# Really weird, mysteriance occurances **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-weird-mysteriance-occurances/613641 "2012-02-22T17:42:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-weird-mysteriance-occurances/613641/21 "2012-02-25T18:31:09Z")
Buy three or four Habanero chilis. Throw them in a blender with three or four cups of water and blend the hell out it. Filter out the particles with a coffee filter and put it into a spray bottle. Spray affected vegetation every couple of days. BTW, wear gloves and safety glasses throughout the whole process and avoid windy days when spraying. Used on a lawn, it was a great way to combat the irresponsible owners who allowed their dogs to use the front lawn as a toilet. And also took care of the rats the use to come around the bird feeders. Birds, IIRC, are not affected. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-weird-mysteriance-occurances/613641/22 "2012-02-26T10:43:31Z")
> [@Dufus](#): > > People put out plants in their desert landscape gardens that the desert birds and mice love to eat. Then they poison the entire ecosystem to keep them from eating it. Reminds me of people who build big houses in the mountains and shoot bears for getting into their garbage. I’m afraid I agree with **Dufus**. The pack rats and mice were there first. Your bonsai trees, be they never so precious to you, are an unnatural, and tasty, introduction into the environment. And the poison is a deadly introduction, not just to the rats and mice. The really responsible thing to do is to concentrate your gardening energies into native plants that the local fauna doesn’t find appetizing. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-weird-mysteriance-occurances/613641/23 "2012-02-26T16:18:43Z")
Finally, proof of bigfoot. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-weird-mysteriance-occurances/613641/24 "2012-02-26T20:38:22Z")
> [@Lucretia](#): > > I’m afraid I agree with **Dufus**. The pack rats and mice were there first. Your bonsai trees, be they never so precious to you, are an unnatural, and tasty, introduction into the environment. And the poison is a deadly introduction, not just to the rats and mice. The really responsible thing to do is to concentrate your gardening energies into native plants that the local fauna doesn’t find appetizing. Won’t someone think of the rats?😉 Sorry, but the OP has taken more steps than the average person to be environmentally responsible. He has a desert landscape garden and he tried live trapping out of concern for the rats (how many people would do that?). If that’s not good enough for environmentalists, and rats, well, too bad. He has a right to live his life, too, and if that includes an appreciation for bonsais, in which I assume he’s invested a fair amount of time and money, I think he has every right to protect them considering the environmental steps he’s already taken. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-weird-mysteriance-occurances/613641/25 "2012-02-26T22:20:15Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > …Of course, compared to the damage the #@\*@# javelina do, well, that is another unsolvable problem. Nothing a .30-30 can’t fix, though if you’re from the Klondike I don’t suppose you own anything that light. Be sure to get the internal temperature up to about 500F, just to be safe. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-weird-mysteriance-occurances/613641/26 "2012-02-27T14:54:58Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > I’m worried about neighborhood cats. Poisoned mice are easy prey but then they poison the cat (cats have very weak defenses against poisons). If you use mechanical traps (whether the cage kind or the simple kind) there’s less risk to the cats. Or, the OP could get a cat of their own… even if you get a ‘lazy’ one that doesn’t chase rats/mice apparently the presence of a cat is enough to scare them off. I don’t have a rat problem, so I couldn’t swear to it. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-weird-mysteriance-occurances/613641/27 "2012-02-27T15:01:37Z")
I can go one better, how about a bait tray laid on a piece of aluminum foil then laid on a cardboard box and when checking in the morning the tray and aluminum foil was gone never to be found. In a house no less! (The house we live in is aging and designed for the Carribean basically full of vent bricks but still.) Don’t underestimate what a large rodent can carry. ---
**Author:** ![Whammo72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Whammo72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo72)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-weird-mysteriance-occurances/613641/28 "2012-02-27T15:23:23Z")
Awe… and here I was all ready to say, The DINGO ate your bait-box!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-weird-mysteriance-occurances/613641.md?page=1)