Kris Hughes

Cats catch smaller rodents like mice and baby rats, baby squirrels, baby bunnies, etc. Dogs like terriers were often bread to hunt larger rodents like big rats. None of the cats in our neighborhood would win a fight with our big Norway rats here.

For cats or dogs, hunting rodents can lead to infections, parasites, injuries, and diseases, some of which can spread to humans. It's usually a good idea to keep pets updated on all vaccines; use flea, tick, and parasite prevention methods; bathe them frequently; and frequently check them for bites and scratches that need disinfectants and bandaging. Another thing to be aware of is that if a dog or cat eats a rodent that has been poisoned, your pet may get poisoned also, so teaching pets to hunt isn't a good idea in our suburban neighborhood because many people use poison here.

I recently saw the some universities are using raw cottonseed oil rat foods to disrupt the endocrine system of rats, causing them to reproduce less often. Cottonseed oil is supposedly like birth control pills for rats. Places that have tried this have stated they had a reduction in rat populations. This may be useful for reducing the population of rats that are smart enough to avoid traps, poisons, hunting, etc. I haven't tried it yet, but it's an interesting concept.

We had a sudden big infestation years ago in which rats were coming in through holes they dug under the foundation, chewed into flashing around the chimney, chewed through vent screens, and (the biggest source) chewed holes through the sewer pipes and were using the plumbing system as a highway.

So now, twice a year, I inspect every inch of the house, attic, crawlspace, foundation, plumbing, etc and plug up holes with 1/4" hardware cloth (adding another layer that overlaps to make the holes smaller if I see mice evidence), set electronic traps in attics and crawlspaces (they beep, so I can hear them), set tube snap traps in places I can check easily (they are more effective than regular snap traps), and fill tunnels under the foundation with concrete. We had a backflow valve installed in the plumbing and covered the flap with a thick layer of Flexseal (which they don't like to chew on for some reason). I put gravel all around the foundation of the building, so I can see holes easily if the gravel is disturbed (previously they were hiding holes in the middle of plants near the house and then tunneling under the foundation, they're smart, so no more plants next to the house).

It's a lot of work, but the massive infestation has not happened again since I made it all a routine.

We have to keep switching up our trap design and layouts because the mama rats will teach their babies to avoid the traps, so we make changes repeatedly to outsmart them. (They really are smart.)

Even if we lock up all food and keep everything clean, we learned they will try to nest in our building. If you have PEX pipes or other plastic pipes, they can chew through it to get water. They will eat our crops, animal feed, seeds, wild foods, and animal feces outside or even at the neighbors house then come back in to nest and rest.

I love animals. Had pet rodents. Even had a pet rat as a kid. But they were truly destroying my home, and it cost thousands to fix all the damage, and it was a huge health hazard.

Keep on it.

Jay,

Definitely a good resource. I will be using it. Who knew I'd ever want more snakes in my yard. As long as they can't hurt my family, including pets, I'm welcoming them.

I am learning so much about what local predators will eat the worms. I think making predator habitat is going to be the best way to deal with them to avoid killing all the beneficial and native species.

The moles eat the worms, grubs, etc underground. From what I've read, they eat a lot! They don't eat the plants, but sometimes they do accidentally cause root damage. (And rats like to use their tunnels, and I very much try to reduce the rat population because we've had nightmare infestations before.) I used to trap the moles, but I have since stopped that, and I think I'm going to need them to help with soil compaction in addition to the worms, so I'm going to let them be and see what happens. (A lot of people in my area confuse them with voles, which do eat roots, and we have voles here too, so many of the neighbors are not mole-friendly, but I do see them in my yard now and then.)

We also have shrews, and I've seen them in the garden, so I know they're doing their part to help.

Some worm-eating birds do eat the worms. Some don't when the worms flop around too much.

We unfortunately have hammerhead flatworms (invasive) that eat worms, but they are very slow and only seem to go after slow worms. I don't think they'd be able to catch a jumping worm, even to excrete a neurotoxin on them, but I don't encourage anyone to try to welcome in invasive toxic hammerhead flatworms.

Racoons and skunks eat the worms, and I've seen both on my cameras, but I'd prefer to not have them living in my yard. The racoons are cute, but they like to play and destroy everything they can pick-up, and they do eat my food plants before I can harvest them. And skunks, well, smell like skunks. I'd welcome them if I had a bigger plot of land.

We used to have opossums once in awhile, but I haven't seen them in a long time. Maybe if they come back, they could help, but they can also cause damage in other ways, so I'm not building a habitat for them quite yet.

I've heard mixed stories from people who have chickens and ducks who sometimes eat the jumping worms. It could possibly be a problem for them because of heavy metals that the worms accumulate, but I don't know enough about that. I am currently unable to have either feathered friend, so I'm going to focus on the local wildlife.

Here's to making nature-inspired habitats and hoping the wildlife balances it all out soon.

Jay,

In our neighborhood, most homes use bark mulch and trucked in soil, which are prime carriers of the jumping worms, and the landscaping companies go house to house spreading it, so I'm sure that's a big factor in the worms spreading. And there are a lot of other people who go yard to yard for various reasons (sales people doing free estimates for pest control and windows and such who walk through yards, utilities, etc), so they could be carrying it on their shoes.

I don't use bark mulch or landscapers, but I've shared plants with my fence neighbors and have mostly bought plants, soil, compost, and mulch from reputable nurseries when I didn't have the means to produce those things myself within a reasonable time, and I've seen these energetic worms for many years but didn't know they were invasive until recently. I just thought I wasn't a great gardener because I couldn't get my soil to improve as much as I hoped it would even though I had so many worms and was doing everything the books told me to do. I'm sure however we got them, they've been here for a long time, and it explain why everyone around here trucks in big loads of bark and wood mulch to their small yards nearly every year when it normally wouldn't break down so quickly.

I did notice the garden bed where my friendly garter snake lives still has leaf mulch on it (from our trees, not imported) while the other areas are already bare, so maybe I can persuade more garter snakes and moles to move in.

Nancy, we have been talking about trying that.

Powdered mustard for mustard water gets expensive after awhile, and I hate the thought of causing chemical irritation to other organisms who have done nothing but help us.

Plus, I want to go to the woods near our neighborhood and look for the jumping worms there (I see signs of them in the soil and the absence of deciduous leaf litter this time of year when I'd expect to see a nice mulch layer, so I suspect they're there gobbling everything up and making more clay pebbles), and I don't want to do a mustard water flush in a natural area, so I was thinking of giving that a try.

Got to make a grunting stick. I wonder if apple branches would work for it. I got plenty of those. I'll let you know if it works.

I think it depends on your local environment. In some environments they probably help. In others they harm.

In the PNW, they are harmful. And I've watched it happen firsthand. I put down a bunch of compost and mulch and woodchips. It breaks down. I think, I must have amazing soil under that top layer. Nope. Just rock hard clay pellets that compact into a thick crust, and many plants struggle to grow in it.

If I put more mulch down, it feeds the jumping worms and I end up with more and it continues to ruin the soil rather than building it.

They eat up all the compost and mulch before the other beneficial organisms can and harm the balance of the soil ecosystem.

If you kill the worm by starving them or waiting for a big freeze, you still have to deal with the eggs. They don't need to have sex to reproduce, and their eggs last for years and are difficult to destroy, so you'll have to kill the eggs, which requires heating the soil, mulch, etc to about 105°F for several days.

This has required me to reconsider how I use permaculture methods.

So I'm switching to new methods and trying to keep with permaculture principles as mush as possible. I'm using living mulch, solarizing compost and soil before I use it, composting in raised containers off the ground, not sharing plants with neighbors (seeds are ok though), and killing all the jumping worms I find by putting them in strong vinegar (they die in about 2 seconds). We can't get rid of them once we have them, but the less there are, the less damage there will be. To feed the beneficial earthworms that live deep in the soil, I'm planting things with deep root, cutting off the tops just under the surface, and letting them rot in place, so our friendly worms and other soil helpers stick around. The jumping worms tend to stay in the top 4 inches of the soil (they will go deeper though), so any composting has happened much deeper than that and covered with something they don't find appetizing. Fortunately they don't seem to like conifer needles, so I'm going to start using pine and arborvitae needles as mulch over the deep compost to see if that helps slow them down without harming the plants.

Tea seed meal can help but it harms all worms, even the beneficial ones, and can harm predators. We have a garter snake in our yard who likes to eat them and all the slugs (some snakes are excellent slug control), and I don't want to hurt our snake friend, so no tea seed meal for us.

If you spray the soil with soap or vinegar, it will bring them up to the surface and maybe even kill them, but it may also kill your plants and will also harm all the other organisms. I do this in areas where I need to kill aggressive weeds with vinegar.

You can make mustard water and use that to bring them up to catch them, and that won't hurt your plants, but it won't kill them, so you have to grab them, make sure it's not the beneficial worms, and drop them in vinegar, and some of them are fast so it can be a challenge to get them all.

I am hoping the predators will increase in numbers and help keep the population under control. And I'm hoping to figure out how to break down the jumping worm poop into something my plants can use.

Nature keeps changing, and I'm trying to change with it. Watch. Learn. Experiment. Adapt.

paul wheaton wrote:Making some plans to be in the portland area in september.  

And I am curious if there are fun things I should consider doing when in the area.  I went to the Japanese gardens last time.  I've been to omsi a dozen times.  What else?

I live in the Portland area. Tell me what you like to do, and I'll likely have suggestions. I don't know what your car situation is, but there's plenty in and outside the public transportation areas, and there are often tours that drive out to places from the city, and I'm sure online friends would be happy to take you on a tour of their favorite places. Most of the online top 10 guides will tell you about the usual stuff in Portland that you can take the Max to. If you have a car and want to do a day trip, there are lots of adventures to choose from.

For beaches where you can touch the water, Canon Beach has iconic Haystack rock. Seaside has beach people (think roller skates and bubbles). Sunset Beach is nice if you want to drive your car onto the beach, which is good if you want to stay close to your car.and stuff (just make sure you pay attention to the tides). Ecola State Park has beautiful views and hiking and has beach access. Astoria isn't so great for the beach, but it is lovely to visit the docks and watch the ships.

History: Chachalu, Warm Springs, Japanese American Museum, Oregon History Museum, Hi Desert Museum (in Bend), End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, Ft Stevens and Ft Clatsop, Portland Art Museum.

The Japanese garden is beautiful, and the Chinese garden is too, and the Leech Botanical Garden is pretty, but if you're looking for something less manicured, try the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area (need to reserve a time to visit Multnomah Falls and pay an extra fee on top of the Day pass for the Gorge) and Mt Hood Forest (Trillium Lake is the first place I suggest to new visitors, need a day use pass).

Want something Portland-ish? The Peculiarium. The tunnel tours under the city. Food carts. Voodoo. River cruise if you want to watch the view go by while you relax.

If you're willing to head to Hood River, they've got the train, rail bikes, and some super yummy farms (Hood River Fruit Loop) that will be selling a bunch of yummies in September.

Permaculture stuff: Get in touch with Angela at Parkrose Permaculture. She does suburban permaculture and is rather popular on YouTube. There also Andrew Millison at OSU in Corvallis who teaches courses and has some amazing international examples of permaculture.

If you are into volcanoes, try Newberry Volcanic Monument or head up to Washington for Mt St Helens or Ape Caves.

Want to see some awesome desert river ecosystem stuff and amazing rock climbers, head to Smith Rock State Park.

And if you want to participate in a protest, there's almost always one happening somewhere around here. Indivisible has weekly events.

Show up hungry. There's lots of good food.