Posted on 02/14/2025 12:32:44 PM PST by nickcarraway
Unwelcome guests have been helping themselves to meals meant for the feathered inhabitants of Bird Paradise at Mandai. Rats have made the various aviaries at Singapore's only bird park their home and have been running amok in the bird enclosures.
The pests were observed feeding on food left out for birds and lurking in the undergrowth just feet away from wildlife. Rats were sighted at the park as early as November last year, and their presence was noticeable when CNA visited earlier this week. The park, previously located in Jurong, moved to a 17ha-site at the Mandai Wildlife Reserve in 2023 and opened its doors to the public on May 8 that year.
Ms Lian Szu-Jin, who visited the park on Nov 18, 2024, with her boyfriend, said they noticed rats scurrying around in areas off the footpath and raised platforms. "At first I thought it might be some other rodent that was meant to be part of the enclosure, but then we noticed rat traps placed around and realised that these rodents were probably pests," the 29-year-old public servant said. She added that there were "quite a lot" of rats and the pair could even hear them squeaking at some enclosures.
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They need bigger birds and maybe some roosters
Owls will eat other birds. In any owl box, you’ll see the remains of songbirds that were taken for dinner.
Maybe they could put used cat litter here and there on the ground; I’ve always heard that will discourage rodents.
Collateral damage.
More like not-so-friendly fire.
Rats and cats wiped out most of Hawaii’s native birds; the birds had no real native enemies and made nests on the ground.
Best way to catch and kill aviary rats is to hang up bird nest boxes and leave corn shucks on the ground.
When you see corn shucks sticking out of the nest box hole during the day, you have rats nesting in the box. Slap clear tape over the hole, peek inside to confirm no birds, then drop the box in a half filled 55 gallon drum and submerge for 15 min, or run exhaust pipe into it. Will catch a lot of rats at once. Kills them faster and easier than individual trapping.
They could be tempted to eat birds though. So maybe not.
Hey, rats are just like DemocRATS aren’t they?
Cats do not protect birds. They are avid hunters of birds. I have a feeling birds are preferred over small rodents.
We had outside cats. My wife loved to feed the birds. The bird feeders wound up being cat feeders. They lay in wait until a bird came to eat, and the bird wound up being eaten.
Same with squirrels. Squirrels loved to raid the bird feeders, and wound up being a meal themselves.
We were at a neighbors home where their two cats were laying outside of the sliding glass patio doors. A bird slammed into the glass, went to the ground, and promptly into a cat’s mouth.
And our cats wound up being food for coyotes and owls. I don’t miss them. It’s more fun watching birds.
I feed the birds and have cats. No problem. I have squirrels. No problem. I mounted my feeder on a 8’ 4 x 4 with a plastic sheathing. Too slick to get a grip on. Had it for years.
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