Okay, if you're eating breakfast while reading this, you might want to skip this post and come back later. I've heard second- and third-hand reports of people scattering ferret litterbox contents around trash cans, compost heaps, and house foundations to repel rats. But I haven't heard directly from anyone who's tried it. I would like to know whether you've had a rat problem, whether you tried scattering ferret poop, and whether it worked (or not). Where did you put the poop? Did the rats clear the entire premises, or just from the area immediate to the scattered poop? If the rats disappeared, how did you ascertain this (checking traps, no more rat droppings)? What kind of litter were you using? Was the poop always "fresh"? Did it keep its strength after a few days? Were the donor ferrets "descented", spayed/neutered, or full-strength? Male, female, or was the poop mixed from both genders? Do you know what kind of rats you had? Were there other types of rodents involved? Did the poop scattering have unintended consequences, good (eg. improved crop yields) or bad (eg. attracted lovestruck skunks)? I will, of course, post aggregated results from replies sent directly to me. Thanks, -- Lee [log in to unmask] -- Lee [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 2012]