Just saw a rat in my garden

Fancy (i.e. domesric) rats I'm afraid, co i can't come and collect your visitor 😁

And another one, OP...

All those glibly saying 'deal with your phobia': that would take time and most likely paid-for professional help.

I had similar, OP, but found out it's common for an odd rat to pass through your garden, and doesn't mean they are living there. If there is no available food (eg you don't have a compost heap) they will just move on. They don't like change so get DP to move around anything possible.

Attaching some screenshots of advice (as links include photos.)

That's good to read. I keep small animals (adoptions) be it rats, gerbils. In fact my son and I were watching fancy pet rat videos on you tube this evening. Lovely little things. As for ones in wild, they mean no harm. OP I would definitely address the phobia. I did this for my spider phobia. DS found a big one on the stairs, we all had a look and carefully stepped over. No killing little creatures in this house. I tried to educate myself about them instead.

We have chipmunks in ours and it always makes me laugh that they are really just rats with stripes and better PR. I love them!

We are rural with old grain sheds behind us. Small garden so we dug down about 3 foot and buried rodent proof wire fencing, then pinned to the fence a good 2 foot above. It works very well. I've never used poison as I think it actually attracts them.

Why the hell would you post to that someone with a severe phobia?

This is one of my worst nightmares 😫

We once saw one in the garden and panicked. When we called somebody to come and get rid of it he said it is only because of how much it has been raining and that it will go back underground once its home is no longer flooded. He was right - haven't seen it again in almost 4 years.

I'm sure it's the same this time with how much it's been raining the past couple of days! So try not to panic - easier said than done though, I know.

OP are you in Manchester by any chance?

I have some really sweet pet rats and happy to do some exposure therapy with you.

Very slow stuff! I wouldn't push you at all.

Getting help for your phobia will be a lot more productive than trying to eliminate rats.

It was fleas that spread the Black Death, not rats.

There are rats everywhere. As long as they stay outside it's fine.

Our dogs kill rats they find in our garden which also backs on to woodlands.

Happy to see so many rat positive posts in here (I'm a member of a rat rescue group and have had quite a few).

Phobias are phobias though, so sympathies OP.

I've no problem with rats, spiders that's another thing. I once lived near field and the biggest gigantist spider crawled over my kitchen floor. It was a big tall thing and it's leg span was at least that of my hands together. My friend killed it on the spot as i just stood there frozen. Been bit by one or the other (rats and spiders under the floor boards) in bed around that time

Just make sure there is nothing attracting it to your garden (bird seed for example) and it probably won't keep coming back. It will be too big to get into your house through a small crack or anything. Mice are actually more problematic because they can squeeze through tiny gaps.

There are rats everywhere especially in the countryside. You just happened to see one. We had a bird table and had to get rid because of rats climbing up and eating the nuts 🤮. The key thing is that they are not in the house. I’ve heard that rats rarely infest houses because they like lots of water. I remember in an office I once worked in a rat came up the toilet. This was in a city but apparently it is common in cities with ancient sewer pipes.

The horror of it. My instinct was to flush the toilet and the rat just started swimming against the current of the toliet flush. Someone got rid of it by putting down a load of toilet paper and flushing .

@ConcernedOfClapham not a trap like a mouse trap! it is a long cage like think and the food goes at the end . the door shuts it in and it cant escape!

I completely understand because I have an extreme phobia of them as well, I used to meet my partner at his place of work when he finished but caught sight of one and haven’t been back since.

We saw one at a car wash a few weeks ago and I nearly fainted from fear and hyperventilating.

I had to leave a job I loved once because I saw one in the garden and was terrified there was an infestation and I just couldn’t cope. People thought I was ridiculous and completely overreacting but you can’t help it if you have a phobia.
I’m not scared of anything else and don’t mind heights, snakes, vomit, spiders etc…

People have laughed or berated me but I didn’t laugh when they needed a spider picking up and moving. I think some phobias are more understood then others.

Last year DP saw a rat (I shudder just typing it too) in the garden because our neighbours were putting food out for the birds. I put peppermint oil in a spray bottle with water and sprayed everywhere - especially round the outside of the house and where any entry points might be.
I move things about in the garden but we have a river next to our house and it’s surrounded by fields so like paradise for them.

I got rat traps from Amazon for inside the house but so far haven’t caught any. It said they safe for other animals and pets, they are boxes with bait in and other animals wouldn’t fit in the small hole to get in the box.

We got a cat which really helped because he’s a proper little hunter. My partner has seen him running round with ones the size of kittens in his mouth and said he sucked the tail up like spaghetti. I was torn between relief and not wanting to know! I can hear him fighting with them sometimes and would never dream of getting a cat flap in case my cat decided to showcase his hunting prowess.

Since we adopted our little killing machine the neighbours have said they are no longer coming into the garden and it’s been a long time since we’ve seen Salem the cat tormenting any. I’m praying they have buggered off but I’m scared I’ve tempted fate writing this and I’ll catch sight of one later.

It’s definitely a good idea to get help with the phobia, I really need to do it because you can’t escape them, the little fuckers are everywhere and quite often pop up on tv or in films as well which gives me a nasty shock.

If you can get a cat than I really think that’s the best course of action because just the smell of the cat can keep them away. I put treats all round my skirting board every night so the cat got as close as possible.

Can you clear out the boxes, stick the hose under the garage. I’m in the country, no sign of rats near the house, they need a reason to come I. My view.

Over Covid we had rats in the garden as did neighbours so me and NDN both got cats
Now no rats but my cat will quite happily go and catch them from other places and bring them (dead) to me

I have a rat/mice/gerbil/hamster phobia too OP so I know how you feel. If I ever saw one in my own home I honestly think I'd drop dead from fear.