There's a XXX in my garden! Warning.

[DottyBlue2]

It has a tail. Don't read any further if you don't like this sort of thing.

We keep chickens which is like a personal invitation for rats to move in. They’ve never ventured in the house (to my knowledge) and they don’t bother me too much. We have rat traps down which occasionally gets one but I work on the assumption that there are loads of them and they breed like, er rats, so there will always be new ones arriving.

For you, I wouldn’t worry too much and it would be likely the rats were there before the cafe opened. Lots of hand washing after being in the garden and, as a previous poster mentioned, consider getting a terrier! The rats will soon move out then

Pip xx

Get a length of plastic pipe and place the rat poison inside, and put it in the hedge or somewhere. The rat will happily go into it, but cats etc can't get at it.

Do you keep rabbits in the garden?

Great suggestions there. No, there is no extractor fan as it's a Grade II listed building.

Am off to the supermarket - back later 🐀

A greasy spoon that searches pheasant?

I thought in London you were never more than 6ft away from a rat?

We had a couple living under our garden shed years ago, they'd come from the farm across the way. My mother was washing up one day, looked out the window and thought 'bloody hell that's a big squirrel'. It was rattus rattus. She yelled 'rat' and our fox terrier flew out and got both of them. Flung them in the air snapping their necks, then she just left them there, after a couple of sniffs. A fairly humane end i think.

Get a dog/cat or bring a friend's dog/cat round.

I'd much prefer rats to roaches

Call Environmental Health, if it’s only opened recently EH may not yet be aware it’s there. Definitely tell them about the rats, and mention the pheasants too, doesn’t sound like he’s quite following the rules on wild game either.

Oh and the following year i saw a rat in next door's bunny run, with two bunnies. I told her i'd seen a rat snacking on the bunnies' food, she didn't care.

I didn't point out to her that they'd kill her rabbits or that it could easily jump into her open kitchen door and spread piss and germs all over he house with 3 dc.

It's not like you posted a photo of it taking a shit in your Sunday dinner

😂😂😂

My pest control man (yes, I have my own personal one; that's how bad the mouse problem in my old house was) said only ever to panic when you find a dead mouse or rat with its head missing or that hasn't died of 'old age' (not sure how one can tell).

That means there is an even bigger rat somewhere...

My dad used to actually chase rats around our attic with a hammer in the 80s.

But, it could be worse. I once had an infestation of bats in my garage.

Happily , my mouser , who is pretty efficient , ahs caught voles, shrews, bats and birds in our new neighbourhood - but no sign of rats.

I am disappointed, I was expecting you to say there was an Elderly Korean Lady in your garden in cosplay, hence the tail.

I feel for you OP. You have two issues: smells and rats. Both are intolerable. I suggest you maintain complaints to the council about both.

We keep chickens which is like a personal invitation for rats to move in. They’ve never ventured in the house (to my knowledge) and they don’t bother me too much. We have rat traps down which occasionally gets one but I work on the assumption that there are loads of them and they breed like, er rats, so there will always be new ones arriving

My neighbours have chickens and a cockerel. I have rats in my garden as a result and I'm not happy.

We keep chickens too and get rats in the garden, especially in the chicken run. We block up holes as and when we find them and our cats keep them under control most of the time so we don't stress too much about them.

In fact #1 cat is now known as Rufus Ratslayer since he caught King Rat (who was probably actually Queen Rat as there have been a lot less around since!)

Here's a picture of said monster, with DH in shot for scale.....

Urgh, I hate rats! I saw one running down the gutter in broad daylight once. It was huge! There must be thousands of the bloody things running around underneath our feet all the time. Gross. I would call in pest control OP and also the health inspector for the cafe.

Oh Yamababe that's massive! Your cats must be very brave to take on something that size.

We live next door to a grain dryer, so the rats are well fed and huge. It didn't stop them digging under my fence to build a next under my apple tree.

We bought this stuff and dug a 3 ft deep trench all around our (thankfully) small garden and buried it, with another 2 foot above ground level pinned to the fence. Then we shot every rat that was trapped inside our 'compound'. Never seen another in the 4 years the mesh has been in place. Our neighbours are plagued though, despite owning cats.

I have memories of a rat running over my feet trying to get away from the terrier.

Posh restaurants that serve pheasant can use loads of grease and have poor hygiene standards too. Not quite sure what Game chips are, but presumably they are cooked in a deep fryer.?

Holy shit Yambabe that is one big mother of a rat.

I had mice in my old house and it scared the shit out of me to start with. DH was working away for a spell so I had to man up and deal with it by myself. I got very nonchalant after the first 20 or so that I disposed of.
I used to sit alone in the evenings once the DD's were in bed waiting for the sound of springing mouse traps! Then I would have to get my serial killer rubber gloves on and get rid of the corpse.
They went mad for nutella, the little shits had their own jar.
Go round the outside of your house and make sure you block up any holes you can see. Don't leave your door open and unattended.
May the force be with you.

I can only assume that you are in the Isle of Man if you are unable to say rat. They will never say that word due to superstition.

I wouldn't get a cat though. The cat will catch and kill the rat and then bring said rat in the house to show you the lovely present they have brought you.

The cafe should have a pest control contract ( I run a cafe in a rural area , and we have the Bug Man [ as I like to call home ] visit every 2 months , and I only need to phone him with a problem and he comes round and deals with it )
Rats are everywhere though

Get yourself a terrier. Will sort out the rats

I can confirm this - people think cats are best for vermin, but I can promise you that a terrier - any type, but especially a plummer terrier, or a jack russell or patterdale or lakeland will have that rat, and most likely dig out the nest and slaughter the next generation. Terriers are amazing little butchers!

(and, if your garden isn't totally secure, the restaurant will also learn to close their door or lose most of tomorrow night's dinners - terriers can jump really high

I can confirm this, too- out westie, old and chubby as she was still managed to get onto the dining room table.

she said bitterly, having lost half a cake that was definitely, definitely safe on the worktop)

I lost an entire ROAST DUCK to the slavering jaws of an obese bull terrier who pretended he could hardly walk, let alone jump. I'd just brought it out of the oven - doorbell went - I pushed it to the back of the worktop -came back after less than 5 minutes and all there was was a trail of grease.

That duck was RED HIOT, and that bloody dog had managed to eat nearly all of it. How he didn't die from internal immolation I do not know. And he had the bones and everything. ]angry]

I had a big rat splashing about in our downstairs toilet bowl. I thought it was an urban myth that they can navigate a u-bend, but sadly it wasn't. I thought I'd be heroic, but disappointingly I shat myself, wedged the door shut with the piano stool and ran out of the house to call my DH (also now known as Brave Ratslayer).

Don't get a patterdale. Very cute looking but total buggers to train

nicky I would have left the house and never come back.