I'm moving to a shack, with no power, on top of a mountain!

[Wolf]

Where's my money?!!
I've killed three rats so far. They bypass the bread and muesli lying around, and they go straight for the soap. So I bait my traps with soap. Works well, madness!

I found that roach traps were good at catching mice - but I don't know if they were after the lure or merely trying to hide in the trap to evade the cat that was prowling around. Whatever the reason for going in it, the sticky crap on the floor of the trap works well on mouse fur when they try to slither through it...

I prefer to use Peanut Butter. Smooth Sanitarium, but not the Chinese crap.

Wise move, the melamine in it is likely to kill the poor little buggers!

[klingon]

Where's my money?!!
I've killed three rats so far. They bypass the bread and muesli lying around, and they go straight for the soap. So I bait my traps with soap. Works well, madness!

OK you're definitely showing your hippie colours here.
1) You have muesli lying around
2) You think soap is for catching rats

Good on you for sticking with it. I'm still jealous!

[vifferman]

You think soap is for catching rats

Hmmmmm....
I once worked on a sheep farm (professional sheepshagger), and the rats there were interesting. They used to live in three main places: in tunnels under the dog kennels, down by the creek, and in the roof of the offices. They were almost impossible to eradicate, as they're cunning. Confronted with strange new free food, they send in the very young, old or infirm rats to check it out, so poisoned baits were never 100% successful.
The ones in the office used to chew up all the old records we stuck in the ceiling for storage. Much more effective than an expensive paper shredder.
The reason we knew some lived by the creek was that in the winter they used to go in the shed and eat the crayons in the tupping harnesses, so there'd be multicoloured rat droppings all the way down their little rat trails to the creek.

[oldrider]

I have caught a "lot" of rats like this:

Put half a saveloy in an open tin can and a set gin trap in front of the can opening.

Rats can not resist saveloys and run across the gin trap to get to it......viola.

Sure rats are smart but saveloys smell good and gin traps are like the Police......it's what they do, they just hang about and wait!

Sooner or later the hungry rat forgets how smart he is and dang! John.

[Toaster]

Wow - that pad will seriously pull the chicks eh!!

[Toaster]

Would you like to buy some home-made claymores to keep the possums out?

Just don't get up for a drunken piss in the middle of the night.

[klingon]

Wow - that pad will seriously pull the chicks eh!!

(Where's the girlie version of that smilie?)

[The Pastor]

anyone got an update from steam?

[GaZBur]

anyone got an update from steam?

Hmmm. I havent seen his bike around town or varsity recently. Do you think he is up there caught in one of his own traps and deciding if its better to starve or gnaw off his own leg to escape?

Anybody seen him or does he need a rescue party?

[cave weta]

Last year Steam went to live in a shack on a hill.......
is he back yet?

[cave weta]

OK you're definitely showing your hippie colours here.
1) You have muesli lying around
2) You think soap is for catching rats

Good on you for sticking with it. I'm still jealous!

Klingon- you still have that invite to come down here and see how the hippies do it!

[GaZBur]

Saw his bike in Moray place about a month or so ago. So either he is ok or the rats have finally figured out how to ride his bike, it is a ratbike after all!

[u4ea]

you have forgotten that young women of today can barely identify a broom, let alone be able to comprehend, interpret, then apply the operational instructions t'wards said apparatus.
So making a fire to heat up a wetback, to boil water that will soften the home made soap to wash away the crabs that steam will infest them with, is like flying to Mars for them.

Stayed on a commune for 4 days up the Wanganui River when I was 7 mnths pregnant. Had to cross the river in a boat. No flush loos and the veiw from the po was amazing!!!!!!Porridge made on the wetback stove .. moon bath,you know the rest..

Saw his bike in Moray place about a month or so ago. So either he is ok or the rats have finally figured out how to ride his bike, it is a ratbike after all!

Sounds like hes playing Possum!

[klingon]

Klingon- you still have that invite to come down here and see how the hippies do it!

LOL... I just browsed back over this thread and was reminded that you live in the back of a truck! Brilliant! I will definitely take you up on that offer one day... and I'll show you how the real hippies do it!

<-- klingon folk-dancing

[Steam]

I'm alive, I'm back on KB (temporarily), I'm off to ride a bike around the country again!

My shack is great.
I've planted an organic vege garden... made a composting toilet (i'm going to eat my own shit!)... wired up a 12v lighting system for reading and cooking... use candles otherwise... put in a new rainwater catchment tank to replace the nasty slimy buckets I was storing water in...
I've scavenged pink-batts from demolition sites to insulate the hut for winter... installed a fireplace... cut about 10 cubic meters of firewood to get me through the cold months... built a fire-bath... trapped countless rats, which seems to be magnetically attracted to the hut, and in particular seem to like the damn ceiling space above my bed at night...

We eat road-kill about once a week (fresh roadkill, hit the previous night). So far we have eaten road-killed possum, hare, and rabbit.

Yep, it's pretty great.
There are a pair of riflemen (NZ's smallest birds) who live in a tree nearby and visit every few hours... heaps of tui and bellbirds, piwakawaka and wood-pigeons.
Lots of possums too; I've trapped about 15 and a keen woman on the community has skinned them and tanned the furs. She's stitching together a possum-skin bedspread.

I have also found women love the rustic feel. I bring female friends home, light the fire and candles, and gosh, suddenly they're suggesting a fire-bath! This was unexpected. I thought the lack of showers and flush toilets and suchlike would discourage women, but I guess I know the right women. Yeah, I suppose they're mostly rather alternative too.

I've been off the bike for a while, I sold it to a feral mate who lives in a shack about 100m from mine.
But on Monday I'm heading up to Auckland on a 250cc bike, to deliver it to my brother. I'm spending 2 months in Auckland, then I'm riding another 250 back down to Dunedin, making a delivery the other way! Convenient!