Rat in the back garden. Help!

leftieM

Last week I heard some scratching under the hedge and, hoping it was a bird, I had a look. All I caught sight of was the tail. How can i put the beastie off thinking our place is a des res? Is he trying to get into the house? Might he be living somewhere on our land? We have an open drain that is no longer used. Could he have climbed up from the sewers?
I'd appreciate any advice. I loved letting my daughter potter out the back and now I feel that I can't.
I'm interested to know how rats behave and what I should be afraid of.

ACID

im istuated next to a private alley
which means at the bak of our garden, behind the fence is the alley as well
its not filthy but is mainly covered in leaves, and we cannot control if out neighbortus wish to make a mess behind here

best thing is to secure your own garden, any holes etc. must be blocked up, if you have no pets or really young children, then rat poison can be dropped they come in pellets
we threw some in the alley and the next day we saw the rat wobbling whilst he was walking, obvisouly he was dying.......

but i think this works the same way for mice as well

worth a shot?

also ensure you have no form of mess in your garden such as disposed food ro a possible storage he can make a home in......

leftieM

We have an alley behind the garden too. Unfortunately our fence has loads of gaps because of the construction so Roland is obviously getting in and out quite easily.
We were thinking of trying to trap the rat alive. Any experiences of this?

Johnnypanic_2

Get a piece of 4" waste pipe, about two foot in length. Place some rat poisin in the middle and set at an angle to your fence were you believe the wee !!!!!! might be coming in. Also place a brick or other heavy object on top, to ensure it cannot be disturbed by dogs, etc.

This will make it easy for the rat to get the poisin, but ensure birds, dogs, etc. cannot gain access.

Please be very careful if children are around this area, as they'll get into anything!!!

You should not notice any rat problem within a week Might be worth keeping the poisin topped up if you continue to have new rats.

Johnnypanic

Porker

...and block off the drain!
re trapping it alive - what do you do once you've caught it?

se999

Have you tried calling the local council. Not sure if they'll charge, but rats are a health hazard.

Say you've got a young daughter, that might speed up the response time!

Nile

Hello LeftieM


As someone has mentioned, be careful not to leave any food stuffs in or around the garden.

Do you feed wild birds? There may be (almost definitely) seeds or nut pieces on the ground underneath the feeder/table.

We had this problem recently. We spotted a rat in the garden, helping himself to the wild bird food droppings..........so we swept all the debris off the garden and removed all the feeders for a few days. Ratty hasn't reappeared since.;)

I've made some modifications to the bird feeders too, if anyone wants details I'll post more.

Johnnypanic_2

From my personal experience, local council and even enviromental health will do nothing, even if you have young children and a pregnant wife

Also, be careful if you decide to choose a pest control company, some off them are absolutely useless.

Follow my advice above and you'll be sorted within a week.

Btw, would be interested in finding out what you intend to do with the rat, or rats, when and if you catch them alive. You're a braver individual than me

Johnnypanic

se999

It's probably a case of luck of the draw with councils!

We've had to call two different ones, and it was for bee/wasp problems, in both cases it was dealt with quickly (i.e. within 24 hours). The first time was free, but the second council was only free to people on benefits, so we had to pay, but it wasn't that much. They had the equipment and the stuff to deal with it quickly. The first was a nest in a narrow roof space, and the second was again roof related in a different house, wasps under the roof tiles of a normal semi, so not easy access unless you have the ladders, poles etc..

Not sure what the rat system is though, but it's normally the same dept!!

So I'd risk the cost of a phone call to find out costs & time scales.

leftieM

Thank you all. I might try the rat poison trap. As for what we'd do with the rat if we caught him - we hadn't thought that one out!