Theres a rat in me garden what am I ginna do?

[Florries]

He keeps popping out from under the shed at the bottom of the garden. In daylight too. Garden is tidy and we have a cat and a small dog. No obvious food sources I can see, seems like an odd place for Roland as we have the woods behind us.

Roland is huge! Size of a guinea pig I reckon.

Anyone have any experience of this? WIBU to use a rat trap? Worried about my cat/dog getting hurt. Don't want to use poison as DCat is a hunter. We get a lot of squirrels around here too so would rather not squish one by mistake by using one of those spring traps you see on Tom and Jerry.

Would a humane trap work? I've not had the pleasure of dealing with squatters before.

We had one in the spring. We called him Roland too! I didn’t want to kill him or put any poison down to be honest. I did a bit of research and found a website I’ll link to. Rats are ‘neophobic’ in that they hate change. So to remove him you have to change things. They need water, food and shelter. I followed the advice - removed food sources such as the birds feeders (cheeky git climbed up and ripped open a fat ball in broad daylight!). Rearranged the garden as best I could. Squirted down where I had seen him with white vinegar and bicarb. Never saw him again! Here’s the link, it’s a gardener’s world page

I agree - no poison. You don't want that getting into the food chain (whether its' DCat or your friendly neighbourhood owl).

If you're not sure about spring traps because of squirrels (although I admit I've never seen a squirrel get caught by one, but I don't think it would be impossible if you have a lot of them) then I suggest asking a friend / neighbour with a suitable terrier or an air rifle.

If you want to go down the non-lethal route, then I suggest lots of boiling water and bleach under the shed to discourage him from coming back.

We had a rat in our garden a while back.
Sweet looking little critter, but not really what you want in your garden.
We bought a (quite big, humane) trap from amazon and used some cooked chicken as bait. Rats are very clever and will avoid the trap for a couple of days, but once it becomes familiar to them they will take the bait.
Our little visitor was relocated to the woods, hopefully to live out a long happy life

Some good suggestions here: www.gardenersworld.com/plants/rats-in-the-garden/

Rats are common though and don't usually cause a big problem - they mostly go unseen in the night! I've seen only seen one ever in my garden (dead) so they're obviously around but not that you'd notice. According to The Wildlife Trusts, "The brown rat has a bad reputation, but it mostly lives side-by-side with us without any problems."

I’ve got a rat - lives in the big compost bin. I absolutely can’t kill him - apart from anything else that would kill whatever was unfortunate enough to eat the corpse. We decided that we’d just live and let live. Occasionally the dog has a go but the rat is too clever! Anyway he doesn’t cause any problems and sooner or later something else will get him.
Don’t kill the rat!

I'd quite like seeing that. I don't know how dirty they are though - is it a myth? Do they bring disease? I think if it's just one it's quite nice, would be concerned about more though.

OK, I just googled it. Not sure I'd want that in a garden now :(. I like the idea of rearranging everything to move it on.

Just drink red red wine 🍷

I’ll get my coat...

You should move.

They're classed as vermin so if you were to catch one with a humane trap, technically you shouldn't release it.

I 2nd the neophobia thing. They hate newness. So move stuff round constantly, and lay new scent trails. Could you take brushings from your pets and put them under the shed? Can you see if they've made rat runs under there? We also had some success with using extra hot chili powder to get rid of a rat. It's not poisonous to mammals, but they don't like it.

Mostly though, you need to get rid of food sources, so make sure your and neighbours' bins are secured, and ensure that there's no bird food put out for a while.

Had the same problem in the summer. Spent a fortune on rat boxes and bait which did precisely nothing It was running back an forward under my shed so it looked as if it had a nest under there. In desperation I phoned our local council pest control. Bloke came out, described where the local rat run was, set bait, found the culprit dead on our lawn a week later. Problem solved, no charge. I am not sentimental about rats. They are vermin, a health hazard and I really can’t understand how people are ok with them running about their garden.

Phone the council they’ll get rid of it. They love bird food/ tables etc, mention to neighbours who may stop feeding birds nearby, also try putting a hose pipe down it’s hole and try to flood it out so it decides to move on

Neighbors on both sides feed the birds (and the many squirrels) so that must be his biggest food source! Changing the garden round is fairly impossible as it's pretty much bare! All tidied away for winter so short, cut lawn and all my plants are in pots right at the top of the garden far away from the shed. It's all just fence, patio and grass.

Tomorrow will investigate inside the shed to see if Roland has got in. Eek. Will also try the hosepipe, bleach and chili powder method! DCat spent hours hiding by the shed to see Roland but gave up when he refused to come out.

Currently too afraid to Google how bad it is to have a rat so close by like a PP did!

Rats are not solitary creatures. You have more than one. They spread disease. Killing is the only realistic way forward unless you want your cat or dog attacked.
I would suggest-
Bait boxes under shed and around garden perimeter.
Seal shed floor. There will be probably be a hole that they can get in. They can gnaw through wood easily. We had our new shed fitted with a metal mesh underfloor and up sides as dog food supplies are kept there.
Throw out any windfalls as they are an important food source,

Oh got gods sake just pay a local teenager to shoot it, or offer the opportunity for free on the local ‘MyTown’Facebook group.

Sky-blue

It will never be just one. Rats aren't solitary creatures. They breed incredibly quickly and have large families that go on to have more large families.

I live in a small terrace and we've had two major infestations, fortunately outside, under decking and sheds. One neighbour had to throw away camping equipment when they got into her shed and another lost her freezer when they gnawed through the wiring. They were even seen perching on a recycling box, licking the yoghurt pots.

It isn't a myth about them being a health hazard. Their urine can carry a disease transferable to humans which causes major health problems.

Op - ring environmental health. You may have to pay a fee, but they will deal with the problem and advise you how to prevent a recurrence, even visiting neighbours who may be causing it with bird tables and unsecured bins.

He won't hurt you and the fact that you have a dog and cat will stop him trying to get indoors. Everyone has rats in the back garden at times, unless you're overrun, they do no harm.

However - if you have a cat flap you might find your cat will catch him/her and bring him in. Dead is one thing but if still alive and running around there will be havoc. As you can probably tell, I have some experience of just that!

I am aware of how mad this will sound, but sriracha sauce is your friend.

Go to your local ethnic supermarket and buy the BIGGEST bottles you can find - it comes in 1L bottles, if you know where to look - and then go MAD with it round your garden: every wee hole or nook or crannie you can find.

It's not toxic, but beasties don't like it and, as PPs have said, rats ain't stupid and if they don't like their living quarters, they'll move.

Mothballs repel more than moths - they also repel most territorial animals. Chuck some of them around the garden - especially in wood piles, sheds, hidey holes, etc. That might help.

I had this before. I fed them pasta sometimes.

Yes they can spread diseases, but so do lot of other British wildlife, squirrels included. Rats are potentially a problem because they might make their way into your house, but you have a cat and a dog so I'd be surprised if that happened. In your garden, they're no more a problem than squirrels.

Obviously if you live in close proximity to other people, they probably wouldn't want you encouraging them.

If you really want rid, maybe you could put a scratching post, or something else likely to be covered in your cat's scent, near where they're living.

Oh god, ring Rentokil. We had this in the summer. There was a load of them living under the shed - the twats ate half the floor away.

They’re grim, disease-ridden and audacious. You don’t want them biting your pets, either.

Hate the little feckers 😷

I had one...i bought a humane trap from Amazon...baited it with peanut butter... a couple of days later, Roland was released into the local park and never seen again

I'm amazed they are coming out in daylight. We get them as we have sheep and horses kept nearby but they don't come out in daylight, we have just sometimes caught them on night vision cameras. Maybe there's a lot of them.

Get someone to shoot the vermin with an air rifle.