2.  Young rats can easily be mistaken for mice.  Don’t bother emailing me explaining that what I claim to be rats are in fact mice.  If you do, you are basically telling me that you don’t know the difference yourself and are fooled by the juvenile appearance of some of the rats I have killed.  Like I said, I have owned domesticated rats and mice and I know the difference.  If you don't, Look Here.  The Difference Between Mice and Rats

3.  My goal is not to torture.  In fact, my goal is to provide a more humane death than the more popular alternatives. 

    Many of my killings have been head shots.  After a pellet passes through a rat's head the rest of its body may twitch.  The head, however, is always completely lifeless during these last moments of death.  They are not the last moments of life.  The last moment of life was the fraction of a second before the pellet made contact with the skull. 

    As for the body shots, I regret every single one of them.  Sometimes the rats will squeal for the few seconds it takes me to reload my weapon and put them out of their misery.  It is a haunting horrific sound that you cannot forget.  Something more easily forgotten (or not seen at all) is how painful it must be for a rat that has been captured by a cat and toyed with until death.  Or the few seconds of excruciating pain and frightening suffocation inflicted by a snap trap.  How about the poor rodent that is stuck in a glue trap.  If they don't smother in the glue, they may be able to chew their own limbs off in order to escape.  And don't forget the poison that dehydrates and prevents coagulation in the bloodstream.  Eventually, the lungs fill with blood and in a coughing fit they die. 

    Many human suicide victims prefer the bullet in the head.  I assume the rats would appreciate the same.  "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" takes on a new meaning here.

4.  I do not want a cat.  Many people have suggested that I adopt a cat to take care of my rodent problem.  Three residents in my home would have a problem with this solution.  Me, my wife, and my German Shepherd.  None of us like cats.  Personally, I don't even think that kittens are cute.  I do, however, think that rats are cute.

5.  I keep a clean house.  I do not keep a spotless clean garage.  Who does?  A couple times a year, I remove everything from my garage and sweep it out.  I even scrub the cement floor with water and detergent.  Then I put all of the boxes, tools, and shelves back in the garage and the rats come right back in and shit all over everything and chew everything up again.  This is because I have taken no precautions to keep the rats out of my garage.  The reasons for this are two-fold.  Firstly, I rent the house.  I'm not too concerned about the condition of the garage since I do not own it.  Secondly, it may be a good idea to attract the rats to the garage.  For the entire three years I have lived in the house I have only been aware of two rats in the attic above my home.  But countless rats have been seen in the avocado tree and in the garage outside.

6.  I am moving.  I just bought a house down the street from where I live now.  I anticipate there will be rats at the new house.  Since I will be a home owner, I will take every precaution to keep the rats out.  I am familiar with all methods of prevention and do not need any help figuring it out. 

7.  I still want to hear from you.  So give me a nice "attaboy" or a "you sonova bitch".  Those are the kind of emails I'm looking for.  Also, I'm perfectly willing to give advice on shooting small game, trapping, or prevention.

Email me:  vskills@vskillsgarage.com

That's me and snowball.  My first rat.  There was also Sniffer, Deisel, and Greta.