Rats in the garden

[Appleofmyeye05]

Can’t find a rodent/pest category so AIBU it is.

I’ve seen 4 rats in my garden and they seem to have taken shelter in between some sleeper logs that form a couple of steps in my garden, see photo.

I have been told they WILL without a doubt make their way into the house when the weather turns colder is this true?

I don’t have any openings apart from a plastic pipe that is the drain for my kitchen sink and washing machine and I’d say it’s about 2 inch wide and about 40 cm long but it has an angle in the pipe if you understand what I mean. Can they crawl up there?

I’ve put some poison down this afternoon, let my landlord know and also the council has been made aware but another neighbour.

Can I be doing anything else? Also I don’t have any food waste in my garden, all household waste is taken to the front of the house and put in the wheelie bin with the lid closed every single time. Next door has decking and the side has pretty long grass with a heap of bin bags at the top.

OP it's not inevitable that they'll come into your house, and if you make sure that all holes are filled or covered with rodent mesh then they can't.

Please don't kill them. Snap traps don't always kill them outright (I'm haunted by seeing one that clearly hadn't been ) and poisons are awful.

Thanks all for the advice.

A cat isn't always the answer! My cat sometimes brings live rodents into the house. More often than not, he'll catch and kill. However he'll sometimes lose interest and let them go So he's an excellent mouser, but doesn't always use it to good effect ...

Poison seems to make their blood go cold. I did feel sorry for the wee mouse I found dead in our winter hat/scarf box. I hadn't laid the poison but perhaps a neighbour did.

@kathrynjanewaykicksass

As I said we put bait in child and pet safe bait boxes who we have the key for. Again rat urine is highly dangerous And yes I'm an independent pest control tech of many years and the product works! I'm done here- rats are deadly pests not pets!

Millions of rat owners would disagree with you, there's a huge difference between a wildie and a pet.

"Mice and rats do urinate and defecate relatively often compared to some larger mammals. But they do have bladders and their sphincter muscles are not out of control."

They mark on purpose. My boys mark me and my bed and my husband all the time. Even wild rats have bladder control.

Sorry OP for derailing your thread just hate seeing misconceptions about rats being spread. Someone has to stand up for the furry potatoes

They can make their way into the property OP. I suspected some nesting in the garden shed as had spotted them running around the garden a few times amd going into the shed so kept my back door shut. We knocked down the shed over summer, didn't see any but found heaps of rat poo. I think they were just using the shed a toilet.

Anyway somehow they made their way into the property. They are very sneaky compared to mice, I didn't notice at first until I found a chewed packet of pasta in the cupboard. I did the biscuit test and after the third day it was gone. Then did the flour test and there were little footprints literally all over the floor but mainly concentrated around one side where the fridge etc is. We put some traps down smeared with peanut butter and sticky boards behind the kickboards. Found one. Not had any trouble since but I really suspect rats have tunnelled their way into our kitchen from next door (the wall where fridge is), as they also have a garden shed identical to ours (but filled with junk) which backs onto our kitchen extension. It's a bloody nightmare.

Cat's only hunt at all if their mother taught them how.

I know this seems to be a widespread perception, but I’ve always had cats, and the three most skilful and prolific hunters were acquired as kittens who had been separated from their mothers at an early age, and had no opportunity to learn any hunting skills from her.

The mother of the two hunters I have now was a feral cat, so maybe their instincts are stronger.

This is fucking terrible. Rats are considered pests from a human perspective. They are just animals. Some people keep them as pets. Some other animals can eat their poison too. This should be illegal

I have had rats who ate through my outside house wall - brick.

The rats in my garden/neighbours gardens stay under the sheds. No place I have ever lived has had indoor rats. Ensure your house has no access points and don't put food out for anything.

People near here are all worked up because someone saw a rat in the garden and are putting poison down. Potentially killing wildlife and pets.

We had a rat in our roof space a couple of years ago. It found a space under a roof tile and it must have reached the roof from a tree. We heard it come in, so noisy. It was caught in a rat trap fairly quickly.

We keep chickens and our garden is bordered by fields which the rats live in - now it's been cut they are looking at our garden for shelter.
Last time this happened, my husband put down poison in a bait box. The rats carried it info the chicken run and one of the chickens got it, which was pretty horrific.
We don't use poison at all now. We have a cat who is a fantastic hunter but unfortunately likes to bring their bodies in to eat. We don't think she'd bring a live rat in because they're vicious, we think she might play with mice but she needs to disable rats as soon as she gets close enough.
We also use snap traps and my husband shoots them if he sees them.