> Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

Of course! You must be relatively new to this list ;-)

>Is there steps we should be taking at the feeder to decrease the potental problem?


I stopped using a platform feeder in southern Cal. because these BIG ugly
rats would come by, and I couldn't chase them away - they sort of stared at
me blankly as I waved the broom at them. Some people call them opossums...
On the positive side, they did eat the snails (snail sushi, mmmmmm).

In Seattle, the eastern gray squirrels clean up the dropped sunflower seeds
from my tubular feeder - so far I haven't seen rats, but there are plenty
of them (brown rats) around, so I'm sure they show up (Townsend's voles seem
pretty common too).

When I installed my raccoon pool, oops, I mean pond, the brown rats loved it
too! I plugged a couple of them with a pellet gun and haven't seen the
replacements yet.

I would suggest that it will be an issue at some point, and to minimize it
make the feeder squirrel (hence rat) proof and clean up the spills so that
there isn't an attraction on the ground.


Michael Patrick