Around here, rats have bushy tails and climb trees. My neighbor would occasionally use his shotgun to eliminate half a dozen in minutes. Nobody took exception to a 90-year-old who had lived here since it was farmland and knew enough to use bird shot and fire upward. The neighborhood has been infested since he died.They stripped my apple tree Last year, I held them off for a few weeks by moving a rubber snake every couple of days. It didn't work at all this year.I have a second tree that may be 80 years old. The rotted trunk broke 20 years ago, but it still produces lots of apples. For some reason, tree rats ignore it until later in the summer.I ordered an solar animal repeller. The day before it arrived, I saw a tree rat running from the second tree with an apple. When I tested it, it would respond when I was 80 feet away and well off center. When I placed it by the tree, I wasn't detected until I was within ten feet and directly in front.Passive infrared detectors detect the motion of temperature differences. A person's face and throat tend to stay above 90 F, but the skin on legs may be near the ambient temperature. From near the tree, foliage blocked its view of my face until I was too close for it to see that high, and ultrasonic pest repeller was less sensitive to my legs.Tree rats had been near the tree all summer, and now they had become interested in those apples. Since I set up the repeller, I haven't seen them within 30 feet of the tree.The repeller could be even less sensitive to a small mammal than to my legs because the furry surfaces could be even closer to the ambient temperature. After dark on the third day, I saw a rabbit near the repeller, a little off center. I moved around behind it to see if it would trigger the repeller. It did, when it was directly in front, about 10 feet away. It sat motionless.I mved well away so that I wouldn't be the one scaring the rabbit. It appeared motionless, but it must have moved enough to keep the ultrasound going because the flashing lasted much longer than half a minute. When the rabbit turned and ran, it kicked its feet high behind it. That was panic.Early on the fourth morning, I found an apple that a tree rat had partially eaten. I walked up to the repeller without triggering it. It had been foggy, and the plastic lens was wet. Water is opaque to infrared. I wiped the lens with my handkerchief, and the repeller resumed working. In 13 days, that was the only apple stolen.Now squirrel repellent on duty in the garage, in case a squirrel is looking for a winter home.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]