One Mystery Solved...maybe.

You may have seen reference here on the blog to our "rodent" problem.

Jim has been not only collecting mouse traps, but mouse bodies, mouse heads, and on one memorable day, a bigger rodent we referred to as "The Rat".
Then yesterday he discovered a baggie of little nuts and bolts torn open and the hardware gone. And he mentioned finding scattered bolts under the house while doing a recent plumbing project, and wondered how they had gotten there.

Aha, says I, a PACK RAT.

Incredulous looks followed by persons un-named, who had never heard of a pack rat,

except as a term pertaining to human hoarders.

So, in the interest of educating the masses, I give you,

The Pack Rat.... Cute, huh?

Not!

Pack rats are prevalent in the deserts and mountains of the U.S. and northern Mexico, also the Eastern U.S. and even Western Canada.

They are a little smaller than typical rats and have long, sometimes bushy tails.

Ours had a smooth tail...very rat-like.

In houses, pack rats are active nocturnally,

searching for food and nest material.

A peculiar characteristic is that if they find something they want,

they will drop what they are currently carrying,

for example a piece of cactus, and 'trade' it for the new item.

They are particularly fond of shiny objects,

leading to tales of rats swapping jewelry for a stone.

Or a bolt!

**

We are going to do a little experiment and leave some washers,

or something similar and shiny, under the house and see what happens.

Anyone have a motion detector camera?