If you have come here for some inspiring tidbits in a who moved my cheese kind of way, I hate to disappoint you!

Lately I have been smelling a rat, or rather I have been seeing the destruction of their path.

With the continuation of the drought on our door, rodents are moving closer to residential areas in search of food, my little plant nursery seems to have become the perfect haven for these pesky creatures to feast at night. They have been getting into my newly rooted plants chewing them off at the stem, not to mention the animal food storage and I am just out of ideas on how to keep them at bay.

I know that leaving the rats long enough will also call for constant visits from very unwelcome guests such as snakes. On the farm we deal with snakes on a regular basis, but do I want an excess of snakes in and around the house and chicken coups; NO. The majority of snakes large enough to take on these humongous rats, and are not shy to intrude into the dwellings of us mere mortals, are the kind of snakes that you would commonly not want around your house. Black Mamba, Rinkhals and Spitting Cobras are three of the most likely suspects in this regards, and they just so happen to be some of the deadliest.

For me poison is not really an option, as poisoned rats often gets caught by owls and other wild creatures. A poisoned rat becomes weak and slow before death making them easier prey, this means that whatever ends up eating the rats also ingest the poison, and this had a severe impact on the delicate ecosystem.

So what is left to do?

I have tried setting out traps, from the common snapping type to fnakes and cage traps and then I even scooted on to pretty much every DIY trap that I could find on youtube, and despite the fact that I have caught quite a few, I am fully convinced that they are multiplying at 5 times the success rate of any trap that I can possibly put out for them.

I even went as far as pulling out the pellet gun from the cupboard, and as much fun as it has been shooting these pests I simply can not seem to get ahead of them...

Honestly at the point of considering something slightly more drastic;