Rats mice or voles ?

[ladypeeling]

Hi can anyone enlighten me ? We have a BIG problem in our garden and not sure if its one of the above or all 3.
My husband spotted a rat in our garden late spring and because we have very young granchildren over a lot we asked the council to visit. Bait was put out and a few weeks later we noticed a pretty bad smell under the decking (We are having the decking removed as the rat man said it attreacts rats) We removed two dead rats which were together under the decking right against the house wall. Problem sorted we thought (Have stopped feeding the birds for now)
After weeks of terror I have finally plucked up courage to do the garden and around our pond we noticed many holes that go pretty far down. We also saw some large areas (About a foot wide) Of excavated sand which I know was only present under our pond liner. Also we think our pond is leaking as have had to top it up more. My husband put out traps and caught 4 mice over 4 nights and as we felt cruel we called a ceasefire. Is this problem Rats mice or Voles? Have spent 2 hours on google and Its all confusing. We love our pond but if its attracting rats then I would have to consider removing it (I really am phobic). Does anyone have any suggestions x we are pure nature lovers and only picked this house because of the enormous garden.
please advise me x If its bad news I will bite on a towel whilst I read it (I rreally am that squeemish)

[vole-woman]

I can't say it's not rats round your pond, but I'm sure it's not the pond that's attracting them - that'll be the bird food if it's anything. If you've knocked that on the head, and if you've removed the decking, that'll go a long way to solving the problem. The holes you've found could be old rat holes, no longer occupied because you've killed the owners, but if you think you've seen new activity then get the pest controller back. Try filling in the holes and seeing whether there's fresh digging.

Water voles - which are lovely, clean, sweet little animals - do sometimes dig round garden ponds, and make holes that are about rat-sized, so this is another possibility. Mention it to the pest controller and see what he/she says. Water voles are protected by law, but you can remove rats and leave water voles unscathed if you know what you're doing.

We had a rat dig under our garden pond bridge a year or so ago, but it didn't stay long after I stopped putting bird food on the ground. Later we found a dead one on the compost heap and that was that. I think next door's cat was responsible.

[vole-woman]

I agree that there's no point trapping mice outside so I'm glad you've stopped that. They're not doing any harm in the garden; they're only a problem if they come into the house.

[vole-woman]

Oh, meant to ask: how wide are the holes? If the diameter's the same size or slightly bigger than a Pringles tube, that's likely to be rats. Smaller than that and it's either mice or bank/field voles (harmless).

[ladypeeling]

Man thanks indeed for your reply x I did get a bit neurotic about it all yesterday x This is weird, as I was leaving for work this morning the rat man actually came up the path (I felt sorry for him) He had come to collect his bait box ! Anyway to cut a long story short he has confirmed its Rats and we now have 3 bait boxesx He said the decking going was a good idea but not to be hasty getting rid of my beautiful pond (It will cost us a lot to replace the damaged liner and filter where they have eaten through the wiring) So hopefully we will get on top of it x He showed me over the fence next door and it was unbelievable how much sand they have excavated from under the pond!!!!
Thanks for help it was appreciated x and the mice are welcome as they are not a problem to us at all. My husband saw a baby fox in next doors wild/overgrown garden x hope they get a taste for rats !!!!!!!!!!!!

[vole-woman]

I agree, don't get rid of the pond. As I said, they don't attract rats, it's food that brings them. Good luck!