Sitting in our home dock at Morro Bay, Ca. (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Morro+Bay,+ca&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=34.176059,56.513672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Morro+Bay,+San+Luis+Obispo,+California&ll=35.355642,-120.847126&spn=0.001074,0.001725&t=h&z=19) - ended up with a rat on board, last week: chewed up bedding, defecated everywhere, ate into some spaghetti stored in the galley.
Things I learned:
The boat is interconnected with rat runways into every compartment...
Mouse traps don't work for rats.
Use creamy peanut butter, not chunky in the rat trap.
For the future:
Used brass wool to wrap around the secondary chain going into my chain locker (no cover).
Used some 3" circular mesh aluminum gutter guards (expanded to 4") in the engine compartment vents.
Hope this works because the little varmint ruined my weekend plans...
(btw, next to the last slip on the right in the google pic is now Wind Tamer, but this pic was from before we moved in)
Rats in Morro Bay.....Cukaratchas in Mexico...we all got our issues!
Being from Port San Louis post some photos of your area, so we can remember home.
Rich
Rich,
And cats in the head. Rich just read your blog -- there will be NO rats on board Third Day. It looks like "it's hell out there"
Garner
We loved the sticky traps in our NYC apartment. They caught everything from mice to grasshoppers. I would not recommend them if you have a cat though, because they also catch cats.