Rats

I have a rat problem too. I dont feed birds much as I would like. I keep the area round my home clear of all weeds and plants etc. make sure it is open. No sheds, no place for rats to hide.

The problem? My next door neighbours on both sides have chickens. The food attracts the rats, the rats have moved into my hedges because they are safer but still within food source range.

Once you see a rat, its too late, there is already a colony. All you can do is keep baiting it and hope they dont get in your house or sheds. Track them down via the run if you can.

I did have one in the house, it ventured in through a cat flap! The cat went after it but it bit him too! It got under the kitchen cupboard. My husband had to bludgeon it to death with a sledge happen on the end of a wooden baton we pushed down the back of the cabinet . Awful business.

What a story. After rat infestation we had in 2006 I decided never call for pest control. It's better to prevent appearing of these rodents near your place. Nowadays we have different ultrasonic traps installed around the perimeter of our house as pestcontrohacks suggests. Haven't seen any mice or chipmunks, though sometimes we see occasional squirrels but they prefer not to stay for long.

Rats not eats!

Thanks cornergran ..I'm not scared of the rats but of the diseases they spread..it's the council pest control chap who's coming...I just put kitchen roll soaked in bleach near the pond and the eats are flipping eating it..I thought the smell might deter them

Oh yuck farview, rats horrify me. Please make sure whoever comes is a 'proper' pest control operative. They should be able to tell you if the rats are living in your garden or passing through in search of a food source. We had this issue in our last home, quickly dealt with by the 'rat man' (I didn't dare all. him that to. his face!) who explained the rats were using our garden as a short cut to a food source next door - dog food kept in a wooden shed. Unfortunately our neighbours didn't see it as a problem. He put down enclosed bait boxes, came back three times, no more rats. Farmland doesn't always mean rats in the garden, I suspect they are finding an easy food source close by. Good luck, its an unpleasant thing to have to deal with.

Oh heck they're back again in force...pest control coming on Tuesday..as I'm stood at my kitchen window now there are two adults and four young..broad daylight and in and out of my pond,on the lawn,in my borders..they are in and out of my neighbours also..our gardens back on to farmland so rats always about I suppose. Not going to let my grandchildren play out there today..scared of Weil's disease...

When we had chickens we had rats too but TG they didn't come into the house. We put poison down the holes in the earth which led to their nests.
I don't think we ever got completely rid of them.

Sorry but the only cure is don't feed birds, keep the garden tidy, bins secure and make sure and holes around the house are filled. With no food and no shelter rats will plague someone else.

If you have a bird table raised off the ground putting small amounts of feed so it is cleared quickly is OK so are hanging fat balls

Well, not always I'd say Izabella. I've always fed the birds, in our current house for 25 years and only once seen one rat. The council rat chap/pest control operative killed it off within a couple of weeks. End of problem, seven years ago. Thankfully, I'm hopeless with the horrible things.

Feeding bird in the garden = rats

We had rats in the woodshed. We laid down bait and I put the packs with the rest of the poison, in neat little packets on the top shelf of the adjacent garden shed.

The rats ate everything in the wood shed, then climbed the shelving in the garden shed, knocked the cardboard box with the remaining bait packs onto the floor and ate everything in the box as well.

That was 2 years ago. We haven't had any rats since.

farview - is your rat person from the Council. We saw a rat a few years ago, I called the Council Rat man - no he said, madam "pest control operative".
He came free of charge as part of the council's attempt to reduce the rat problem. I had three dogs at the time and he put poison down in special containers, which the dogs couldn't find, called back several times to check and was generally very helpful. The rat died on the lawn a couple of weeks later.
I do feed the birds but we've never had a rat problem since. The pest control operative put the rat issue on our road at that time down to severe rain and flooding in drains that were in the process of being dug up.

Do these companies travelling from New York to treat our problems pay their own expenses?

Rodents such as rats and mice are some of the most unwanted and undesirable mammals that we can commonly find in homes. It can create small holes or cracks in our homes, which looks very ugly. To prevent from such cracks it is very necessary to remove all rodents from home. The rat pest control nyc provides Rodents control and decontamination services to get free from rodents.

He was a rat and she was a rat,
And down in one hole did they dwell.
Each was as fat as a witch's cat,
And they loved one another well.

He had a tail, and she had a tail,
Both long and curling and fine.
And each said, "Yours is the finest tail
In the world, excepting mine!"

He smelt the cheese and she smelt the cheese,
and they both pronounced it good,
And both remarked it would greatly add
to the charms of their daily food.

He ventured out, and she ventured out,
and I saw them go with pain.
But what befell them I never could tell,
for they never came back again.
Laura E Richards

Good idea about a terrier, Grandetante.
There's a french one they call a ratier and I've seen him in action.

Do you know anyone who owns any kind of terrier or any other small dog that loves hunting rats? Or a cat and dog team who hunt rats, or two cats who go ratting together?

Rat poison is unlikely to work, as most adult rats cannot possible squeeze into the rat traps the council puts down, and as you say with toddlers and animals you do want around, poison is the worst choice.

Apparently, according to our rat man eats take a while to approach a new object.He put the bait in plastic open ended type boxes and we had to fence the area off to keep the dogs away. Sadly he also advised against feeding the birds but also against having anything tall growing near the house as they climb. Once they were gone we blocked up all spaces under sheds etc.

Ive posted this before......our next door neighbour fed the birds..the bits from the bird feeder drop on the floor,,easy pickings for the rats. I had them in garden 1 big fat one.
running under shed.

Put poison down it was devoured!
Over about 2/3 days I found 8 bodies about 5 inch long (these app were baby rats)! then pulled shed down and was BIG! nest measuring about 14 in diametre with dead rats in there as well as a large one horrible!! I then put up a concrete shed on a flag base and other neighbour told! thee neaighbour to stop! feeding the birds!

To my absolute horror, we had a rat in the garden earlier this year. The council put down two plastic bait boxes and checked them twice over a period of three weeks. None of the bait had been touched. We had stopped feeding the birds as soon as the rat was sighted, and the rat has never been seen since. It’s sad to have to do that but you need to cut off any food supply.

Reported

Rats try to harm our belongings and also carry several infectious diseases that could harm our family. Follow few techniques to get rid away from them:

- Always sanitize your place. Be sure to clean the cluttered leftovers of your meal and wash the utensils after use.

- Seal every holes and opening. Since rats are small in size, they may enter from even the smallest openings. Make sure to inspect every corner of the house minutely.

- Use traps and baits. It is a very convenient way to trap them. Follow the instructions and use it wisely. Commonly use mouse baits are peanuts and dry cat food.

If you are unable to get rid of those pesky rats, professional rodent control NJ service is the best option for you to choose from. Consult them and learn more about the rat control solutions and tricks.

It's the council pest control...

We are encouraged to feed birds but there is no denying that it encourages vermin like mice and rats.

Not the best way to lay poison! It should be in bits of drainpipes - not accessible to toddlers and pets, but hugely attractive to rats who like to explore down tunnels.

Do not feed the birds!!! - this was the advice we had when we had a rat problem.