Hedgehogs and Rats

[Mrs Panda]

We have been lucky enough to have hedgehogs in our garden and have been feeding them last season and now into this season. The other night we were up much later than usual watching the hogs feed, when we saw a rat come take some biscuit and run off. While watching he/she did this many times. My husband has now stopped me from putting food out for the hogs until we get rid of the rat problems....!!
Has anyone any answers to how I get rid of the rats and keep the hogs????
I would appreciate any help as I want to keep feeding my lovely little hog family.

Many thanks
Mrs Panda

[Bob Fleming]

I've recently had a similar problem:

I have an enclosed garden which is used by Cardiff Hedgehog Rescue for 'soft-release' for rehabilitated Hedgehogs, prior to their return to the wild. At the time, the garden was also home to a non-releasable Hedgehog, who had to be fed each evening.

My neighbours encouraged rats on to their property, by leaving a large pile of scrap wood/metal, which a family of rats took up residence under. The rats soon began to kill most of the frogs in my garden, eat food put out for the birds, and also to eat the Hedgehogs food.

Rats can attack Hedgehogs, particularly the young and sick, and they will eat all their food. Therefore, I had to try to remove the rats or at least deter them. Firstly, I brought in all my birdfeeders, and ensured there was no waste food hanging around. Also, I would wait for the Hedgehog to appear, before putting out his food, and would stay in the garden until he had finished it.

I also purchased 3 live-catch rat traps, of a kind that posed no threat to Hedgehogs (traps will only work if there is no other food source). Eventually my neighbours, having had a 'reality check', removed the scrap, and called the council in to put poison down. Poison wasn't an option in my garden, but it did solve the rat problem.

So, basically, if you put out food for the Hedgehogs, the rats will almost certainly eat it. If you're not able to 'stand guard' whilst the Hedgehogs eat, then your only real option is to stop feeding them until the rat problem is dealt with. I certainly wouldn't suggest poison, as it is just as likely to kill the Hedgehogs, but perhaps live-catch traps should be considered.

I hope you find a solution, as Hedgehogs are in such dire straits at the moment, that they need all the help they can get.

[Janec]

We have had a similar problem over the last few months.
Our whole village seems to have had an explosion in the rat population after the mild spell earlier in the year, (no, I can't remember it either). We counted nine on the lawn in the daylight one day. Most of the households here feed the birds which didn't help as the rats had endless food supplies.
Various people in the village have used various methods to solve the problem, mainly poison. We tried sonic scarers, rat repellent granules etc. all without success and sadly in the end had to resort to a rat killer called Eradibait. This is not a normal poison but a dried plant material which kills rodents but apparently will not kill anything else that then eats the dead rodents. As per the instructions we placed the killer into small bags directly into the rat holes again helping to prevent anything else coming into contact with it. It does not say on the tub whether hedgehogs would be harmed by this but as they are not rodents, probably not but if you are going to use it you could check with the manufacturer.
I'm not sure this works as quickly as conventional poison and we did have to remove all of our bird feeders before they would take it.
Luckily our hedgehogs come in through the cat flap to our little porch where our stray cat sleeps and so far no rats have sussed this food source.
Killing the rats was not a decision we took lightly and we lived with a few around the place for years with no problems. Unfortunately this year they chewed into my polytunnels and destroyed about £400 worth of plants and were the suspected guilty party in an attack on one of our hedgehogs.
Now, if we see a rat hole we will probably put some eradibait into it on the basis that it is better to kill a few than wait until they explode and have to kill many.
Good luck and I hope you solve the problem.

[pesty1]

Hi,

I'm a pest controller so I suppose you will think I'm biased but I really would be worried about having rats near your home. You will never 'just have a few around the place'. Rats breed at a massive rate and if you are seeing them about you really have a potential problem. They will find a way into your home and even in the garden the diseases that they carry can be fatal. They can also chew through wires once in your home creating a massive fire risk.
Iv read some quite wishy washy advice and info on forums like this about rat poison.

If rat poison is put down by a professional then there is no risk to other wildlife. It should only be put down in sealed boxes or into rat burrows. Rats when they are dying will seek warmth and will tend to die within their nests. If professional rat poison is used and put down in the correct way in the correct amount (not in same tubs sold to the general public in garden centers) then it is rare for the rat to die where it can be eaten by foxes etc.
Even if a dead rat was eaten by a predator the dose within the rat would not harm anything else, modern rat poisons need more than one dose for a rat never mind a secondary dose for other animals. Again its best to seek professional help as different poisons are available for different situations ie.sewer bait, outdoor bait.
Also 'humane' options are often in my experience either a waste of money or far from humane. Rats are wild animals and will panic and fret stuck in a cage iv also seen them eat each other in that situation.
One more piece of advice I would give is to stay away from the big pest control firms and seek a local pest controller, they will provide a cheaper and better service all round.

Ian