There's a rat in my garden what am-a gonna do?

TheMoneySpider

The school behind our garden backs onto a nature reserve area.

We are seeing rats nosing round from time to time, I suspect they are shetering around next door's shed and decking.

They are after our bird seed holders which are now caged off and have plastic collars on the branch above and below though.

What's the best way to deter them altogether. The poison I got from B&Q deosn't seem to sort out the problem.

TudorRose

Contact your local council & tell them about the problem a.s.a.p.
As far as I know all councils will come out & sort rat problems out.

Rats are vermin & dangerous to human health. Amongst other diseases they carry leptospirosis & the variety that they carry can have a 20% mortality rate if caught by humans (It is passed on in their urine).

I would also inform the nearby school & your neighbours so that they are on their guard.

tomfun

Agree with tudorrose, phone your local council, they seem to respond very quickly to this kind of problem, they will plant some poison that should do the trick .

They will advise you to remove any food sources outside for them to sniff out..

elsien

The only way to get shut of them is to not have the bird feeders. I had a similar problem and the council man put poison down, but also said that as long as there was a food source they'd keep coming back. And he was right - they have.
You could see if you can clear up the seeds the birds are scattering on the ground, but otherwise it may be a choice between birds and rats.
Probably worth calling them out anyway to see if there's a nest they can sort for you and any other advice they can give though, just in case.

TravellingAbuela

We had this problem too - the rat family (with babies) were living in the understore of next door's house. We both fed the birds and squirrels and the rats were sharing too! Eeek, when I saw one on the birdtable I was mortified! We got someone from the council to come out - it cost around £75 I think. He put poison down and advised us not to put bird food out till the rats were eradicated.

I did start feeding the birds again afterwards but live in fear of more rats arriving!

TheMoneySpider

Thanks for the responses. It's so grim having the little !!!!ers lurking around. Will get the council in.

I had the idea of leaving an open wheelie-bin in the garden with some ham in the bottom and a broom leant against it....I reckon that would trap the little !!!!!!s. It's just what to do with them....plus apparently it'd be inhumane or something.

lydian_2

TheMoneySpider wrote: »

The school behind our garden backs onto a nature reserve area.

We are seeing rats nosing round from time to time, I suspect they are shetering around next door's shed and decking.

They are after our bird seed holders which are now caged off and have plastic collars on the branch above and below though.

What's the best way to deter them altogether. The poison I got from B&Q deosn't seem to sort out the problem.

Rats are awful and riddled with nasty diseases

ClootiesMum

We recently had this problem & have (hopefully) solved it. We bought 2 rat traps from B&Q http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9410925&fh_view_size=10&fh_location=%2f%2fcatal!!!1%2fen_GB&fh_search=rat&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1260902925949&isSearch=true
and rat poison bait (although I'm led to believe that peanut butter would be equally effective) and they seem to have done the trick.

The traps are easy to set & empty then reset and can be moved easily. At under £5 each I was more than happy to buy them......

CM

worbikeman

TudorRose wrote: »

Rats are vermin & dangerous to human health. Amongst other diseases they carry leptospirosis & the variety that they carry can have a 20% mortality rate if caught by humans (It is passed on in their urine).

Correct. Also, rats are incontinent - i.e. cannot control when and where they do their bodily functions. This is why they shouldn't really be kept as pets either. Gerbils are ok though - they make their own toilet area.

giantmutantbroccoli

worbikeman wrote: »

Correct. Also, rats are incontinent - i.e. cannot control when and where they do their bodily functions. This is why they shouldn't really be kept as pets either. Gerbils are ok though - they make their own toilet area.

Untrue! MICE are incontinent. Wild male rats mark their territory almost continuously, so they're almost as bad. However rats can be successfully toilet-trained to go in their cage, or even just in a part of their cage, and make brilliant pets! And as long as they don't mix it up with their wild cousins they are no danger to human health.

Good things to use as bait in a trap are chocolate, peanut butter, anything particularly malty (like malt syrup, ferret malt paste, malt loaf etc) or strong-smelling foods especially tuna fish. Rats are smart enough that if you put out old-fashioned back-breaker traps they'll only work for a little while until the rats figure out that they're dangerous. If you use humane traps (or your dustbin) you can't really release them anywhere - no one wants rats on their doorstep! You could try the RSPCA for advice, or you could kill them yourself. The least upsetting and most humane way to do this is to suffocate them with CO2 - the method is outlined here
http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/
although that's for sick pets, not wild vermin.

If you use poison you have to be VERY careful where you put it - it smells good to dogs and cats as well, so there's a risk to any local pets.

TheMoneySpider

BTW quick update on this, put some of the normal shop-bought poison out (not the nasty looking illegal blue stuff) and I haven't seen them in over a month.

Will keep a close eye out though, can't see the little !!!!ers giving up that easily