZL – shhhhh, you’re offending Fog’s sensitivities to his/her God-given right to shoot a firearm wherever and whenever. It’s ‘Merica, remember? Please don’t be so anti-rights, it’s very hurtful to gun-toting snowflakes.
The short range and no ricochet potential make this a totally safe and environmentally sound approach to rats. I have killed many. Poisons are indiscriminate and poisoned rats often die in or under buildings. Most outdoor trapping is a threat to birds. I agree that the biggest (only) issue is the law.
Crepuscular critters they are, as well as nocturnal AND diurnal. It is usually evening when I kill them, though I got two yesterday during the day.
Channelfog, you are fooling yourself. You shot two rats and there are two hundred waiting to take their place. Shooting, poisoning, and trapping just get the kill the weak or stupid ones.
We have a “contraption” that has a trap-door mechanism, which deposits the rats in their very own swimming pool. We get the dumb ones, the weak ones, the smart ones, the older/younger ones….we get ’em all without having to resort to poison or shooting. We discard their carcasses in our regular garbage in plastic bags. It’s true, that you cannot get them all, but psychologically, I feel that I am “winning” the battle! I’d say we’ve gotten at least three to four dozen of these vermin over the past few months, and we don’t have to throw out the fruit that the rats have simply nibbled on (the little circle entry in the fruit skin is a sure sign you have rats).
In Hawaii, they place metal ‘bands’, probably about 10-12 inches wide (depends on the rat’s length of reach), around the trunk of coconut and other trees to keep rats out of them. They are too slick for the rats to get hold to shimmy up the tree. And, they do have to be high enough off the ground so the rat can’t jump above the band.
We don’t have ground squirrels but we see Fox squirrels eating them too.