Angela M. Bryant wrote

> we have had to take away our feeder due to a plague
> of RATS in the neighborhood!

About 3 years ago I discovered that a group of rats were taking up the left
overs from my feeder. I was able to watch them enough to find that they had a
nest at the base of the foundation of my apartment! I quit using the feeder.
Then, I got large pots of boiling water and poured into the hole where I had
seen them go. (It is outside my apartment, so I didn't think there would be
an odor if they had been 'home' at the time.) After all of that dried up I
sprinkled lots of cayenne pepper into that one spot. Never saw a rat again,
and in the meantime, my apartment complex began to allow residents to have
pets. Cats have proliferated in the complex in the past 2 years, and I again
have several feeders out. Haven't seen a rat this time, and even though I
have seen a cat get a bird from my feeding area, figure that's the price I pay
for having them on rat patrol.

Jim Brewster
Kent Washington
BrewsPad at aol.com