forums energies: society, ecology and clean technologies

By dint of letting nature do, I won this year, I am infested with rodents. They started by decimating my carrots, beets, chard, black radish and even my artichokes which I took years to make prosper.
The underground vole culprit:
They are very small, nothing to do with Did's mole rats.
You really shouldn't be fat to eat black radishes from the inside like this:
My land is a minefield, the garennes eat what exceeds.

I catch them with mouse traps at the edge of the holes of the old roots, with a tray with plan upside down, covered with a tile, otherwise they are mice who are caught
Here is one with a slightly flat nose, they don't have time to suffer and the hens love:
However, my garden is surrounded by trees. There is no shortage of raptors, I even had a brood of middle duke last year.

Can a cat be?
Rather a cat, much more hunting than the males.

I don't have any more, but the ground is open and it comes at night. And then they are less accessible to predators than field mice or rats.

My poor Izo, you're in trouble: 2020 is the year of the rat in the Chinese calendar! You can always console yourself by considering that it is a form of homage to your gardening success!

Don't worry, I'm going to send them a few. And then you're not going to start playing isotropics too

izentrop wrote:By dint of letting nature do, I won this year, I am infested with rodents ...

It can be eaten ? In Africa I ate agouti, a kind of big rat. Quite strong game taste, but it's good. Given the size of your rodents, I recommend them on skewers, you will solve your problem at the same time as you eat natural and save on meat. I'll let you explore the trapping techniques.

Exnihiloest wrote:

izentrop wrote:By dint of letting nature do, I won this year, I am infested with rodents ...

It can be eaten ? In Africa I ate agouti, a kind of big rat. Quite strong game taste, but it's good. Given the size of your rodents, I recommend them on skewers, you will solve your problem at the same time as you eat natural and save on meat. I'll let you explore the trapping techniques.

You have to kill them with glyphosate, it's ecological and good for your health.

More seriously, I think that it can be a limit to the non-working of the soil, at least in a vegetable garden which nevertheless still normally contains a lot of palatable food for these little animals throughout the year.
Regularly destroying their underground network with a few strokes of the grelinette or pitchfork is certainly a way of limiting the invasion.

izentrop wrote:I don't have any more, but the ground is open and it comes at night. And then they are less accessible to predators than field mice or rats.

passing cats are only passing unfortunately
each cat to its hunting territory, more or less vast, that it fixes around its home, so having cats that pass does not guarantee in any way that they take prey from you
a sudden increase in a pest often reflects an imbalance between prey and predators, or between food and pests, you may be combining both
leaving too many root vegetables all winter is to provide cover, with a mild winter, it’s the explosion of pests,

you bring them food, cutlery and mother nature sweetness and that's it ...

Moindreffor wrote:

izentrop wrote:I don't have any more, but the ground is open and it comes at night. And then they are less accessible to predators than field mice or rats.

passing cats are only passing unfortunately

Several times, I found rat remains, only the tail and the liver (I believe) and also heaps of bird feathers. I think it is the work of cats, my land is still fenced. 10 cm meshes which allow rabbits and hedgehogs to pass, except for a neighbor who has put finer mesh.

I was thinking of surrounding the vegetable patch with buried fine wire mesh, but not yet done. 50 cm is enough for garennes, see less.