To message DP neighbour on FB

We have rats in the garden and it's not a big deal. We have a bird table too but any seed on the ground gets eaten in the morning and the rats are out in the evening, so I'm told.

Do you not live near your parents? Is there no one else that can help them out with this??

YABU.

Tell your parents to get a cat.

The OP can offer them and be refused but its a compromise to prevent food landing on the ground and still be proactive in a nicer way.

The NDN may be offended or just refuse but its a way to offer a compromise

If you had contacted me like that I would have told you to fck off to the other side of fck and once there to f*ck off again. Like someone else said, if your parents are that paranoid, bloody removed and clear the shed. For many people, bird feeders that attract birds into their garden is a joy. You have zero right to ask them, nay demand they take them down.

Yes you were unreasonable to message them.

Cats Protection have plenty of mousers looking for a new home or get a terrier 😉

The best thing your parents can do though (and easist) is move things around in their garden, rats absolutely hate any kind of disturbance.

Get your parents a cat, best way.

Almost every garden has rats. Why are you so concerned?

The neighbours are allowed to have bird-feeders. And there are all sorts of things that attract rats anyway - including a handy spot for them to live, such as your parents' shed.

I think it was fine for your parents to ask them to take down the feeders. It was also fine for your neighbours to say no. And that should have been the end of the matter. Why would you imagine they'd have a different response to you than they did to your parents? I think if I were your neighbours, I'd have been telling you very clearly that this was none of your business, that I'd already have a conversation with your parents, and that you were not to contact me again.

Yabu. You can't dictate what someone does in their garden. Feeding the birds is common thing and gives people pleasure. Maybe you should be sorting through shed out as that's the issue giving the rats somewhere to live

Genuinely, why?
If they aren't causing a problem why do they have to be dealt with? Because they lack the cute bushy tails that squirrels have?
I appreciate that sometimes unfortunately animals do have to be killed, usually when we encroach on their space BUT rats shouldn't be killed just for existing.

You’re getting a bit of a kicking here, OP, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable of you to have asked the question again, even though it’s also not unreasonable for them to say no.

I have a lot of sympathy, though - where I used to live both we and the house two doors down had annual rat infestations because the neighbours in the middle put out food for the birds constantly - like 2 or 3 times a day - even throwing bacon rind and bread crusts out onto the grass every single morning.

Despite having one of the biggest gardens on the road, they positioned feeders against the back wall of our house (from which the rats would climb directly into our gutters and up into the roof space) and on the opposite fence (from which the rats would slip under the fence and nest directly under the sun room of the cottage the other side). They were always just wandering around, totally fearless - big fat rats on the feeders every day, chowing down in broad daylight then waddling back to their handy breeding spots!

They refused to move the feeders as they thought it would make the garden birds more vulnerable to raptors if they placed them out in the open, but gave no shits about the cost and stress to their neighbours. They were nice people and good neighbours otherwise, but it was bloody infuriating.

Not much you can do sadly, except use poison, which is horrific and dangerous to other wildlife, or else try to secure the spaces they’re nesting in, which is very difficult.

If the rats are nesting in your parents garden then they need to have that dealt with. They need an exterminator or to take down the shed or something to deal with the nest.

Rats are everywhere. It's good news for your parents that they know where this particular nest is and that it's on their property so they can deal with it and aren't dependent on a neighbour doing anything.

Just block up under the shed so the rats can't get in. They'll soon find somewhere else to go.

Why is your mum so worried about a few rats in the garden? Rats are everywhere

Yes, sorry but you were unreasonable. Rats are everywhere, with or without bird feeders. If I was your parents, I'd get rid of current shed and build on new one on concrete base.

And that would be a great idea IF the Feeders were in OP's parents garden

Totally unreasonable.

If your parents had asked you to then it might have been different.

What do they think the rats are going to do, give them the plague?

Your parents are providing the perfect rat nesting habitat, so need to take responsibility. They could fill the space under the shed with sand. Are their bins secure? Do they have a compost heap? Do they grow flowers with nice seedheads?

your parents need to secure the shed, you can’t stop other people feeding their birds.

Yes it was unreasonable as you messaged them rather than spoke to them in person

One solution is to collect the chaff etc so:
Go to B&Q buy a cheap bucket drill holes on the sides to stop it collecting water and attach to the bottom of the feeder

https://www.diy.com/departments/orange-12l-bucket/5059340100364_BQ.prd

Add eyes and a funny face stickets for the children to create art

‘Was it unreasonable to reach out?’

God OP you were not ‘reaching out’ you were trying to dictate what they do in their own garden. That’s utterly batshit. I understand mentioning it once but they took the feeders down then decided they wanted to have them so put them back. What makes you think you have any right to ‘tell them once again’? You should be embarrassed for thinking you can control what they do.

What a massive over reach. So rude of you. The neighbours have every right to have bird feeders. There are rats all over the place. You need to manage your mother's stress, not try to dictate to their neighbours how they live in their own space.