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Gardening

Rats

(54 Posts)
rafichagran Sat 25-Jan-20 14:58:44

Please can anyone give advice,
My neighbours have just built decking and I notice now some burrowing under my new 6ft wood fence. I have blocked these up and then more holes appear.
My partner was in the garden and saw a rat, something we have never had before. Do rats go to decking for warmth?
How can we get rid of this problem we have never had them before or the burrowing. If any poster has decking or just some idea what I could do I would be grateful. Is there any products I can buy that you found helps. This is my first post in the gardening section, normally I just read but alot of you seem to have alot of knowledge.

MaizieD Tue 30-Jun-20 14:24:55

When we had a rat in the house (eeek!) we got the council pest control man out. When he put down bait I asked about the the possibility of my cat catching and eating a poisoned one and being poisoned itself. He assured me that there wouldn't be enough poison in the rat's body to kill the cat.

(There was a charge for the service but it was worth every penny)

Rats eat anything, BTW

Peardrop50 Tue 30-Jun-20 14:43:55

Warning..I seem to remember someone, think it was BlueBell, saying that chilli powder would get in to the rodents eyes and they would scratch out their own eyes in agony. I'm no fan of rats but think a trap providing short sharp death is more humane.

Peardrop50 Tue 30-Jun-20 14:48:02

We live in the countryside and use the ultrasonic devices plugged in in every room and powerful outdoor ones in two external sockets, they work well. We also have solid stone walls and plugged any small holes, such as where pipes enter the house, with wire wool, rodents wont chew through that although rats will chew through concrete.