Our First Barn Hunt

What follows is one our barn hunt introductory runs. 

Keep in mind that while I really like domesticate rats, I am highly allergic. Jeff on the other hand dislikes all rats. How to practice? We have a Hav-A-Heart rat trap. Catch a wild rat, have the dogs practice, and take it to a distant park to be released. We have a plan!

The Furrykids in our "Barn"

We bought my mother a house. She moved out. It has a large sun room. Perfect for converting to a barn. Add half a dozen bales of hay. Barn ready.

The kids examining the rat before the hunt

Catching a rat was easy. Put the baited trap in the front yard overnight. One large male rat caught.

Now how to transfer the rat from a square trap to a round rat tube. A sand bag catches my eye. This works beautifully for the first young rat we caught. He was only slightly larger than a field mouse. He cooperated beautifully. This new rat is an adult male in the prime of his life. We better do the transfer in a closed environment. Mother's house has a long master bathroom. Transfer location chosen.

Jeff and I lock ourselves in the bathroom. Jeff holds the bag. I have the trap ready. I put one of the trap in the bag. I carefully release that end of the trap without releasing the other end (figured that out with the first guy and no Jeff). The rat falls into the bag. 

This guy is much more athletic than the first baby. He catches the side of the bag about halfway down and instantly rockets out of the bag. He leaps at me. I do what anyone with a healthy regard for rat teeth would do - I instantly raise my hands up near my head. Ooops. There was a large trap in one hand. I smack myself in the face with it. Jeff is OK because the rat jumped towards me. It runs behind the toilet, jumps up, and hides on the pipes up near the tank.

What to do?

I put the already open rat tube on the floor between the tub and the toilet. I turn asking Jeff to open the other two spare tubes. He is over the entire process. He refuses but at least he does not open the door. I open the spare tubes and put them on the other side of the toilet by the sink cupboard. My face is killing me. 

Where is the rat?? I do not see him behind the toilet any more. Where did he go? It is a mostly empty bathroom. Where is he?? I carefully pick up the first tube I had set down. The rat is in the tube hiding. I quickly screw on the lid.

Now we can hunt.

The actual hunt was fun for the dogs. As for the rat when we got to the park and I opened the tube, I was not sure how he would look. When he did not immediately run out, I thought for sure we had accidently killed him. Nevermind the large meal of premium dog chow he ate while he waited to be transferred to the tube, nevermind the water we provided for him, and nevermind that we turned the AC on in the house for his comfort. Nope he was not dead. He was asleep. I tapped the tube. He startled awake, saw the park, and never stopped to say good bye.

The only question left is how to explain the black eye to my office tomorrow...