Rat in the garden!

The one time I saw a cheeky rat was when I had bird feeders close to the house and a rat went back and orth from under a bench to the feeder. I went out and made a noise but the rat appeared again and again. That night there were very loud fierce cat squeals and I never saw the rat again, I never chase cats out of my garden now, would rather have cats than a rat

A friend got rats in her house insulation in her walls, warm-cell walls ie paper insulation. Imagine the damage those rats did. I stopped feeding birds and will not feed them again in my new home. Birdfood attracts rats and where there is one then there are many. Her neighbour fed birds and all in all it led to a big falling out

A rat in the garden - it could be worse.....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHwPYze5M9s

One of my cats was very badly mauled by a rat. Unless it’s a big young cat you need a terrier to take them out. There are so many around here , there are so many takeaways . Waste is just left everywhere.

Rats need cover, water and food to thrive. As we live in the country, in a wooded area, next to a large pond, we always have a few rats at the bottom of the garden.
It helps that we have a Labrador and a Jack Russell who love picking up a trail and frightening the be-Jesus out of any small furry thing.
Like someone said, feed the birds small amounts regularly to deter rats from having an all you can eat 24hr banquet. Hopefully that should sort it.

Also my niece had rats that ended up moving into her house in her house. She was anti-harming until she found rat droppings in her toddler's bedroom. She went nuclear after that. Really unneccessary as if she'd dealt with it properly to begin with it wouldn't have happened. I'd mentioned chilli powder to her but she thought it was cruel to deal with them at all.

Chilli powder isn't poison. I wouldn't put poison out because it kills more than rats which is why the RSPB recommend extra hot chilli powder as it doesn't bother birds, just makes the rats move on.

Saetana-I agree with you so much. All creatures have a right to exist and we shouldn’t kill them in horrible ways just because we don’t like having them around. That is just cruel. Don’t leave food lying around where they can get at it and they will move on.

We had rats in our garage although there wasnt anything foodlike for them to eat. Humane traps didnt work so bait was put down. A couple of days later my husband went away. I heard the dogs barking in the garden so looked out and there was a huge rat the size of a puppy crawling slowly across the garden obviously having eaten the bait. I put the dogs indoors and then I hit it with a spade to put it out if its misery. I left it a few hours then shovelled it up and threw it over on to the land next door. The wild rats are nothing like the tame white ones we had as children and will attack you if cornered. Our neighbours have chickens and we live in the country so I like the idea of using chilli powder. Especially as they enjoy eating our vegetable seedlings and even eat our seed potatoes when they have been planted.

There are rats hidden everywhere, I know it's easy to blame people feeding the birds etc, but the rats exist everywhere and have done since time imorrial, bet no one was feeding the birds back in times of starvation and disease and poverty through the dark ages. Truth is rats will eat the young of birds hedgehogs rabbits ect, they will eat grain, worms berries and breed like.....well rats! Stop the blame culture, enjoy the birds, feed them, they are struggling, and if your friend chooses to feed a couple of foxs, be treasured those fixed are probably eating plenty of rats too, earning their keep.

Please do not try to poison rats, or any other creature! Its a cruel and horrible way to die and rats have just as much right to exist as any other creature!

I’m smiling at your post bodach. As a child living next to a farm we had chickens at the bottom of our garden. There were visiting rats. Any visible when my Dad was about we’re dispatched by an air pistol. I can recall being fascinated. Not a squeamish child but I would prefer not to be seeing rats now.

There are a lot of cats here which I curse when I find their leavings in the flower beds but appreciate for rodent control. So far no rat or rat dropping sightings. We do feed the birds, a little each day and clear up mess. If I saw rat activity I’d stop. We needed pest control at our previous home as rats were using our garden to reach a neighbours to feed from dog food in their shed. Our neighbour want bothered but I was after seeing a whole string of them one day. We removed our bird feeders, pest control laid bait and we saw no more. I’d do the same again if it were necessary.

I usually find that my .22 air rifle does the trick.

PS A Terrier is a good solution to a rat problem. My GD has a cross between a Westie and a Jack Russell which has recently made short work of a rat in the garden. My neighbour has frequent visits from a JR which may explain the absence of rats around here.

One year, I spotted a huge rat in my compost heap. When the ratcatcher came to investigate, he found a rats' nest, with a number of babies, in the neighbour's compost heap. He advised us against putting potato peelings in the heap. Apparently these are a big attraction.

We had a new bathroom fitted last year. The plumber found rat droppings under the old bath when he took it out. The bath drain pipe was eaten through and water had been draining onto the ground under the floorboards. We then found droppings in the loft! Pest Control sorted it out, but was an awful experience.

rats have to eat too. where would you prefer it to go. tescos or sainsburys.?

It's most commonly spread by rat urine in water. As I've found dead young rats in the water butt before now (goodness knows how they ended up in there), the water could easily have become contaminated. Makes my think twice about letting the grandchildren water the flowers with water from the butts.

We knew someone on the canals who got it. He was very ill.

Leptospirosis is extremely rare, it’s one of the diseases which dogs are vaccinated against.
Rats are supposed to have carried bubonic plague hundreds of years ago but you’re not going to catch anything from having rats in your garden. They’re just one of our native animals and have lived alongside people forever. Stop worrying.

My neighbour was feeding 2 hedgehogs then a fox and now a badger. She put food n water out every night. We saw fox and badger having a standoff over the food. Then I thought I saw a long worm flick upwards into a fusha bush. Took me ages to work out it was a rat's tail.
To anyone thinking rats are like pet rats No they are not. Wild rats often carry leptosporosis and that's what killed my friend's dog. Her neighbours were putting food for the birds on the garage roof. Was a beautiful Great Dane dog

Don't give up feeding the birds. Food is getting short for them.
Also I believe that if a rat or other animal walks in chilli sauce or pepper spray and it gets in their eyes they can scratch them out in their agony,
Don't stress over a rat.

Everyone has rats. Nobody is more than 20 feet from a rat. just be glad they are outside. Rats managed to invade my flat and my neighbour's next door, They chewed 2 holes in my wall and got in, and upset my bin and left rubbish everywhere. My neighbour had an elderly cat which brought one in from her garden. Another neighbour had them under her shed. I bought a live catch cage and baited it but not one rat entered it. If you do catch a rat it is illegal to let it go. In the end I had to buy poison from the internet. They took it and I was upset to find a very sick rat staggering around my kitchen. A nice man I know caught it in a plastic shopping bag and took it away. Then he came back, popped the rest of the poison into the holes and sealed them up. That was 2 years ago and I have not seen a rat since and neither has my neighbour, But I know there are a lot outside.

Put rat bait boxes in you garden also take any bird feed in at night .

... the other reason I gave up on the birds was that the cat was bringing in young rats and not all of them were dead! When I found her putting one into the bin next to my bed I thought, that's it. NO MORE. It was alive - I set it free in the garden but honestly, she'd carried it up two flights of stairs to give it to me.

I gave up feeding the birds when I looked out of the window and came face to face with a rat eating their food. I looked up pest control on t'internet and the first thing they said was to stop providing bird food. So sadly, they are no longer fed. You can get a bait box from the local garden centre for rats. I found a rat-nest hole under our hedge and put the box near there. After finding 2 dead rats nearby, we haven't had any since. (I think...)

I feed the birds all year round and saw a rat about a month ago but not since. I like the chilli and WD40 tips so will deploy both if I see one again. Years ago in our previous house backing onto a canal we had a problem and bought a large container of rat poison. They happily ate the lot with no ill effects as they have become immune. Phoned pest control who said it’s a massive problem as they are not allowed to use more powerful poisons as it would have a devastating effect on birds of prey.