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Safflower seeds are one of the recommended foods if you have a pet rat

I have come in after dark many a night and have seen these critters scurrying across the streets. In Bonnybrook there is a dog walker whose dog has killed a few and whose attic had to be treated as the well known pest control company found the beedy eyed critters there. To those who have not seen and desire to ignore simple helpful ways to decrease the rats that's your choice. The birds are well fed by Mother Nature and the hawks help keep the vermin population down. It is humans who leave food out that set the balance off. Wildlife is precious and common sense is sometimes in short supply. The black box is only part of the solution and it does help.As my parents taught " You have a choice ,be part of the solution. Or be part of the problem.

Is it illegal to have bird feeders in Florida??
 

I've heard this and then read this.."State law reads: “Except as otherwise authorized in these regulations or in the Fish and Game Code, no person shall harass, herd or drive any game or nongame bird or mammal or fur-bearing mammal. For the purposes of this section, harass is defined as an intentional act that disrupts an animal’s normal behavior patterns, which includes but is not limited to, breeding, feeding or sheltering. This section does not apply to a landowner or tenant who drives or herds birds or mammals for the purpose of preventing damage to private or public property, including aquaculture and agriculture crops.”
So does this mean it's actually illegal to have a bird feeder???

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Are the wild birds around TV starving to death?? I used to be one that had bird feeders but my desire to not have rats outweighed my desire to feed wild birds. I don’t understand the stubbornness of some here on this forum. If the community has a rat problem, regardless of whether the rat problem affects YOU, stop the bird feeding. Put the feeders away for your neighbor’s sake. There are times in our lives when we must put others first, that includes total strangers. As for the safflower seeds, at least one website lists it as food you can give your pet rat.

Re: Birdseed
 

We do not have a bird feeder but, I recall reading that birds cannot taste hot pepper but squirrels can. The suggestion was to mix cyanne pepper with your bird seed.

I'm sure to get yelled at anyway. The article CLAIMS the pepper does not hurt the birds. A squirrel, is, well a RAT with a fuzzy tail.

Good to know, thanks.

We have never had a bird feeder and never had a rat issue. While living in The Villages the last 10 years, never saw a rat. Perhaps this means something or perhaps not.

We've been here 13 years and never saw one either BUT we saw their droppings in our grill on the drip pan when we went to clean it. Then when we started looking for droppings, lo and behold we saw more on our porch. That's when we got the black plastic boxes from our pest control company. As I mentioned before, between traps, our dog and the poison, we got at least 7 rats within 1-2 years. Imagine what that number would be if everyone got 7 rats? We're just one little house on one tiny lot. They're here.

Since rats are purported to live in Palms, I wonder how many would live in those bearded palms that are planted all up and down the "Highways and byways" of The Villages. Just a thought.....

I think it would helpful ( more attractive too) if TV would trim all of the dead fronds from the Cabbage Palms. I doubt that will ever happen though.

OOoo Rat's, so that's where they come from....:22yikes:

Too expensive. And just because you've never seen one, it doesn't mean they're not there. We had one of those deck boxes on our patio one year. In it, we had stored half a bag of potting soil. Nothing else. We came back after being away for the summer. When I lifted the lid, guess what "flew" out?! You guessed it! It had apparently thought the potting soil was a cozy place for a nest.

I screamed loud enough for neighbors to come running. Needless to say, we now buy our potting soil in very small bags and never store it.

BTW snakes are everywhere, too. Don't kill them. We need them to check rats and other pests.

Hey, this is Florida. If they're not in your house, you don't need to worry about them.

FWIW, they love citrus as much as palms.

You may not see the rats around your feeder but chances are good that they know where to find a free meal. I saw them around my back yard feeder got rid of the feeder and fed the rats some poison and end of problem. The birds now eat bugs and seem happier.