Cob: rats?

[David Knowlton]

that is the true nature of the little beasties. keeping them out is your 
best defense as they are hard to kill. general sanitation helps, as does 
keeping the area around your home neat, mown, and free of places for them to 
nest. the navy showed me a photo of a baby whose cheek had been bitten 
through because a rat wanted the milk inside. sorry about being so lurid, 
but rats don't get any of the consideration i give other animals, since i 
saw that photo.

david



>From: "therese doll" <treesa7 at hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: "therese doll" <treesa7 at hotmail.com>
>To: henman at it.to-be.co.jp
>CC: coblist at deatech.com
>Subject: Re: Cob: rats?
>Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2003 19:00:26 +0000
>
>
>I have actually had the little creatures tunnel through mortar at 
>foundation level in an old stone house I lived in (walls approx. 1 foot 
>thick).  Granted, the mortar was over 100 years old and the house had been 
>sitting empty for about 2 years before I moved in but they wanted in and 
>stopped at nothing!  My guess would be that in a cob structure depth would 
>be on your side and I have also discovered that they can not chew through 
>steel wool.  I would not let it stop me from building of cob!  Best of 
>luck.
>
>Therese
>
>
>
>
>
>>From: "D.J. Henman" <henman at it.to-be.co.jp>
>>Reply-To: "D.J. Henman" <henman at it.to-be.co.jp>
>>To: Sheila <allan at direct.ca>
>>CC: coblist at deatech.com
>>Subject: Re: Cob: rats?
>>Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2003 14:14:58 +0900
>>
>>Sheila,
>>    Rats, prefer wood stick houses and straw in barns than inside of earth 
>>or in dirt walls.  By just having a cob wall, you will have less 
>>attraction to rats.  They love the space between wall studs, and the crawl 
>>space underneath..   They make nice nests.
>>
>>   Dirt floors the same.  I you want you can make a slightly moist mix of 
>>soil and lime and then tamper this to make a hard earthen floor.
>>
>>Darel
>>
>>---------------------
>>
>>Sheila wrote:
>>
>>>I was wondering about rats living in, under and around a cob house - 
>>>especially the ones with the dirt floors. I live on a farm and I find rat 
>>>holes near the barns at ground level, 6 feet off the ground, in the 
>>>field, under a board - anywhere. Seems like a cob house with a dirt floor 
>>>would leave itself open to rat hole potential.
>>>  How do you create a less enticing place for the little guys?
>>>
>>>Sheila.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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