The palm grower’s enemy is back

[happypalms]

7 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

7-8 years ago I did see a rat, once.  But the last few years the mature palm forest has brought an ecological balance;  Prey, meet predator.  This barred owl is so quiet you would not know its there, it likes the tall roosting potential of this royal but there are plenty of roosting spots in or near my yard.  I have heard an owl hoot late at night over the years, but this fall with the cool weather I've been watching often near sunset and I have seen it fly in 5 times in the past two weeks.  I expect the rats are no shows at dinner, and even squirrels seem to have almost vanished.  I sometimes sit and watch the bird for 20 minutes before it moves to another roosting spot in the wooded area behind my place.    

Beautiful picture love i, we have the lessers sooty owl, and the powerful owl that can eat a possum it’s one majestic owl and very rare, so I feel very blessed to have both owls in my area. 
Iam sure once you’re owl has descimated the local population of squirrels and rats it will find another spot. 
I can tell where the owls sit in my garden by the droppings on the ground all in the same spot from sitting in the same roost spot all the time.

The most beautiful sounds is at 3 in the morning in the dead calm of night I love it.

[happypalms]

12 hours ago, pogobob said:

Some days are better than others. Money well spent 

For the mice it was a bad day! But may ask about that killing machine the A24?

[happypalms]

12 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

@pogobob,  I had a problem with a trunked Howea, the rat would chew through the top of the petiole, just below the frond blade.  This would happen one frond each night.  I tried spring traps, glue traps, metal band around the trunk, nothing helped. In desperation I purchased this very expensive trap.  It worked, the corpse had dried blood out the earholes the next morning, very satisfying !!

For those unfamiliar with this trap, it was invented in New Zealand.  It is a most clever design, forcing the rodent to stand on its hind legs to investigate the bait within the top of the black section.  When this occurs, the rodent trips the trigger, causing a horizontal bolt (inline with the A24 printing) to strike the rodents skull.  Then the rodent falls away.  It is powered by a CO2 cartridge, and automatically resets for the next victim.  My favorite detail is that this is a mechanical kill,  and there is no risk of poisoning a non-target animal that might scavenge the carcass.  (the reason I do not use poison)       

Very intriguing little death machine you have, I like it but somehow I don’t think the rats like it. 
What particular bait do you use? How much does it cost? And thirdly where can I get one? 
I need this thing they call the A24! 
I wish they only eat Howea sp but unfortunately the rats in Australia only eat rare and expensive imported seeds and seedlings, they have had there fair share of Howea sp. 
I haven’t put baits out for a long time for the reason you mentioned I couldn’t bring myself to killing a powerful owl just for a palm tree the environment is more important to me!

[happypalms]

12 hours ago, pogobob said:

Great explanation Darold! Precisely why I bought a couple of these. Out here we have bobcats, coyotes, weasels, hawks, owls and more scavengers and we respect them. But the rats and mice have done some expensive damage to our vehicles wireing in the past and our plants. Another cool feature is the trap has a digital counter that keeps score, so some times I notice no dead critters but the numbers tell me that something came by and enjoyed a snack. 

Don’t forget the house fires from rats chewing electrical wires, a mechanic mentioned to me you leave the car bonnet up to stop them getting into the car and eating the wires. I will stick with a biological control method of carpet python snakes until I can get the famous A24!

[pogobob]

They are available on Amazon for about $200. Expensive but not comparable to the monetary damages that can occur from the little varmits! 

[peachy]

On 11/26/2025 at 6:34 AM, Jonathan said:

This is unfortunately the solution. We have an absolute feral cat plague here at the moment, haven’t seen a rat or mouse for over a year. Usually the rodents move into the greenhouse in winter and wreak havoc, this winter not a single one. The downside is that the bloody cats have killed everything else as well - bandicoots and all the ground nesting birds, lizards, etc. 

So the solution to the cat problem is this little cutie who's coming home with us on Friday!

If she's anything like our previous shepherds she'll chase the cats away and leave everything else in peace. Yep, we'll end up with rats and mice again but that's a small problem compared to the devastation cats cause.

 

That's one seriously cute turd factory.  I have two 3 month old Pekingese puppies here if he needs a sibling 

[happypalms]

3 hours ago, pogobob said:

They are available on Amazon for about $200. Expensive but not comparable to the monetary damages that can occur from the little varmits! 

Thank you I will look into it. Cheap in comparison to the damage they can do, and if they work as good they say I will get two!

[Jonathan]

10 hours ago, peachy said:

That's one seriously cute turd factory.  I have two 3 month old Pekingese puppies here if he needs a sibling 

Now that would be a strange looking wolf pack!

[Patrick]

On 11/26/2025 at 2:43 PM, happypalms said:

Wait until you get the maggot’s dropping through, but the smell is bet part ! I do kinda feel better know thanks 🤣

Oh my wife is going to LOVE that with her worm phobia and all...

 

I went up there. There were two of them but they were pretty crispy. They definitely bought it in the past few months- I go up there a few times a year and they were new.

Nothing juicy like I was expecting. Darn!

[happypalms]

3 hours ago, Patrick said:

Oh my wife is going to LOVE that with her worm phobia and all...

 

I went up there. There were two of them but they were pretty crispy. They definitely bought it in the past few months- I go up there a few times a year and they were new.

Nothing juicy like I was expecting. Darn!

Nothing better than a mummified rat, you could make key chain out of it suppose, I wonder if the Egyptians did that. 
It could have been worse the wife screaming on the kitchen chair like a 50s sitcom🤣

[peachy]

On 11/27/2025 at 8:45 PM, happypalms said:

Thank you I will look into it. Cheap in comparison to the damage they can do, and if they work as good they say I will get two!

I told Erica about them as she has a rat problem too. She did a bit of research and found a lot of people have problems with the gas cylinder thingies leaking.  What do people with them have to say ?  Mopoke owls can be heard here at night and I have seen a few Tawny Frogmouths around (not officially an owl though)

Peachy

 

[sonoranfans]

On 11/26/2025 at 11:29 PM, happypalms said:

Beautiful picture love i, we have the lessers sooty owl, and the powerful owl that can eat a possum it’s one majestic owl and very rare, so I feel very blessed to have both owls in my area. 
Iam sure once you’re owl has descimated the local population of squirrels and rats it will find another spot. 
I can tell where the owls sit in my garden by the droppings on the ground all in the same spot from sitting in the same roost spot all the time.

The most beautiful sounds is at 3 in the morning in the dead calm of night I love it.

This evening it flew in at dusk again and this time it was very verbal, hooting every 3=4 seconds and double hoots.  I dont know why but suddenly very verbal just after sundown.   Looks like its ~2 long with a 4' wingspan.  Our cat doesnt like to be out there at night.  THere must be a lot of prey here because we also have a lot of red shouldered hawks hunting during daytime.  I hear their cries sounding like  wounded animal as they soar overhead.  There are rabbits and squirrels in the area for both the owls and hawks to eat.  

[happypalms]

7 hours ago, peachy said:

I told Erica about them as she has a rat problem too. She did a bit of research and found a lot of people have problems with the gas cylinder thingies leaking.  What do people with them have to say ?  Mopoke owls can be heard here at night and I have seen a few Tawny Frogmouths around (not officially an owl though)

Peachy

 

I looked into them as well you have to buy baits and gas cylinders from wherever (most likely the company that makes them) so for now I will continue my method of catch and release. And I don’t want to kill any native rodents we do have native mice and when trapped I can release them, but the death machine it won’t tell the difference between pest and native animals it will go on a killing rampage. 
Richard 
Oh the mopoke owl such a lovely call at night. 

[happypalms]

7 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

This evening it flew in at dusk again and this time it was very verbal, hooting every 3=4 seconds and double hoots.  I dont know why but suddenly very verbal just after sundown.   Looks like its ~2 long with a 4' wingspan.  Our cat doesnt like to be out there at night.  THere must be a lot of prey here because we also have a lot of red shouldered hawks hunting during daytime.  I hear their cries sounding like  wounded animal as they soar overhead.  There are rabbits and squirrels in the area for both the owls and hawks to eat.  

You might have been hearing the mating call, the owls siren song, may I ask did it lure you! I never let my cat out at night that’s the way it is no nocturnal cats for me. One because there killing machines and two the powerful would easily catch a cat for dinner not a problem. 

[sonoranfans]

10 hours ago, happypalms said:

You might have been hearing the mating call, the owls siren song, may I ask did it lure you! I never let my cat out at night that’s the way it is no nocturnal cats for me. One because there killing machines and two the powerful would easily catch a cat for dinner not a problem. 

Dont know about mating calls of owls but I was thinking about them coordinating a hunt.  The red shouldered hawks often hunt in groups with some overhead screeching and others flying lower.  But perhaps owls dont coordinate and it was a mating call though when I looked it up it said between late jan and march is mating season. 

We let the cat out in our screened and roofed lanai, but he becomes very anxious, even panicked sometimes at night.  And yet many other times he is fine, so I was thinking some external factor.  I thought it might be a reaction to an animal out there, and my back yard is fenced and the dog goes out there a few times a night.   But something could fly in easily.  I do not let the cat out in the open at night or any time of day.  We have lots of predators including raptors, bobcats and gators.  He has escaped by ripping the screen and been found terrified the next morning once a few years ago, a neighbor called and said he was on the porch and could not move, just trembling.   I picked him up and he still couldnt move for an hour.    There are also racoons out there based on many tracks I've seen.  A big raccoon could destroy any house cat and many dogs.   In gator country the only time my dog is off the leash is inside or a section of open field on the morning walk.  If not the gator, drivers in cars are just as dangerous here.

 

On the barred owl Google AI says:

Yes, a barred owl can kill a cat, especially a kitten or a smaller adult cat. While owls generally prefer smaller prey, they are opportunistic predators and have been documented preying on both small cats and small dogs. 

I guess google AI is correct here is a night cam of a barred owl from a redditt diuscussion.

[happypalms]

8 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

Dont know about mating calls of owls but I was thinking about them coordinating a hunt.  The red shouldered hawks often hunt in groups with some overhead screeching and others flying lower.  But perhaps owls dont coordinate and it was a mating call though when I looked it up it said between late jan and march is mating season. 

We let the cat out in our screened and roofed lanai, but he becomes very anxious, even panicked sometimes at night.  And yet many other times he is fine, so I was thinking some external factor.  I thought it might be a reaction to an animal out there, and my back yard is fenced and the dog goes out there a few times a night.   But something could fly in easily.  I do not let the cat out in the open at night or any time of day.  We have lots of predators including raptors, bobcats and gators.  He has escaped by ripping the screen and been found terrified the next morning once a few years ago, a neighbor called and said he was on the porch and could not move, just trembling.   I picked him up and he still couldnt move for an hour.    There are also racoons out there based on many tracks I've seen.  A big raccoon could destroy any house cat and many dogs.   In gator country the only time my dog is off the leash is inside or a section of open field on the morning walk.  If not the gator, drivers in cars are just as dangerous here.

 

On the barred owl Google AI says:

Yes, a barred owl can kill a cat, especially a kitten or a smaller adult cat. While owls generally prefer smaller prey, they are opportunistic predators and have been documented preying on both small cats and small dogs. 

I guess google AI is correct here is a night cam of a barred owl from a redditt diuscussion.

I wonder what the outcome of the owl was with that cat in the picture. 
I didn’t think of the owls organising a hunt together most likely they do, sharing the kill makes plenty of sense, there quite intelligent animals. 
It’s the responsibility of a pet owner to ensure there not killing machines, the cat or dog is only acting on natural hunting instincts. 
I have the carpet python snakes that would make a meal of the cat real fast, in fact I get the snakes hanging out near the closed in area the cat sleeps in during the day that snake knows the cat will exit that door sooner or later. It’s happened a few times now they just coil  up in strike mode, there just as intelligent as the owl. 

[sonoranfans]

11 hours ago, happypalms said:

I wonder what the outcome of the owl was with that cat in the picture. 
I didn’t think of the owls organising a hunt together most likely they do, sharing the kill makes plenty of sense, there quite intelligent animals. 
It’s the responsibility of a pet owner to ensure there not killing machines, the cat or dog is only acting on natural hunting instincts. 
I have the carpet python snakes that would make a meal of the cat real fast, in fact I get the snakes hanging out near the closed in area the cat sleeps in during the day that snake knows the cat will exit that door sooner or later. It’s happened a few times now they just coil  up in strike mode, there just as intelligent as the owl. 

I suspect the owl lost grip of that cat, but those talons do a lot of damage, its what they kill with.  I have a neighbor with a yellow lab, 80 lbs who was attacked in the hind quarters by an eagle.  3 years later that dog still cant walk without wobbling, let alone run.   Eagles are on another level, any dog can be badly injured by those talons.  We see bald and golden eagles here during the great migration.  We once disturbed an eagle in a tree and it (full) circled us checking us out at 40 yards before flying away.  The guy whose dog was attacked said the eagle followed(on a golf cart) as he took his dog back home after injury.  I do not dispute intelligence of some birds, definitely including owls.  Smart enough to observe me as I talked to it for 20 mins.  My sister has a green macaw and an african grey parrot.  They are very smart birds.