On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:19:14 +0100, Mike Rowbottom wrote:

>Hi
>
>Two years back my wife and I lost two hives that were trashed
>by rats (rattus norvegicus) on one apiary site-they were the only
>two hives there.   

On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:19:14 +0100, Mike Rowbottom wrote:

Two years back my wife and I lost two hives that were trashed
>by rats (rattus norvegicus) on one apiary site-they were the only
>two hives there. 

Hi Mike,

I have never had a problem with rattus norvegicus in bee hives nor have I 
ever heard of anyone having such problems in Canada. Beekeepers in the 
province of Alberta are especially lucky in that their provinces has no 
rats and the government employes a crew to wipe out any incursions.

Here in B.C. we have Pack rats ( Neotoma cinerea ). I have never had one 
trouble an occupied beehive but they will try and move into empty 
equipment. Pack rats like to move things around - take some end bars and 
replace them with cow dung for example. Because of this I once lost a 
bunch of end bars I had stored in a barn. I think they ended up underneath 
the floor boards.

I live in ranching country and there are many stories of cowboys having 
epic battles with pack rats that have moved into cow camp cabins. Pack 
rats can be extremely difficult to trap if they learn what a trap is 
through a close call. 

I know of one cowboy, Hank, who spent a winter, alone, off in cabin at the 
back of a ranch with such a pack rat. The final straw, so to speak, came 
one night when the rat peed on Hank's one and only tea towel. I guess 
living in isolated conditions like that can help a man get inside a rat's 
head because the next day Hank had his epiphany. He realized that pack rat 
piss is Neotoma's kryptonite. So that night he placed the soiled tea towel 
over the trap and the rat dove right in to roll and was killed. Hank saved 
the towel and found it never failed to catch a rat. Eventually he began to 
loan it to others and it proved equally successful so that the towel has 
now taken on mystical proportions and is refered to reverently as 'The 
Shroud of Urine'. I don't think Hank will let me send the shroud overseas 
but I pass on the information hoping it will be of some use.

Ted

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