Rat in my garden (what am I gonna do)..

[Brocakat]

Originally Posted by retrogeezer

Here he is:

What's that coming over the hill?

[retrogeezer]

yes, it does concern me that it is so big. I wonder if it is just coming in the garden because of the really cold weather over the last few days?

[BloomingMarvellous]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Get a Little snapper rat trap put some chocolate buttons on the spike and in a few days you will have your rat dead..
I did this and have not seen another this was about 2 years ago you don't that where there a kids playing..
Don't use poison as something might eat it and you have no idea where it will go off to die.

This is not the sort of thing you should be telling a New Member, If you liked Wildlife, you wouldn't Kill Anything, even if it's not Cute and Fluffy.

[Equinox]

I have one visiting my feeder too.We have always had Rats from time to time as our garden backs onto Parkland and Woodland and was part of an old farm.

I'm certainly not going to stop feeding the birds at this time of year.

My dogs have killed a couple over the years,but the best way to control them is to bring in the councils pest control,the service is free.
It is where we live anyway.

Got to admire the Rat for his survival talent.

[AfternoonLemon]

Rats need two things - somewhere to live, and a food source. He's got the second, but the dwelling is less easy to find. Sheds, decking, patios and other small outdoor structures are perfect for them as they can tunnel under them for protection. You've basically put a roof over their head for them! It also makes it incredibly difficult to oust them

If you do suspect that it's living under a shed or something, and it is accessible, then ideally you'd want to re-build it onto a solid structure that they can't tunnel through - like compacted aggregate mix and a relatively thin layer of sand.

Failing that, you could dig around it and install some type of barrier around the foundation.

Chances are though, that you're not going to track the little fella, and your best bet is to stop feeding the birds

Originally Posted by BloomingMarvellous

This is not the sort of thing you should be telling a New Member, If you liked Wildlife, you wouldn't Kill Anything, even if it's not Cute and Fluffy.

Well now, to be fair, when there are children playing in the area - you have to make a sacrifice. Whether that be to stop feeding the birds, or control the rats. Or not let he children out, of course

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by BloomingMarvellous

This is not the sort of thing you should be telling a New Member, If you liked Wildlife, you wouldn't Kill Anything, even if it's not Cute and Fluffy.

This is my opinion and its not good to have rats running round the garden where children play they are a health hazard but if you want to put your kids in danger that's your problem the OP asked for advice, I gave it, if they don't want to follow it then its up to them to decide.

Please do not bring in the council as they will use poison its a long painful death with the chance you will poison something else feeding on the dead poisoned rat.
My way is clean quick and humane.

[Uv moth notingha]

This rat is filling a niche in your garden ecosytem , if it was'nt , it woulnt be there . Eradicating rats is impossible (we have tried and failed for hundreds of years ) , so simply get rid of the food suply that brings them in , your spilled birdfood . Interesingly enough rats are very clean animals , spending much of their time grooming , but as they live in ''grubby '' places they can also carry virus's nasty for us if we get them . The brown rat is the main predator of other ''pest'' species (never use the word ''pest '' out of inverted commas '' ) , such as the house mouse and wood mouse .
They them selfs are perfect food for buzzards , owls and foxes which we all '' oo' and ''arrr'' about . Also in your country location a proper infestation is extremely unlikly . Poisen is equivelent to killing any critter that happens upon it , and traps are a waste of time .
Just get rid of the food , get some perspective , and live and let live .

UVMOTH

[nightshade]

Restricting the food supply is the only answer. I clean up every tea time (4:00pm) Using the garden deters Rats and moving stuff about, they don't like change much (but will adapt quickly) It may be just passing through, ours came from a nest under a neighbours shed where they threw out bread and scraps for the birds!

[retrogeezer]

Thanks for all the replies, I really don't want to kill it if necessary as I am a lover of all animals. It was heartbreaking for me when I had to kill a mouse my cat had caught and the cat had broken the mouse's back legs so it was just dragging itself around...horrible.

Anyway, I haven't seen this rat since last Thursday, I saw it come from under my neighbour's fence so blocked that access off and also blocked the hole in my neighbour's back fence where it was getting into their garden.

I also trimmed back the bushes behind my fence as I think it might also have been climbing up and going over my fence.

I found 3 mice in a box in my shed a few weeks back, I also let them go over the back of my fence.

This is the view from the back of our house, there is a 30-40 feet stretch of scrub from the fence to the 1st trees you can see, then the golf course. At the far right is a small holding and the road was built on an old farm. I will just keep an eye out, the odd rat is not a problem, I just would not want a nest in the garden or to be over run with them. (:-)

[Billabong Karen]

Looks lovely! Good luck with the rat - and keep an eye open, when you think there is only one rat there are usually many more... but as soon as the weather eases up a bit I would stop putting food on the ground, and that should solve the problem.