Ammo shortage

“I’m thinking of moving into an engine compartment for the winter”

So I’ve got some rats running around outside my house, and though I’m a live-and-let-live sort of guy when it comes to rodents — if I don’t eat it, I won’t kill it, though if Bidenflation continues, my menu may expand — but one or more of them is using the engine compartment of my Honda as a shelter. He’s already chewed a few holes in the hood’s insulating pad, and is likely to turn his attention to the wires soon, which can cost thousands to repair.

So he and his friends have to go. I thought I’d pick up a .410 shotgun because there’s no more definitive way to end a small nuisance than a whiff of #8 or #9 shot, but before I purchased a gun, I thought to make sure that in this time of scarcity there was ammunition available for it. Not a single box at Kittery Trading Post because, I was told, the manufacturers are swamped with orders for self-defense pistol calibers, and they can put scarce primers and gunpowder to a more lucrative use than shotgun shells, especially slow-demand calibers like the tiny .410.

So I went online; the usual sources had nothing, but this is what I found at Lucky Gunner: They’re selling a box of 5 shells for $45 — for the mathematically-challenged like myself, they conveniently note that that’s $9 a round. Usual cost, maybe 19¢. That’s too rich for my (rats’s) blood, so … nope.

So it’s the old-fashioned Victor snap trap for me, which used to cost $2 each and are now $4. The trick is to place them, unset, in the intended ambush zone for 2 or 3 days to get your hopefully soon-to-be departed furry friends used to it being there, then bait it (peanut butter), set it and forget it, until the next morning. I’ll let you know how it goes.

In searching for an illustration of a Victor trap, I found an article in Trap—anything.com: how to set a live-rat trap (without breaking your fingers). Not much new there, except a tip to wrap the trigger with dental floss before applying peanut butter; the floss catches Ratty’s teeth, and he tugs harder to get the bait. Poor Rat.

Wow

(I’m a little worried that I might catch the squirrel that sometimes visits, but I assure myself that Tom Lehrer, at least, would approve.)

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