Between 1347 and 1353 AD, the Black Death killed an estimated 75 to 200 million people across Europe and Asia. The agent was a bacterium, and the vectors were fleas carried by rats. Those rats are now spreading across the Treasure Valley.

Fortunately, there’s no evidence fleas or bacteria are riding along. So, maybe we can just view rats as extra annoying nocturnal tree squirrels without the bushy tails and cute faces.

We’ve had a few rats at our place. We’ve tried different traps, baits and placements to get rid of them, with some success. We’ve talked to neighbors, monitored Facebook and NextDoor, and YouTubed Ada County’s recent meeting on the topic. I note the commissioners showed few signs of urgency.

We’ve learned that some residents from Eagle to Boise have been trapping rats for years. We’ve also heard, “we don’t have rats.” My guess is, yes, you do. You just don’t know it.

Our main source of information is not social media but rather actual facts from our own property. We have trail cams we’ve used for years to monitor nesting western screech-owls. We’re now up to three video cameras which we move around the yard to watch various locations from one night to the next. They are activated by movement and take 10-second videos of whatever tripped the camera.

Screech-owls have been our favorite captures, but we also get spiders, leaves moving in the wind, rain and sprinklers. One night we videoed a huge raccoon. But after all these years they are actually super rare.

My wife, Pat, has been the lead on trail cams. After trying a bunch of different cameras, she recommends the GardePro E8 2.0 Pro. Many others don’t work well or don’t work at all. Hours on the phone with the manufacturers don’t usually succeed in anything but a returned camera.

The GardePro has excellent Wi-Fi and Bluetooth so we can view the prior night’s action during breakfast. This has become as traditional as letting the dog out, drinking coffee and reading the Idaho Press. We also take one camera camping so we can figure out what’s been noodling around our campsite at night looking for potato chips.

We’ve heard from various people that cats and hawks will take care of rats. First, we have three different cats (not ours) visiting our yard on various nights, and not one of them has caught a single rat as far as we know. One cat carried off a rat already caught in a Victor snap trap. We have the video. I think that explains another missing trap — a Tomcat snap trap. I wonder what the owners think when traps with rat bits show up at their house? Those cats owe us.

Some people think hawks will take care of rats. The Treasure Valley has a lot of Cooper’s hawks, which are the perfect size for taking rats. We also have red-tailed hawks year-round and Swainson’s hawks during the summer. The problem is that rats are almost completely nocturnal, while hawks are diurnal.

We’ve not captured a rat on a video before about 9:30 p.m. So, hawks have been roosting for hours before the first rat stirs. The last rat record we have is around 5:30 a.m., well before raptors start planning their days. Hawks are not a solution. Timing mismatch.

How about owls? Obviously great horned owls and western screech-owls are great predators of nocturnal mammals. I’ll toss in barn owls too, but they are very rare in urban areas — habitat mismatch.

These owls all take rats, but they don’t occur in high enough densities to control rats. The reproductive potential of Norway and roof rats is too high for owls to keep up with them. Biological mismatch.

One strategy to rid your property of rats is to remove all sources of food. To that end, I’ve taken all our bird seed feeders down. Now I wonder if I can put them back up for the coming winter? Rats.

Pat found some screens you hang below feeders to catch seeds kicked out by house finches and other visitors. This keeps seeds off the ground. The idea seems solid. We’ll see how they work.

There are photos of rats on bird feeders, although some of them are obviously AI generated. I think the baffles that keep fox squirrels off feeders will be equally effective against rats.

Our giant cottonwood tree has provided copious shade, dappled sunlight and peaceful leaf rustling for decades now. This old-growth beauty has supported many bird species over the years as well as two swings and a trapeze for our grandkids.

But it also drops around 30 paper leaf bags’ worth of leaves every fall. I’ve always left the leaves around the edge of the yard for overwintering invertebrates and unknown ecological values. But now, those leaves are going to be removed, along with all the ground cover living around the edges.

Our heated bird bath is now in question as well. Rats apparently go to water, although we have no evidence that they’ve visited the dog water bowl on the deck.

One of the methods conservation groups have used to remove rats from oceanic islands is Jack Russell terriers. Their speed, keen sense of smell, compact size and high prey drive make them excellent rat catchers. Our border collie/Aussie pup, Frankie, killed the first rat in our yard some months ago. If we had more energy and more things to shred, a Jack Russell in the family might be a good idea.

Many types of rat poison have been a disaster for native wildlife. Anticoagulant rodenticides not only cause fatal internal bleeding in rats, they do the same thing to animals that eat those dead or dying rodents. This includes over 100 pets per year in the U.S. and countless wild animals. Don’t do it.

We’ve used Rat-X in small portions in places other animals can’t reach. It’s formulated to take advantage of the rat’s unique digestive system and purportedly does not harm other sorts of animals. Unfortunately, you can’t tell if the substance has been effective or not. This is my last choice of actions.

As a biologist, I find all of these interactions and possibilities to be interesting. Rather than freaking out, I enjoy trying to figure out what’s going on. It’s like playing 3D chess with a rodent. I would love to eventually win, especially because my brain is around 700 times bigger than a rat’s. Otherwise, it’s just embarrassing.