Rats in garden

elainem

Registered User
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Hi! All, our neighbour who is really dramatic and seems to love telling gorey stories about his encounter with rats, told us that a he saw a rat in our garden this afternoon. Some of the other neighbours have had rats in their gardens in the last few months. Another neighbour's children have been feeding our dog in the garden when we are away, we have told them not to as the dog is hiding food she is not hungry enough to eat, but they are still doing it.

What is the best way to get rid of rats in the garden, I'm terrified they will come into the house, as we've been doing a lot of renovations recently and the doors have been open a lot.

We also have a skip in the front of the house, and I have rung six times to have it collected - we've paid for it - and no one has come to collect it.

Any ideas? Was thinking of ringing Rentokil tomorrow.

Thanks.
 
I am not sure if a small amount of dog food been hidden in the garden is enough for them to keep coming.

First off - I would get rid of all rubbish and see if and where they are going to in the garden. Wherever they are going - put the poison down and clean the area.

It might be the case that the rats are coming because of another garden.

A couple of years ago I kept getting rats coming into my garden. I reported it to the management company and it ended up that neighbours a few doors up - had left 8 bags of rubbish in the back garden for weeks - so the rats were having a field day.

My brother also had rats coming into his garden a couple of weeks back. Their next door neighbour constantly had rubbish lying around the back. It ended up taking him a photographic proof of evidence for the neighbours to clean up their act and the rats have since disappeared.

You should either contact your local estate management company or the county council. They need to first identify why they are coming into the vicinity. I think it might be cheaper for you , if you avoid Rentokil and let the council sort it out, but I am not sure.
 
Are you close to a canal or railway line?

Rats are often found along canal banks or on railway lines and will venture into gardens for food if there isn't enough on their usual route.

Do you feed birds? I've seen rats from time to time eating birdseed from my bird table or eating the fatballs from hanging containers. I bought poison in a local hardware store which seems to keep them in check but doesn't eradicate them entirely.
 
As stated earlier, the key is removing the food source. Doubt there is much to eat in a renovation skip (?).
Watch out for open sewer pipes. They will like that.
They will tend to not enter houses especially in warmer months unless there is food readily available in the house. If they are inside, you will likely hear them (at night especially). If they are, call a pest controller or talk to the builder doing your renovations.
If you put out poison be careful - put out a small bit, if they take it, give it a few days before putting out more - rats will also store food. You want them hungry enough to eat the poison. Problem with poison is that if they are indoors and die indoors, the smell will be bad. So try to figure out their location.

Are you in a rural or urban setting? Farms nearby?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixz8CV7lfkw
 
I have a cat - a BIG one who is constantly catching mice and birds, even killed a baby hare once - and he wont go anywhere near the rats I see in my garden.

I live in a rural setting and had a terrible time with rats gathering under the bird table as gipimann mentioned. I didn't want to stop feeding the birds so called out the council. Still waiting for them 2 years later!

So we put some rat poison into a long pipe - small enough that other animals/children couldn't get in to it - and it was a sickening sight to see the rats climbing over one another fighting to get into it. They went mad for it.

Anyway, this year we have NO rats and couldn't figure out why...until an electrician who was doing work in the house spotted a weasel in the garden followed by 2 baby weasels out of a nest! So, hello weasels, bye bye rats!

Now I'm not suggesting you get weasels!) but our cat seems to be frightened of the rats and stays well clear, watching them from a distance.
 
My cat (and the visiting cats who pass through the garden) haven't deterred the rats either.
 
terrier, weasel, owl (stoat?) etc for rats or rat-poison. Cats will kill baby rats but don'r seem interested in tackling Mammy or Daddy rat. Contact your local EHO if rubbish / pet food is being left around. It's best to feed pets indoors IME.
 
I suppose there are lazy cats like there are lazy people; I was under the impression that odour from a cat kept the rats away.
 
Get the rat poison called Storm.. Great stuff. Basicly when I'd a problem I left out four or five squares at a time. You keep checking to see if it's gone each day. If it's gone leave out more. Keep doing that until you check and there's some left. Basicly their dead that stage... Problem solved.
 
Get the rat poison called Storm.. Great stuff. Basicly when I'd a problem I left out four or five squares at a time. You keep checking to see if it's gone each day. If it's gone leave out more. Keep doing that until you check and there's some left. Basicly their dead that stage... Problem solved.

Not a good idea to replace it daily. The instructions for Storm are here;

With Storm® Secure it only takes four applications of restricted amounts of bait over a 21-day programme to achieve control. Rats and mice feeding on the first baiting will be dead in 3 to 5 days.

Further applications at day 3 and day 7 will target individuals previously excluded from feeding by the more dominant feeders and a final application at day 14 will clear up any stragglers.

After 21 it is important to remove any uneaten bait and dispose of any dead rodents.
 
I had a whole rat left on my hall floor for me once by one of my two lovely cats :(
 
Better than half a rat! I've been left a few heads over the years. Don't like to think what they do with the rest.
 
I had a whole rat left on my hall floor for me once by one of my two lovely cats :(

Kine thats a present from them to you! Certainly Jack Russells are fantastic ratters.
The important thing is to be sure and put the poison into a pipe so you wont kill off any birds or anything else that will eat it.
 
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