A large rat at the bird table this morning...

[UnwantedNewPet]

...do I need to do anything?

We've lived here for decades - very old house, rural area but not next-door to a farm or similar property likely to attract rats - and we've never seen a rat in all those years. We feed the birds daily and the table is very busy. We've seen a mouse or two at the bird table over the years, but as they've stayed outside it's not bothered us.

This morning, having braved the ice and snow to clear the table of snow, break the ice and put out some food and water, I watched from indoors to admire the usual rush of visitors. Except, under the bird table, came a large rat. I couldn't believe my eyes at first, and gave them a few blinks and a rub, and cleared the window of condensation - but no, there really was a rat. I watched as it made several trips back and forth, through some foliage and into the bottom of an old stone wall.

I've got mixed feelings. It's nature. I believe in living alongside nature peacefully, enjoying it, helping it or at least leaving it alone if at all possible. We live in the countryside, rats are to be expected. They say you're unknowingly never far from rats wherever you live, city, town or country. I'm guessing if there is one rat, there is more? Have they been here all along and we just haven't seen them, or have we got a newly arrived problem? Is it just the weather conditions forcing them to find food and they'll just disappear again? What, if anything, should we do? The obvious worry is it becoming a big infestation outside and the possibility of them coming inside.

NC - rat shame!

Probably the weather meant it struggled to find its usual food sources?

They're everywhere, you just don't normally notice. I'd really not worry about it unless you see it repeatedly, then I'd just stop feeding the birds and get the food locked away.

Realistically we all coexist with rats - we just rarely see them. That doesn't mean you have to put up with them, and it doesn't mean you have to kill them either.

I would probably avoid putting out anything for the birds that was rat-accessible. Try the feeders that stick onto windows or the hanging ones?

If you know that there is somewhere in your garden that they're living I'd try and disrupt that. Blocking holes in fences is also reasonably effective although they will climb them too. A neighbour of ours has lots of fruit trees so in the autumn the rats love it. We see them in the garden, almost exclusively as passers-by. They found a new route once we blocked some holes in the fences as apparently they are very much creatures of habit and don't like disruptions to their normal routes.

I would think, given your location, you're unlikely to be able to exterminate them. If they are keeping out of the way and not threatening the home then its probably best to discourage them but not get too worried.

Oh.. Live and let live I say. It is obviously hungry and keeps itself to itself the rest of the time.
I enjoy seeing wildlife in my garden even the ones we do not see such as rats and foxes and when it snows it is a lean time for all wildlife

We have the odd rat/mouse living in our old stone wall by the bird feeders. We have cats though and the rodents don't stay for long, always caught by one of the cats / frightened off maybe. The cats don't seem to bother with the birds but they are aware that there is occasionally a rodent in the hole in the wall so they seem to take it in turns to stalk the wall.

If it was one I've said I'd leave it if it wasn't causing any problems, but I don't have a fear of rats/mice. I might feel differently if I did

Yes, I agree the weather today probably isn't just a coincidence.

Live and let live really, it's unlikely to come into the house if it's a field rat. Just block off obvious entry points.

All usually welcome here too, @Anordinarymum - we don't mind the large birds, squirrels and odd mouse sharing the bird table at all, and we also enjoy the foxes and badgers. Not seen a hedgehog in recent years, sadly. I'd like to feel the same about rats, but...

@UnwantedNewPet

All usually welcome here too, *@Anordinarymum* - we don't mind the large birds, squirrels and odd mouse sharing the bird table at all, and we also enjoy the foxes and badgers. Not seen a hedgehog in recent years, sadly. I'd like to feel the same about rats, but...

I was walking the dog in a field near where my grandson lives and we came across a dead hedgehog. It had not been hit by a car and it was not old. It was dead though. I could only guess it had been poisoned by something and that is rather sad. You used to see loads of them dead on the roads at one point and that fate seems to have been replaced by squirrels where we live. I wish humans would stop interfering with wildlife.

Yes, I absolutely don't want to put poison down. Even the slugs are dealt with naturally by the badger and the snails by the birds.

Get rid of the bird feeder! It won't be one from experience, you're giving them a perfect source of food. Get fat balls very high up in trees and cages for the birds.

I'd hate to have to stop feeding the birds, @TheSpottedZebra - especially when they've come to rely on it and in the winter.

It might help to change from a bird table, as @ClaudiaWankleman suggests. We do have feeders - as well as the small birds, the mice, big birds and squirrels can still get to those - but I put out quite a lot on the bird table and under it too for the ground feeding birds.

I wonder if one of those tall poles with feeders and trays hanging off it might discourage rats, though they'd still get whatever falls on the floor. Or am I being naive - can rats climb those poles?!

Rats are no dirtier than any other wild creature unless they are living on human waste. These are rural rats eating a natural diet and no more likely to spread dirt and disease than the birds that you are also feeding .
Please don’t stop feeding the birds. if you have been feeding them regularly then you have populations that depend on your feeders. If you must stop then wean them off gradually as food supplies increase in the Spring.

Rats spread leptospirosis, which can be fatal to humans.

I use a mixture of poison, fenn traps and an air rifle.

To the PP - the reason there are far fewer hedgehogs is that badgers are no longer rare.

Reassuring to see the lack of bloodthirsty posts on mn. Agree, it needed it. They outnumber us 3 to 1 anyway. Just dont leave food out in the house for a while/seal the dog food so it's not encouraged indoors.

Rats can definitely climb those pole bird feeders. I have watched one do it with my own eyes!

To the pp, badgers are pretty put upon. Their usual food sources which they share with hedghogs are very affected by pesticides, hedgerow cutting and... Poisons.

A quick search just showed me that rats in the UK can spread 35 different diseases to humans. I only know people who have died of leptospirosis so god knows what “rural rats” are supposed to be. (Very rural here).

Badgers are the only foe a hedgehog faces in the UK (apart from cars).

@hennybeans

Rats can definitely climb those pole bird feeders. I have watched one do it with my own eyes!

Me too! We got rid of our hanging bird feeders after watching a swinging rat scrambling up and enjoying a feed!

Try to stop them getting to the food. Rats are a pest species in the countryside as much as in the city.

I wonder if one of those tall poles with feeders and trays hanging off it might discourage rats, though they'd still get whatever falls on the floor. Or am I being naive - can rats climb those poles?!

They can climb them.

But you can grease them liberally. Then it’s quite fun to watch them try!

I’d stop ground feeding if I were you.

Honestly id stop the bird feed now and disrupt where they are. Live and let live, until you think its a problem by which point it is a much bigger job to deal with. Its a hard no from me.

Rats are excellent climbers! I'm another who has seen them happily climb the poles.
Maybe stop scattering g food on the ground? Or just accept them as you accept other wildlife, if you don't want to put down poison (thankfully) and do the want to stop feeding the birds.

Something else to consider is that whilst chilli/capsaicin doesn't effect birds, mammals can all taste it. So you could try lacing your food with chilli powder as a deterrent. But that would also deter squirrels.

Hen2018 the reason for the decline in hedgehogs is the fragmentation and loss of their habitat and the increasing use of pesticides, including rodenticides.
Badgers are intra-guild predators of hedgehogs, so may cause local extirpation where badger populations are very dense, and will definitely have an impact on roaming behaviour and spreading into new territories.
However, badgers and hedgehogs have evolved and thrived in our countryside for an exceedingly long time, it's simply incorrect to believe that badgers are responsible for widespread hedgehog population crashes.