We have a lot of critters around here, I'm adding to my self reliant skills on how to deal with them, I need advice!

  It's not like we live in the true middle of nowhere, at least not far enough out to discourage people from "setting bunny free", I didn't realize people did that to pet rabbits. My relationship with rabbits is pretty colored, I have had several, I also had Labrador Retrievers at the same time, that is not a good mix.

Ponpous Grass, the leaves are like saw blades, the plant is thick
and extremely large, removal is a job for a Bulldozer.

Kate Lebeau somehow got a rabbit at one point after we moved North from the Palm Springs area, she named it "Stew". Yes, that's right we called him "Rabbit Stew", good grief, he set himself free, but not far. I am no longer thinking of them or referring to them as "bunnies", that is far too touchy-feely now that the population is heading into the thousands. I've explained how they got here in a way, they are dumped, then they swam across the river to an island. I figure they went over there due to the Coyote situation over here at the "Big" island, no not Hawaii. As it is I saw the "Rabbit Lady" the other day, some call her the "Bunnie Lady", but like I said, they are no longer bunnies to me. We were talking about how prolific the little furry, fuzzy, mammals are, she told me they have a litter, (I don't know if that's what a bunch of baby rabbits is called.) every two months or so, some sooner. (Link to my bunny video) She continued to tell me we need to capture the mother, but if she is with child so to speak, we have to let her go. Let her go because that means she has a litter she is feeding and they will starve to death if we take Mom off to the hinterlands. The Bunny rescue lady told me the big mother rabbit has to be captured and she will take care of it, I need no less than 8 cage traps. We've done this stuff before, my neighbor Bob, (we called him "water Bob") passed away a few years ago. He was good with animals, he was so gruff and ornery it was hard to find a soft spot, but he had a couple of them. He told me he trained the Raccoons that were in the Disney Movie during the 1960's, I don't remember the name and even if I did remember it no one else would. So Bob would trap the varmints, his main nemesis were Skunks, we had a population so large some people said we should change the name of the island, Skunk Island. He set the traps out and it was like a broad net open to the wind catching whatever flew into it. So went his cage traps, Skunks, Possums, Raccoons, and Rats were the regular customers. I am pretty sure the Rabbit relocation project would go about the same direction, but hey it might be entertaining for a while until a bobcat or Otter is caught. There is a lot of mink around here as well, they trip the traps but aren't caught as often as the bigger animals. The Rabbits live everywhere here, they love the giant Pampus Grass that belongs to the neighbor to the North, they are starting to dig the thing up, I wish I had started taking pictures of the removal from the beginning. For every foot that was pulled out of the ground the bush grew two, it seemed like overnight, I have watched all of the animals go into that bush, it's like a parallel universe for the small furry creatures.

That's how I see them, somehow they look bigger after the tail is lifted.

  This same overpopulation happened with cats several years ago, a lady "the cat lady" (Notice no capital letters), had I think we counted like 30 cats running around her place. Well, that's the house that burned down first 6 years ago, the house to the North was destroyed and the home to the South suffered damage. The cat lady had moved out a week prior to the fire, the cats stayed behind, the beginning of a very tragic story, and I had front row seats. I spend a lot of time outside doing meaningless stuff most of the time, a great deal of my time is spent sitting in the garden watching, and waiting with my video camera. The lady was indifferent to the cats, and kittens, she just had them around for some reason. The reality is if history repeats itself, I believe it will begin to repeat around here real soon. I sit in a lawn chair almost every day around 1:00 pm, in the shade resting and watching the critters. As it was every day between 1:00 and 1:30 pm a big Red Tailed Hawk would fly on a tailwind from the East, in a bee-line to the cat ladies burned down house. The Hawk, most likely a large female, in the Red Tail Hawk world the ladies are bigger than the males, this one had a wingspan of about 4 feet. The bird is so big, I thought at first she was a Golden Eagle, of which we have exactly zero living around here. On several occasions she flew about 5 feet over my head, she would fly under a power line, and give me a buzz cut, I feel like she knew I always sat there.

Beautiful Birds, I was unable to capture a photo of my own to post, catching a bird in flight is difficult for me.

Anyway, she would fly skyward way up there about 100 feet or more, circle the cat ladies house and dive. I never saw her leave with empty talons, I think she was getting the cats which by this time are now feral. During the day the Hawks would get them, at night the Coyotes would move in and catch some in concert with the Owls. The deck was stacked against the poor little kitty's, it really is a sad situation. I called the health department to find out what we could do about the cats, the lady on the other end told me they had thousands of houses filled with cats. She continued to tell me if they pursued every complaint about cat houses it would take the entire years budget so they don't react to the complaints. We also have "Cat rescue people" on the island, the two lady's that perform that task are real life angles, I admire them for taking in feral cats. They capture them, have them neutered, attempt to find them homes, which they are very successful at. They do it all on their own nickel, they do it because they are good people, and that brings me to the meat of this blog.
  We are getting a good quantity of rain right now, everything is getting soaked, and the mice are looking for shelter. I don't know how they get into the house, garage, or shed, apparently we have a welcome mat out. As I sit in my chair hammering out letters on my laptop I saw something streak across the room under the window, I ignored it Then I saw another one, a different mouse, the thing was tiny, It was time to tell the River Queen Kate Lebeau, I knew what the reaction would be, she's not a close to nature as I am shall I say. Coming home from the hardware store downtown she handed me a bag with six mouse traps in it, the snapping style. "Here," she said "get rid of the mice", old trapper Jacques back in the saddle again, I told her we should skin them, make a stew, and use the hides to make gloves, I made that comment from a safe distance. So I set the traps, I wasted Peanut Butter on them, I was told it is the best bait. I set six traps in the kitchen, I swear to you, I set them and they started going off the second I closed the cabinet doors, snap!snap!snap!snap!snap!snap! within the first few minutes, the trapping supervisor asked me what was that? I told her we just got six mice, really quickly, so I emptied them and re-set the snappers with more of my beloved staple of life Peanut Butter. Again almost immediate returns on the investment, six more, seriously six more. Now we have put a dent in the population I reckoned, but still I didn't know, I mean look outside there are miles of nothing but territory occupied by the pint-sized enemy. So here we are once again like the swans to Capistrano, the mice return to our Casa, we have a problem again. Moles, Gophers, and Ground Squirrels are all a part of our dreams as well. So what's the solution? My humblest of suggestion, I expect at least one "no" as an answer for whatever I suggest, so I wasn't surprised when the Intergalactic Commander negated my suggestion, I want to get an outdoor cat from the "Cat Lady", I asked a local guy that does everything around here if he would ask the "Cat Lady" to come to the house I wanted to get a "mouser". In the meantime my main motivator was upstairs with our very good friends next door, they have an empty lot. They come to the lot every Saturday and pull weeds, well she pulls weeds, he does other stuff like knock fences over, and drawing strange lines in the dirt which makes everyone scratch their heads and ask me of all people, "What are the lines for?" My answer is consistent, "I have no idea". Well as it turns out, Alice, (not her real name) is deathly allergic to cats, by the way, she explains it if she is around an indoor cat she swells up, can't breathe, and all of the other bee sting type of reactions. So the cat is out of the question, we like her visits while her husband works, we drink coffee, listen to music, and eat various different foods. So now what, no cat, millions of mice, gophers, and moles, I wonder if there are any dog mousers, If I bet money I would bet there is but I don't know of any if you do leave a comment with the breed. There are a lot of Raccoons around us, Skunks, Possums, Otters, and Fox, still, they don't dent the mouse population, they all hunt them. We don't use poison, it's dangerous to lay Decon all over the place, the mice die from it sure but the other critters find them and if they eat them they also meet their maker so to speak. We lost a cat like that, it is a very sad, and painful death for the animal, I have no desire to be the epicenter of poisoning deaths of the local wildlife. (Link to the EPA's paper on rat poison)
  We are on Hold with the "kitty", I would name it "Killer", just to put it in the correct frame of mind. Gopher snakes hunt mice as well, but all of us do not share the same opinion of snakes, some of us are deathly afraid of them, it's not me. Snakes are out, Cats are out, traps are OK, I am not a good enough shot to hit them with a BB gun or slingshot, and not ambitious enough to use a net. I'm at a loss now on what to do about them, and I haven't even mentioned the ants, we've been fighting them all winter. We are making less progress with the ants than we are with the mice, what a mess.

I like Rabbits when they are in small numbers.

  My worm farm is in the garage, well part of it is, the rest is outside in my nine raised beds and my composting bin. I sit there taking care of the farm bins with Rabbits running around the garage, and Skunkpuppy hot on their trail. In fact, I was sitting cutting up cardboard for bedding when a half-grown rabbit ran across my legs followed by Skunkpuppy in its exact tracks, neither of them paid any attention to me. I imagine we will be experiencing another "magic moment" with the birth of another litter, this one most likely in the garage.
  So it goes, thanks for reading and sharing, leave a comment or a mouse solution, I will try something I'm not sure what. I am not very optimistic about the Rabbit situation, I hope they don't meet the same fate as the Cats. I saw that big female Red Tail Hawk flying around high above the Cat Ladies house, right at 1:30 this afternoon.

jacquesandkate  EmergencyKitsPlus.com