Yes......wild creatures have their fav foods and will eat them first before moving on to less desireable foods. In my garden, if it's beans getting chomped it's rabbits. They head to my beans and my young cabbage first. Deer will also mow off bean leaves. If it's my sweet potato foliage, you can take it to the bank it's a groundhog. Tomato fruits.....can be anything from a mouse to geese. LOL. Corn is deer or raccoons. I live in the country....but believe me I have seen every one of those animals at my folks garden in the city.

That's a really nifty idea, Wayne! In fact it might encourage the rat to go in as they're pretty shy about being out in the open. They'd have cover and food - two of the rats favorite things. I'd try Wayne's idea, Grandad. Personally, I use a havahart trap and kill the rabbits that get in. I let cats go and have even let a squirrel go(they haven't bothered my garden). Funniest thing I caught was a little bird TWICE. It was smaller than a sparrow and I can't believe it tripped the trigger. It's set up right now to trap a woodchuck that took up residence. I haven't seen him since I sprayed the whole garden with Liquid Fence, but the trap is set in case he's still lurking. Those buggers can really make their mark fast on a garden. He had my kidney beans totally defoliated in a day! Good luck with your rat killing.

Get 2 or three types of poision and make sure their other food sources are gone. Then I hope for your sake they don't bite the dust in your house (make sure there is no water source in the house.) Drew

Maine, I believe, is one of the states that require a state license to move wildlife. The fines for failing to obtain one can be quite heavy.