Rodents digging under fence solution.

tony3619

Hey, 

I have noticed a couple of rats appearing in the garden on a number of occasions. They seems to have dug under the back fence which I have tried filling with rocks but they eventually dig under them. 

I was thinking about attaching wire mesh to the Inside of the fence and onto the ground in an L shape and weighing the ground part down with rocks. 

Can anyone see why this wouldn't work? 

Keep_pedalling

Rats are also good climbers, so if they can’t get under they can get over. Are you sure they are tunnelling to get in, rather than get out? 

Section62

tony3619 said:

Hey, 

I have noticed a couple of rats appearing in the garden on a number of occasions. They seems to have dug under the back fence which I have tried filling with rocks but they eventually dig under them. 

I was thinking about attaching wire mesh to the Inside of the fence and onto the ground in an L shape and weighing the ground part down with rocks. 

Can anyone see why this wouldn't work? 

It won't work because they will burrow under the mesh.  If you dig a narrow trench along the bottom of the fence and install the mesh vertically - say 12"/300mm deep - it will make it harder for them to get through.

Although it probably won't stop the rats getting into your garden - they will just find a different route.  To get rid of them means removing the source of food which is attracting them.  Or removing the rats.

tony3619

Section62 said:

tony3619 said:

Hey, 

I have noticed a couple of rats appearing in the garden on a number of occasions. They seems to have dug under the back fence which I have tried filling with rocks but they eventually dig under them. 

I was thinking about attaching wire mesh to the Inside of the fence and onto the ground in an L shape and weighing the ground part down with rocks. 

Can anyone see why this wouldn't work? 

It won't work because they will burrow under the mesh.  If you dig a narrow trench along the bottom of the fence and install the mesh vertically - say 12"/300mm deep - it will make it harder for them to get through.

Although it probably won't stop the rats getting into your garden - they will just find a different route.  To get rid of them means removing the source of food which is attracting them.  Or removing the rats.

I've removed all food sources, cut down all areas suitable for nesting so they have no real reason to enter the garden. 

From what I can observe they enter under the fence, run around for a couple of minutes then go. I think it must be part of a route they do every day as next door either side has the same issue. 

My hope is there isn't anything in the garden valuable enough to burrow under 500 mm of mesh covered with rocks! 

stuart45

It's really difficult to stop rats getting into a garden. Apart from climbing they will chew through a timber fence to get in. Putting rocks down gives them a place to nest under.
Rats like a food and water source. As Section62 said take the food source away and you won't see as many.

tony3619

Keep_pedalling said:

Rats are also good climbers, so if they can’t get under they can get over. Are you sure they are tunnelling to get in, rather than get out? 

I see no reason they would be my side of the fence. No shelter, no food source. I think they run along a small channel of bushes the other side of the fence and go into most gardens as part of a routine. I'm hoping wire will put them off enough not to bother trying to get underneath. 

another_casualty

Basic questions spring to mind ( sorry ) ; 
Do neighbours leave dog food in garden ? Any barbecues left in gardens nearby ?
Do neighbours feed squirrels ? Are there any places that rats could be nesting? ( I e : in a neighbours loft through the eaves etc  ) . 

Section62

tony3619 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Rats are also good climbers, so if they can’t get under they can get over. Are you sure they are tunnelling to get in, rather than get out? 

I see no reason they would be my side of the fence. No shelter, no food source. I think they run along a small channel of bushes the other side of the fence and go into most gardens as part of a routine. I'm hoping wire will put them off enough not to bother trying to get underneath. 

If you put the mesh flat on the ground with rocks on top of it they will burrow underneath just for shelter.  And the mesh will helpfully stop the rocks falling into their newly constructed burrows.

Rats are extremely intelligent and will see things we do as defensive measures as a sign that there's something worth investigating on the other side.

This is why digging the mesh in vertically down to a depth is better - the rats won't be able to see the bottom edge and will have to put in a lot of effort to dig, without the benefit of creating a usable shelter that a horizontal 'run' will give them.

tony3619

Section62 said:

tony3619 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Rats are also good climbers, so if they can’t get under they can get over. Are you sure they are tunnelling to get in, rather than get out? 

I see no reason they would be my side of the fence. No shelter, no food source. I think they run along a small channel of bushes the other side of the fence and go into most gardens as part of a routine. I'm hoping wire will put them off enough not to bother trying to get underneath. 

If you put the mesh flat on the ground with rocks on top of it they will burrow underneath just for shelter.  And the mesh will helpfully stop the rocks falling into their newly constructed burrows.

Rats are extremely intelligent and will see things we do as defensive measures as a sign that there's something worth investigating on the other side.

This is why digging the mesh in vertically down to a depth is better - the rats won't be able to see the bottom edge and will have to put in a lot of effort to dig, without the benefit of creating a usable shelter that a horizontal 'run' will give them.

Thank you I didn't even think about this providing shelter! 

This will also be a problem for my future plans as I was planning on removing some plants and putting a membrane down with rocks on top about 30-40 cm away from this fence. 

Would I have to leave a gap between the mesh and the rocks so they don't have direct entry from the fence (if they did dig under the mesh) to under this rock garden? 

twopenny

I started to have a problem. Only occassional.

I've stopped putting potato peelings (always careful what goes in there) in the compost bin as I read they love potatoes -  and haven't seen them since.

You could also try a couple of motion activated lights - and no, not so they can see where they're going

Or the cat scarer that is motion activated and squirts water. The sudden movement may scare them off.

Mistral001

I would look to the food source again. As has been said any crumbs of food will attract them.

Last year a neighbour called at my door to inform me that there were rats seen coming from my property.  I traced the problem to my compost heap where I had been putting vegetable waste from the kitchen for a couple of months before that.  I saw the teeth marks on some cauliflower stems I had dumped in the compost heap just a few days before.  So that was fairly conclusive.  I put a homemade trap down for them, but they ate the bate and it looked like the door to the trap was not strong enough to keep the rat in.  The neighbour was fine with it all as she saw that I was at least making an effort.   She said that the main problem came from the neighbour on the other side to me.  They had been putting all their kitchen waste in a small plastic bin outside their back door with little or no lid on it.  The rat problem disappeared when the sources were removed.