Why would a dead rat be laying out in the middle of my large lawn this morning? If a neighbor is baiting them, would they crawl to an open area to die? Couple months ago one was laying on a garden path, and a third, I forget where it was found. We find them in the morning.
Also, a rat was seen scratching at a ground level window one night. No evidence of burrows, no food or water source within many yards (can't say what the neighbor might have across the driveway and other side of forsythia hedge line.)
We can find no evidence of rats anywhere in our half acre. I do have some areas with leaf litter, vinca and ivy vines, and some dead brush, as far from the house as can be on a triangular half acre. The yard is bordered with shrubs in a single line, or trees with leaf litter, or gardens that I do tend somewhat, (not neat as a pin I admit.) We have no pond, stream, or standing water problem. We have a small compost, never see rats around it, actively composting in the heat and rain anyway. I have almost no problems with pests in the vegetable garden, plenty of tomatoes, squash, peppers now if they wanted, only thing eaten was lettuce, radicchio and beans, back in spring, easily explained by the groundhogs and bunnies we see. There are scraps of forest not far, between old and new developments, enough so that deer wander thru now and then, (tomato tops just got pruned at 4 feet last night in fact)
Odd and maybe insignificant, we find them when it's rained the day or night before. They are wet.
Have lived here 32 years, have only found 2 deat rats ( seperate years) before this year. with 3 dead so far this spring/summer and the one live sighting.
My question is, do you think a neighbor has an active problem, do rats typically roam, and if neighbor is baiting for rats, are rats wandering to die? Or are they so stealth I just haven't found them in my yard? I'm looking for holes, digging, trails, gnawing- nothing.
