independent and unofficial
Prince fan community
Welcome! Sign up or enter username and password to remember me
Forum jump
Forums > General Discussion > Rats the Size of House Cats Invade the Florida Keys
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Page 1 of 3 123>
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
Author

Tweet     Share

Message
Thread started 03/28/12 6:23pm

noimageatall

avatar

Rats the Size of House Cats Invade the Florida Keys

eek boxed Where's Willard when you need him?

REUTERS
REUTERS
Tanzanian rat handler Kassim Mgaza plays with a Gambian giant pouch rat in southern Mozambique.

You may remember the ferocious R.O.U.S. (Rodents of Unusual Size) in the fire swamps of The Princess Bride. This time time, they’re real — and invading the Florida Keys.

A species of invasive African rat larger than the average house cat has made a reappearance in Grassy Key, despite efforts to wipe them out for the past 10 years. According to KeysNet, the population of Gambian pouched rat breed of giant rodents proliferated at the turn of the century when a local exotic animal breeder allowed eight to escape.

As of 2009, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission thought the region was in the clear. But alas, the 3-foot-long beasts, weighing as much as 9 pounds, came back with a vengeance. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at least a few dozen are running wild. ”In the early part of 2011, a resident emailed me and said he saw one of the rats. We were skeptical but went back and talked to people and [saw] there were rats that we missed,” Scott Hardin, FWC’s exotic-species coordinator, told KeysNet.

Not only they do they cause a stir when they show up in residents’ backyards, but the Gambian rat can also have negative impacts on local animal species and crops, and could disrupt fragile ecosystems if they reach mainland Florida, Reuters notes. In Zimbabwe, they’re often blamed for devouring nuts and damaging pea crops. They’re also linked to a 2003 outbreak of Monkeypox, a less serious version of human smallpox, in the Midwest.

They’ve even shown up in Brooklyn, N.Y., only to be harpooned with a pitchfork, and are also allegedly responsible for killing and eating two babies in South Africa last year, the Huffington Post reports. eek

Luckily, the Gambian rat can only produce one litter of up to six every nine months, and can’t reproduce until it’s five months old. To trap the remaining rodents, city officials plan to disperse 200 traps with cantaloupe, peanut butter, almond extract and anise as bait. Laced with a deadly zinc phosphide, wildlife officials predict the rats will die after consuming it while burrowed underground.

“They don’t belong here and they need to be controlled,” Gary Witmer, a biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colorado, told Reuters. Adding, “They could cause a lot of damage.”



Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/...z1qSreIdeM

"Let love be your perfect weapon..." ~~Andy Biersack
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #1 posted 03/28/12 6:30pm

XxAxX

avatar

eek oh man. yikesies

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #2 posted 03/28/12 6:51pm

JustErin

avatar

That thing is awesome!

But I don't believe for one second that they killed and ate a couple of babies. lol

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #3 posted 03/28/12 9:03pm

Nothinbutjoy

avatar

Man Florida just has it bad! Big snakes, either python or anaconda I can't remember which, invading the Everglades and now this.
I'm firmly planted in denial
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #4 posted 03/28/12 9:09pm

Nothinbutjoy

avatar

Oh, and am I the only one with this now stuck in my head?

I'm firmly planted in denial
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #5 posted 03/29/12 12:14am

Timmy84

JustErin said:

That thing is awesome!

But I don't believe for one second that they killed and ate a couple of babies. lol

I've always noticed how news stories like this, they gotta exaggerate this shit just so they get paid for delivering stories like this lol

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #6 posted 03/29/12 12:30am

Ottensen

Love Florida. Adore Miami. And had some of the best times of my life in the Keys. But reasons like this is why I'll be damned if I ever return! Between these and the size of the palmetto bugs (those flying, mutant ninja cockroaches the size of a soup spoon) man, I'm done with that place falloff

[Edited 3/29/12 2:34am]

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #7 posted 03/29/12 12:51am

guitarslinger4
4

avatar

Nooooooo! I'm supposed to play in Key West for the next two weeks! I don't want to have to outrun giant rats! mad

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #8 posted 03/29/12 2:35am

Ottensen

guitarslinger44 said:

Nooooooo! I'm supposed to play in Key West for the next two weeks! I don't want to have to outrun giant rats! mad

Don't they look just like the rats they had in those 1970's horror movies? lol

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #9 posted 03/29/12 2:56am

KidaDynamite

avatar

Ottensen said:

(those flying, mutant ninja cockroaches the size of a soup spoon)

[img:$uid]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/Purplemistress/nnt8w9jpg.gif[/img:$uid]

See, I can't mess with that.

surviving on the thought of loving you, it's just like the water
I ain't felt this way in years...
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #10 posted 03/29/12 2:56am

SoulAlive

Wow!

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #11 posted 03/29/12 2:58am

SoulAlive

Giant Rats The Size Of Cats?

Are there really giant rats the size of cats living in some parts of the United States? Yes, it is true. In fact, some of these giant rats are actually the size of small dogs. The monster rat in the picture at the top of this article was killed by a maintenance worker at a housing project in Brooklyn, New York. The rat was measured to be more than 3 feet long and the maintenance worker killed it by spearing it with a pitchfork. Could you imagine a rat of that size crawling around in your basement? Unfortunately, reports of giant rats the size of cats are becoming increasingly common and they are coming in from all over the world. So where are all of these giant rats coming from? Well, many believe that these are actually Gambian pouched rats. Before they were banned, a lot of people would import them into the United States as pets. Others believe that there are other explanations for the origin of these bizarre rodents. Wherever they are coming from, they sure are creepy and they appear to be spreading.

Down in the Florida Keys there has been a major problem with giant rats lately. The following is from a recent Fox News report....

Giant Gambian rats are reportedly running wild in the Florida Keys … and these aren’t your average rats. Some can weigh up to a whopping 9 lbs.

Scott Hardin, an exotic species coordinator, told Jon Scott today that his belief is that a breeder likely released the massive animals in the Keys around ten years ago. Then, four or five years later, neighbors started noticing the rodents.

“You wouldn’t mistake it for any other rat you’ve seen before,” Hardin said of the species, which can get as large as an average house cat.

What would you do if you found a 3 foot long rat crawling underneath your kitchen table?

Just check out the picture below. Would you have the courage to battle a monster that is this big?....

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #12 posted 03/29/12 5:45am

Ottensen

KidaDynamite said:

Ottensen said:

(those flying, mutant ninja cockroaches the size of a soup spoon)

[img:$uid]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/Purplemistress/nnt8w9jpg.gif[/img:$uid]

See, I can't mess with that.

Kida, I promise you, those things range between the size of the rounded part of a teaspoon to a soup spoon, an I call 'em ninjas because they like to fight humans! You can have the cleanest hous with the strongest insect protection in the world. but those darned palmetto roaches breed and live in the outdoors. They are attracted by cooking smells and enter homes in search of food & will fly right through the nearest open door or window; some of the bastards even walk into your house in the space right under your front door, like they're a guest!!! mad Even worse is that the sommamaguns, if you try to swat them, pick themselves right up and come flying at you trying to kick your ass. They're gangsta, I'm telling you disbelief

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #13 posted 03/29/12 6:28am

PurpleJedi

avatar

See now...mice don't scare me one bit. But I come across one of those, and I'd have to run it over with my car to kill it.

omg

Having them monster rats around is the only way I'd justify owning a Savannah Cat.

By St. Boogar and all the saints at the backside door of Purgatory!
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #14 posted 03/29/12 6:45am

SoulAlive

Why do people pick these things up and hold them....as if they're pets? confuse nuts

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #15 posted 03/29/12 12:11pm

KingBAD

avatar

SoulAlive said:

Why do people pick these things up and hold them....as if they're pets? confuse nuts

that's how the shit gets started, call 'em a pet

til they get too big and aggressive then throw

'em out, next thing you know they fuckin

and makin babies and they wild.

they hunt in packs and pick up human

behavior when pets inablin them to

be creative in the wild eek

i am KING BAD!!!
you are NOT...
evilking
STOP ME IF YOU HEARD THIS BEFORE...
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #16 posted 03/29/12 3:06pm

SoulAlive

nod

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #17 posted 03/29/12 6:04pm

aardvark15

Thank god I left Florida!!!!! Between Rick Scott, the ignorance, the crime, the reptiles, and now this, God I'm lucky!!!

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #18 posted 03/29/12 6:40pm

SoulAlive

PurpleJedi said:

See now...mice don't scare me one bit. But I come across one of those, and I'd have to run it over with my car to kill it.

omg

Having them monster rats around is the only way I'd justify owning a Savannah Cat.

lol

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #19 posted 03/30/12 1:56am

LadyLuvSexxy

eek *Checks to see how close Mystic Dunes timeshare is to that location*

I can just imagine coming down for the family vacation and finding one of those things chillin' in the closets, swimming around in the hot tub....

ill Eating our complimentary fruit basket....ugggggh. And I thought the ones I saw in D.C. as a kid were a scary mess. They were raccoon-sized. My friends and I went outside like dummies, trying to take pictures of them.

lol You won't catch me with my FlipCam trying to tape any moments with these things.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #20 posted 03/30/12 2:01am

free2bfreeda

these two cousin rodents will go to florida and 'save the day.'

Mickey Mo...
Mighty Mo...

all jokes aside though, those rats look really scary.

“Transracial is a term that has long since been defined as the adoption of a child that is of a different race than the adoptive parents,” : https://thinkprogress.org...fb6e18544a
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #21 posted 03/30/12 3:32am

KidaDynamite

avatar

Ottensen said:

KidaDynamite said:

[img:$uid]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/Purplemistress/nnt8w9jpg.gif[/img:$uid]

See, I can't mess with that.

Kida, I promise you, those things range between the size of the rounded part of a teaspoon to a soup spoon, an I call 'em ninjas because they like to fight humans! You can have the cleanest hous with the strongest insect protection in the world. but those darned palmetto roaches breed and live in the outdoors. They are attracted by cooking smells and enter homes in search of food & will fly right through the nearest open door or window; some of the bastards even walk into your house in the space right under your front door, like they're a guest!!! mad Even worse is that the sommamaguns, if you try to swat them, pick themselves right up and come flying at you trying to kick your ass. They're gangsta, I'm telling you disbelief

Mmm mmm. disbelief I don't do roaches. Especially BIG ones.....that fly......IN YOUR FACE! dead shake

surviving on the thought of loving you, it's just like the water
I ain't felt this way in years...
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #22 posted 03/30/12 3:35am

Mya

KidaDynamite said:

Ottensen said:

Kida, I promise you, those things range between the size of the rounded part of a teaspoon to a soup spoon, an I call 'em ninjas because they like to fight humans! You can have the cleanest hous with the strongest insect protection in the world. but those darned palmetto roaches breed and live in the outdoors. They are attracted by cooking smells and enter homes in search of food & will fly right through the nearest open door or window; some of the bastards even walk into your house in the space right under your front door, like they're a guest!!! mad Even worse is that the sommamaguns, if you try to swat them, pick themselves right up and come flying at you trying to kick your ass. They're gangsta, I'm telling you disbelief

Mmm mmm. disbelief I don't do roaches. Especially BIG ones.....that fly......IN YOUR FACE! dead shake

eek

I've never encountered a flying roach. But if I did .. I already know it'd be the death of me lol I'm just glad the roaches in NZ don't have wings, I mean .. they're bad enough, but wings? I don't think it could get any worse tbh eek

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #23 posted 03/30/12 7:18am

free2bfreeda

KidaDynamite said:

[img:$uid]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/Purplemistress/nnt8w9jpg.gif[/img:$uid]

See, I can't mess with that.

[image deleted]

she says:

i'll just get the sick minded massa wright-wrong , he used to catch rats fo food b4 he got rich from that cotton picking contest some years back. his wagon load of the cotton was the first one over at the gin mill. he say he picked that cotton all by his self.

he said the rats taste just like craw-dads if you eat em with some mississippi red clay.

but i ain't gonna eat no rat! i ain't, i ain't, i ain't. not even mr. rhett would eat them rats.

eek

[Edited 3/30/12 8:15am]

[Edited 4/5/12 23:28pm]

“Transracial is a term that has long since been defined as the adoption of a child that is of a different race than the adoptive parents,” : https://thinkprogress.org...fb6e18544a
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #24 posted 03/31/12 1:47am

peb319

avatar

Ottensen said:

KidaDynamite said:

[img:$uid]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/Purplemistress/nnt8w9jpg.gif[/img:$uid]

See, I can't mess with that.

Kida, I promise you, those things range between the size of the rounded part of a teaspoon to a soup spoon, an I call 'em ninjas because they like to fight humans! You can have the cleanest hous with the strongest insect protection in the world. but those darned palmetto roaches breed and live in the outdoors. They are attracted by cooking smells and enter homes in search of food & will fly right through the nearest open door or window; some of the bastards even walk into your house in the space right under your front door, like they're a guest!!! mad Even worse is that the sommamaguns, if you try to swat them, pick themselves right up and come flying at you trying to kick your ass. They're gangsta, I'm telling you disbelief

oh..and they bite.... BITE!!!!

do you hear what im saying.. they can and will bite you

sun 'why y'all trying to say goodbye? I didn't go anywhere, I'm right here, im all around you,always..' sun

in a line from my dream, I heard a voice and saw a silhouette in a chair..
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #25 posted 03/31/12 1:54am

peb319

avatar

Mya said:

KidaDynamite said:

Mmm mmm. disbelief I don't do roaches. Especially BIG ones.....that fly......IN YOUR FACE! dead shake

eek

I've never encountered a flying roach. But if I did .. I already know it'd be the death of me lol I'm just glad the roaches in NZ don't have wings, I mean .. they're bad enough, but wings? I don't think it could get any worse tbh eek

oh yes!!

the other night one made it past the screen and just waltzed into my bedroom..i went straight for the raid..as soon as i sprayed it,it flew off the wall at me!! no lie...then it curved around hit the wall at my headboard and fell out of sight...so i spent time listening, to see if i could hear it moving.. and still nothing...found it yesterday..

sun 'why y'all trying to say goodbye? I didn't go anywhere, I'm right here, im all around you,always..' sun

in a line from my dream, I heard a voice and saw a silhouette in a chair..
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #26 posted 03/31/12 3:08am

Ottensen

peb319 said:

Ottensen said:

Kida, I promise you, those things range between the size of the rounded part of a teaspoon to a soup spoon, an I call 'em ninjas because they like to fight humans! You can have the cleanest hous with the strongest insect protection in the world. but those darned palmetto roaches breed and live in the outdoors. They are attracted by cooking smells and enter homes in search of food & will fly right through the nearest open door or window; some of the bastards even walk into your house in the space right under your front door, like they're a guest!!! mad Even worse is that the sommamaguns, if you try to swat them, pick themselves right up and come flying at you trying to kick your ass. They're gangsta, I'm telling you disbelief

oh..and they bite.... BITE!!!!

do you hear what im saying.. they can and will bite you

oh my danm!!! I didn't know that!!! omfg

I used to live on a canal in Miami Beach, which was just wonderful for the insects mad ,. Once in a blue moon a Palmetto bug would just fly through my front door, like "Hi, what's for dinner wave" I would just spraaaaaaaaaaaay them until they drowned , so they never got close enough to try and bite my ass like Mike Tyson bit Evander Holifield. Thank you Lawed for having spared me, because being bit by one??? That would have been enough to send me to the crazy house pray

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #27 posted 03/31/12 3:25am

Ottensen

peb319 said:

Mya said:

eek

I've never encountered a flying roach. But if I did .. I already know it'd be the death of me lol I'm just glad the roaches in NZ don't have wings, I mean .. they're bad enough, but wings? I don't think it could get any worse tbh eek

oh yes!!

the other night one made it past the screen and just waltzed into my bedroom..i went straight for the raid..as soon as i sprayed it,it flew off the wall at me!! no lie...then it curved around hit the wall at my headboard and fell out of sight...so i spent time listening, to see if i could hear it moving.. and still nothing...found it yesterday..

That's what I hate about those suckers; they're so freaking big you can actually hear them ! The worst is that you can hear their wings flutter when they fly ill It's practically like a battle cry disbelief

I always invested in professional pest control in Miami and never had a problem with insects on the day to day. But these bugs? They're like robbers that case your house from 100 feet into the wild, and just decide to break in one day as soon as you leave an opening and they see opportunity. Because of that, Raid was always in my house just in case one of them tried to bumrush the premises chillout !

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #28 posted 03/31/12 5:12am

Fury

avatar

Ottensen said:



peb319 said:




Mya said:




eek



I've never encountered a flying roach. But if I did .. I already know it'd be the death of me lol I'm just glad the roaches in NZ don't have wings, I mean .. they're bad enough, but wings? I don't think it could get any worse tbh eek



oh yes!!


the other night one made it past the screen and just waltzed into my bedroom..i went straight for the raid..as soon as i sprayed it,it flew off the wall at me!! no lie...then it curved around hit the wall at my headboard and fell out of sight...so i spent time listening, to see if i could hear it moving.. and still nothing...found it yesterday..





That's what I hate about those suckers; they're so freaking big you can actually hear them ! The worst is that you can hear their wings flutter when they fly ill It's practically like a battle cry disbelief



I always invested in professional pest control in Miami and never had a problem with insects on the day to day. But these bugs? They're like robbers that case your house from 100 feet into the wild, and just decide to break in one day as soon as you leave an opening and they see opportunity. Because of that, Raid was always in my house just in case one of them tried to bumrush the premises chillout !




[Edited 3/31/12 5:14am]
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #29 posted 03/31/12 6:11am

OnlyNDaUsa

avatar

they keys are weird. I lived there! the deer are the size of dogs, the frogs are the size of dinner plates, the bananas are the size of pickles, the limes are the size of walnuts, the roaches are the size of soup spoons... and now the rats are the size of cats.

but damn what i would not give for a Cuban mix on real Cuban bread right now.

"Keep on shilling for Big Pharm!"
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Page 1 of 3 123>
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Forums > General Discussion > Rats the Size of House Cats Invade the Florida Keys