Anonymous
Post 12/05/2025 16:42     Subject: Re:Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
Anonymous wrote:We are forgetting the best part to come...RAT SNAKES


I won't feed the birds anymore because it attracts the rodents ... which attracts the ... copperheads. No thanks.
Anonymous
Post 12/05/2025 16:38     Subject: Re:Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
We are forgetting the best part to come...RAT SNAKES
Anonymous
Post 11/21/2025 20:16     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
I smell skunk in Arlington sometimes, near the skate park on Wilson most recently. And often heading out to Great Falls NP.
Anonymous
Post 11/21/2025 19:32     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
Anonymous wrote:Birds are rats with wings.


Pigeons and blackbirds certainly are.
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 08:01     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
Birds are rats with wings.
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 00:10     Subject: Re:Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
I only serve HOT PEPPER SUET for my birds. All mammals stay away from it. The birds love it. Especially in winters. You can even feed the ground feeders like doves and juncos with it. Just put it on tray feeders slightly above ground so that they don't get wet. You will also attract all your regular birds and a variety of wood peckers. They are the best.

Wear disposable gloves when handling it.


Anonymous
Post 11/18/2025 23:44     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
In Arlington is Wild Bird Unlimited. They have a no-mess birdseed that doesn’t have hulls etc.

Putting this mix in a vertical bird feed helped us—no rats. Now I only use a no-mess or hull-less seed though I buy from other places too.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2025 07:33     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP, nope, seeds will attract all vermin not just squirrels. Will also attract varmints like coons, possums, skunks, etc.

You could use bird feeders but some will still spill. The cylinder feeders with a tray at the bottom to catch spills is your best option, and hang them high on poles with squirrel guards.


So not to derail the thread but this reply made me stop and think...my wife and I grew up in PA (not far from here) and we have seen seen and smelled 100s of skunks growing up. We've lived in Arlington for 8 years and Fairfax for 18 years and we have NEVER EVER seen or smelled a skunk alive or dead in VA. I mean not even dead on the road. How could this be?


I'm in Fairfax and we routinely have foxes, raccoons, deer, etc but I've never seen or smelled skunk. I agree, it's weird! Also no possums.

We see zero rabbits, though, and I bet there must be some or we wouldn't have foxes. They're just good at hiding.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2025 06:46     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
Anonymous wrote:OP, nope, seeds will attract all vermin not just squirrels. Will also attract varmints like coons, possums, skunks, etc.

You could use bird feeders but some will still spill. The cylinder feeders with a tray at the bottom to catch spills is your best option, and hang them high on poles with squirrel guards.


So not to derail the thread but this reply made me stop and think...my wife and I grew up in PA (not far from here) and we have seen seen and smelled 100s of skunks growing up. We've lived in Arlington for 8 years and Fairfax for 18 years and we have NEVER EVER seen or smelled a skunk alive or dead in VA. I mean not even dead on the road. How could this be?
Anonymous
Post 11/16/2025 08:07     Subject: Re:Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
Anonymous wrote:What about suet in hanging cages ?


Mine just disappeared out of a large shrub with lots of leaves/twigs down. Guessing it was a deer or a raccoon. I'm done with trying to feed the birds.
Anonymous
Post 11/04/2025 13:43     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am so devastated and also creeped out.
We have a lovely cardinal couple and many other little birds and a couple of squirrels we like(d) to feed roasted sunflower seeds. The cardinals have been coming for years.
I used to toss the seed out on the patio but then one day last month we saw a big fat rat.
So we moved the feeding up to the back porch, in a big saucer. I never left it out after dark.
Today I went to the glass door to the porch and saw the #&$@ rat! I don't know how it knew to look there.
I scrubbed the porch with bleach and soap, rinsed it, obviously can't put the saucer back.
DH is going to be very upset. This will be a fight because he likes to put out seed for his cardinals.
I don't know what we could do.
But obviously a huge rat at the back door is impossible to risk.


OMG you didn't. This has to be a joke. You'd put poison on an outdoor surface, because... there was an outdoor creature on it?

If not trolling, definitely the most over-the-top, insane, absurd, OCD thing I've ever heard.


I rinsed it, use your reading. I wanted to get food scent off it and yes, rat cooties.

We are chumps as the PP above noted.

But rats are a vermin too far.
Anonymous
Post 11/04/2025 13:30     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
You can get suet for birds that's laced with hot pepper. Birds can't taste spicy things, so they're fine eating it, but mammals (including squirrels, raccoons, and rats) won't touch it.

Interestingly, the person who figured this out is a local NIH researcher:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/when-youre-hot-youre-hot-meet-the-man-who-invented-chili-pepper-birdseed/2016/04/12/b06dc402-fff7-11e5-b823-707c79ce3504_story.html
Anonymous
Post 11/04/2025 13:23     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
Anonymous wrote:I am so devastated and also creeped out.
We have a lovely cardinal couple and many other little birds and a couple of squirrels we like(d) to feed roasted sunflower seeds. The cardinals have been coming for years.
I used to toss the seed out on the patio but then one day last month we saw a big fat rat.
So we moved the feeding up to the back porch, in a big saucer. I never left it out after dark.
Today I went to the glass door to the porch and saw the #&$@ rat! I don't know how it knew to look there.
I scrubbed the porch with bleach and soap, rinsed it, obviously can't put the saucer back.
DH is going to be very upset. This will be a fight because he likes to put out seed for his cardinals.
I don't know what we could do.
But obviously a huge rat at the back door is impossible to risk.


OMG you didn't. This has to be a joke. You'd put poison on an outdoor surface, because... there was an outdoor creature on it?

If not trolling, definitely the most over-the-top, insane, absurd, OCD thing I've ever heard.
Anonymous
Post 11/04/2025 12:32     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
Anonymous wrote:
So we moved the feeding up to the back porch, in a big saucer. I never left it out after dark.
Today I went to the glass door to the porch and saw the #&$@ rat! I don't know how it knew to look there.


Someone may be able to outsmart rats, but it won't be the person who thinks (?) like this
Anonymous
Post 11/03/2025 23:29     Subject: Any way to feed birds without attracting RATS?
Cardinals like berry-producing trees and shrubs like serviceberry, dogwood, and dense evergreens like eastern red cedar, and tend to get the fruits before they drop to where they would attract rodents. Plants like black-eyed Susans produce seed heads cardinals like. Field mice will eat flower seed heads (they can climb a single stalk without bending it), but rats are less likely to go to that effort.