RATS

Desdemona I must agree that the first time we saw our rat years ago he looked quite cute as he was trying to pull a too large piece of bread through a tiny gap. His little head bobbing up and down trying to figure out what to do. He ended up half hanging out of the gap eating it to make it smaller then dragging the rest through.

But they carry diseases so 'Basil' as we called him had to go to rat heaven (must be crowded there for sure!).

Along with his ratty friends from the source we eventually located.

Sara maybe you moved into the property near us after the woman with the GSD's and the horse feed left!

I agree about demolishing the summerhouse, we moved into a house where the previous occupants had stored animal food in a shed, there were literally hundreds of mice, we set traps everyday, but still took weeks to get rid of them, eventually we seemed to have got them all, but it was all so disgusting, we demolished and then burnt it

It's a tricky one as it sounds as though they've turned into a little community and there is more than one nest around. If allowed to thrive over a period of time they may have set up residence elsewhere. Firstly, make sure you wear disposable gloves when moving your summerhouse stuff around and check they're not still inside things like lounger cushions. Empty it if possible so they don't have nesting materials.

I would start with professional pest control but it could be that they have moved out to a more 'des res' making it difficult to locate the nests.

Years ago we had a rat living under our wooden playhouse. I put rat pellets in a safe place (we have pets and wildlife) in a crevice between the fences. Although he disappeared, my neighbour said he was overrun. He called the council but they were useless as they couldn't find the nest and refused to help locate it. My neighbour trapped them with chocolate/peanut butter. They seemed to like the chocolate. He was keeping a tally and seemed to be enjoying himself (not sure how he dispatched them).

However, the saga went on until we pressed the council and they found the culprit. A woman who was renting a house nearby was keeping horse feed and hay and so on in a shed at the bottom of her garden. Apparently, she was a bit dodgy (had GSD dogs that kept escaping) and had just left it there to rot so they had set up residence in this rat heaven. My neighbour had to push the council to act and they dealt with it but it took forever.

We were advised not to feed the birds in the meantime. I feed them again now and we've not had further issues but one of my dogs is a hunting dog so she'd give them short thrift. So don't put out any bird food while this problem is ongoing.

I hope you solve the problem as they do carry disease and it's not nice to know they are running amok even though we are told we're never more than a few feet away from a sewer rat I'd rather they stayed down there with all the sewage!

Desdemona, regretfully your pretty rat is not alone. He will have a mate and they will have pretty babies....

I have a rat living under my summerhouse. I presumed it was one rat, but someone I spoke to about it said you rarely get singular rats.

It looks very cute when I see it sat on the lawn chomping on things I have thrown out for the birds. Rats are very intelligent and lots of people keep them as pets - but I am aware they carry disease, so am thinking I need to try to get rid of ratty as humanely as possible at some point?

The last rat I saw jumped out of my D's garden waste bin outside but it was in Oz and she ran into the house shouting " a rat, a rat ". Lord knows how she ever settled there with all the other critters we saw, especially the roaches scuttling around !
It's said that you're never many feet away from one. So glad I have 3 cats, one who always brings mice in who are not always dead.

My flat is on the market right now.

Do any of your neighbours have compost heaps. These can attract rats as some people are unaware of what's compostable and what shouldn't be ever put onto one. Foods that have been cooked, be it bread, cakes, scraps from the dinner table, meat and bones, cheese, anyone putting these things onto one is asking for a problem. Also people who think they are being kind to birds by throwing out bread for them, left uneaten on the garden is another source. I would call out the council again and tell them the problem still remains, despite all of your efforts and theirs. If you need to block up any holes anywhere, apparently the best way is to put some wire wool in first ( Brillo pad type) before filling it in, as rats can't chew through that. I really hope you get this sorted soon it sounds a horrible situation for you.

Move.

Easier said than done.

If there is food being left on the streets around you, then you will never be free of the rats.

Talking about my neighbour, her 19 year old cat which had not been known to catch anything for years, suddenly brought in a dying rat, which she proudly showed my neighbour. My neighbour managed to make her drop the rat and caught it in a shopping bag. The cat was so annoyed and growled and howled for a long time.

There are only 2 floors here and all the flats are occupied. But happy now that my neighbour and I have no more rats any more.

Move to a flat three floors up and buy yourself a few windowsill plants.

RATS!!! My goodness, I would be checking under my bed every night - just in case.

I refuse to feed the birds because I'm terrified it would attract rats. As a child we fed the birds and our cat was always killing rats. Have you thought of getting a cat? If you can afford it maybe a private pest control firm would do a better job than the council.

I must bethe only gran who actually had rats in the house. I have lived in my 215 year old flat for 15 years. Last year rats invaded my home and ran riot in the kitchen, managing to overturn the bin and get out some mussel shells which they distributed all over the floor. I did not know what had done it and then saw a large hole in the wall. My flat is a ground floor flat and my adjacent neighbour had the same problem. I rang the council and they said it was a Rat Year and they were inundated with requests to kill them and would not be able to get to me for 2 weeks! I don't like killing things so went to the garden centre and bought 2 rats cages which I bated with cheese. Of course the rats would not go near them. In any case, it you do catch a rat, it is an offence to release it, even in the country. I had to go back to the garden centre where I spoke to an assistant who advised me to just buy poison and said she had had the same problem, and poisoned them. "Its them or us,!" she said. I bought industrial strength poison tablets on line and put it down near the rat hole. By then another hole had appeared in my hall so I put some down there too, and left the box of tablets on a table. There was a crash in the night and I ran out to discover the rats had pulled the box off the table. Worse was to come. A few days later I spotted a plastic bag sticking out from under a kitchen unit. I bent down to pick it up and it was pulled from the other side! I pulled more strongly and out came a dying rat... it tottered about the kitchen... luckily my handyman was working nearby and I phoned him and he came straight away, caught the rat in the shopping bag and went off with it. I have got rid of the rats now and the handyman came back and filled the holes.

We are surrounded by neighbours' cats who can be a nuisance but are extremely useful.

You sound like you need the Pied Piper!

Horrible situation. ?

Pat1949
My younger son can hear them and the supposedly silent dog whistles.

Yuk, this sounds like a nightmare.

Rats need a water source so firstly rid your garden area of any water sources be they filled buckets or dripping taps etc. Next they like continuity in undisturbed spaces that don't affect their rat run. You therefore need to move things around in your garden eg pots plants storage etc to unsettle them so they wont start nesting in any particular area.

Most importantly, as they breed prolifically, keep the professional rat people on board to eliminate them. You will also need to speak to your neighbours and get them to do the same thing as they could set up home in neighbouring areas and you will never be shot of them.

Get tips from the professionals too.

I cleared out my little "lean-to" greenhouse a couple of weeks ago and discovered some of my gardening gloves lying in tatters in one of the corners. I got the dust pan and brush ready to sweep them out and the tiniest mouse ran out from behind. I let out the most almighty SHRIEK DH thought I was being attacked. My heart was going like the clappers ! I am not afraid of mice at all, I just didn't expect it to dart out when it did. I can't imagine how I would react if I saw a rat !

Pat1949, I have one of those machines. It drove away the rats from my shed, but it took a month or so. Combined with ceasing to feed the birds it still does the trick.

A family who lived a few doors away from me before I moved used to throw meat bones, mouldy cheese and bread etc onto their lawn for the wildlife. They regretted it when they discovered that rats had nested under their car in the garage and chewed all the electrics and insulation, costing thousands of pounds to repair.

A man who lives near me is hired to visit farm buildings with his Jack Russell which is apparently a very good and efficient ratter. You could enquire if anyone near you does this sort of thing, but you'd obviously have to keep your dogs indoors while it's there as they'd be at risk being so small. Also, you can get commercial rat killers from ebay or Amazon which has worked on the couple of occasions we got rats in our garden. I didn't like to do it, but rats and grandchildren are not a good match.

You can buy a machine which gives out a high pitched sound (humans can't hear it). Not sure if it works but certainly worth a try. Xx

We had them last year, we are next to small stream and think due to heavy rain they had moved into our garden. They took up residence under the coal bunker, we trapped them in mesh traps, got the traps from amazon. Used chocolate and peanut butter as bait. Trapped over a few weeks 13 of them and they were scary. We have dogs as well but the rats did not seem scared. So far okay this year.

I think I might be tempted to demolish the shed, which is a nice warm home for them to raise their babies! Keep up with the poison, and take advice about changing the type of poison frequently. I have not had a rat problem, but I had a really bad mouse problem in my last house which was a 300 year old farmhouse. It took persistence to get rid of them, but we succeeded in the end.