I may add a few things: In addition to using store brand rat baits, you can make some of your own. There are various formulas that I have tried. Basically you have a BASE ingredient. I choose corn meal and creamy peanutbutter. Then mix it with combination of the following: --sugar -*- baking powder/ -*- ground pure aspirin -+- plaster of paris also, provide some water for them. All [-*- ]items will cause digestion problem. Aspirin, may cause internal bleeding. As long as you get them eat your bait you are on the right track. Keep it on. Do not expect them drop dead right away. You want them to get sick and die.That is best you can do. For those of you with dogs/cats. As suggested, take a big metal coffee can and cut an entrance for rats. You can do this with a metal shearer. Now invert that can over the bait dish. Put a brick or stone on the can so cats/dogs/wind cannot tople it. So this is cat/dog proof, wind proof, rain proof, bird proof, squirrel proof,... You can use the same idea for rat traps but the cover has to be big enough to accomodate the trap to snap without any obsticle.

Aha! Got the trickster! Once in a while, I'll have to deal with a coon who's apparently wise to cage traps. He'll slip in, grab the bait, and slip out again without stepping on the treadle. His other trick is to overturn the trap from the outside. This, of course trips the trigger, closing the door. Then, he rolls the trap over and over until the bait is within reach of his fingers. I've been trying to catch such a wiseguy lately. He forced me to "think outside the box" a little. I came up with a few tricks of my own. To outwit cage-tippers, I merely stake the trap down with a couple of long spikes. The other problem is solved with an electric drill, a large fish hook, and about ten inches of string. First, drill a small hole at the edge of the treadle farthest from the door. This is just thin sheet metal, so it's pretty easy. Then, tie your string to your fish hook and impale a firm bait, like a hard roll smeared with peanut butter, to the hook. Place your bait in the back of the cage. Then, pass your line out the bottom of the trap, run it back to the treadle, pass it back up through the bottom and tie it to the treadle. When Mr. Coon pulls on the bait, he'll trip the treadle whether he steps on it or not. And yes, I'm aware of the "vacuum effect". This killing spree is just temporary until all my lychees are eaten by HUMANS. Then, the trap will come back into the garage, and peace shall prevail.

Companion plants are always a good alternative for growning some things. Zinnias and marigolds are both in the pyrethrin family so they also act as insect barriers.

Squirrels are a tough nut to crack--so to speak, Cat! The squirrel baffles David mentioned are a possibility, but squirrels seem to be smarter than human beings, and it's not at all unusual for them to figure out how to get past the baffle. If you were using one on a tree you'd need to be absolutely certain it was high enough on the trunk that they couldn't just jump up past it--and they can really jump! And if the tree(s) is anywhere near another tree or a building, or ANYTHING they could go up and then jump down onto the tree, they will very definitely do it! At the last house I lived at there was a BIG silver maple in the backyard and I tried for YEARS to hang bird feeders from the tree that the squirrels couldn't get to! Total failure! I tried store bought and homemade baffles and they ALWAYS figured out how to get past them eventually. The last thing I tried was hanging a feeder with a wire that was as thin as sewing thread, and the feeder was at least 6' down from the branch. The squirrels just shinnied down the wire---so fine that I couldn't even see it from inside the house! Sometimes they'd slip and fall when they were "going down the wire," and when they eventually got tired of doing it that way they just chewed thru the wire so the feeder fell to the ground! I never did find a way to stop them and after the "wire" experiment I stopped hanging feeders in the tree and kept them hung from the eaves of the house over the concrete patio on the back of the house, and that way I could at least scare them away as soon as I saw them, and I pretty much switched to feeding thistle and safflower, which squirrels don't like, but when I put even just a little bit of sunflower out they continued to be a Public Nuisance right up until I moved out! Like I said, if they really want something, they're definitely smarter than humans! About the only thing I can think of that "might" help (really not sure!) would be to get one of the motion-activated water thingies that spray anything that comes into the field of the sensor. They're supposed to work pretty well for domestic animals--dogs, cats, etc., but I don't know if a squirrel would eventually decide it was just a nice bath and ignore it or not! They supposedly work because of the element of surprise, and squirrels are definitely skittish things, so maybe it would work. The couple times I checked them out, they're not cheap, and you need to leave the water turned on for them to work, so you need to be sure you're using a GOOD hose that isn't gonna blow out or you could wind up with a BIG water bill! But it is at least something for you to consider, and it seems to me that it could conceivably work to scare birds away too if you got one that could be aimed high enough to cause considerable sudden motion of the leaves. Other than that I don't have any suggestions. Cutting down some of the big trees should help--a LITTLE bit--to "redirect" some of them to other yards with more trees, but if there's something in your yard they want, they'll find it and keep on looking for ways to get it! This year shortly after I started planting fall bulbs I found a couple places where they were digging DEEP looking for them! I'm still waiting on a couple things to see how many come up and how many became expensive Squirrel Chowder! I was able to solve that problem for the rest of the winter by laying chicken wire and my pea and cuke trellises over the areas where they had been digging and where I was afraid they might start digging! That, of course, was in addition to all the chicken wire I have on top of my veggie garden to keep the neighbor's cats from using it as a sandbox! My backyard looked like a wire factory! You might want to keep an eye out for squirrel nests in your or any neighbor trees that you're friends with and if you see them building a nest destroy it so they'll seek out a friendlier place to set up housekeeping. If they're nesting very close to you the babies will become accustomed to making themselves at home in your yard, just making the situation even worse. And be sure you're not attracting them by having dog food outside or anything else they might want like fruit/food scraps on a compost pile. If you're not familiar with squirrel baffles, I'm linking a search page so you can see what David and I are talking about. Good luck in your battle with Squirrelus obnoxiousii! Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Squirrel baffles!