Rats in next doors garden

[Lorddenning1]

We are currently having building work at the moment so we don't live at our new house, I was looking out the window from the new extension and saw a massive rat in next doors garden, she has a lot of dogs (she breeds them) so my heart was in my mouth thinking her dogs were going to get injured, as they are only small dogs, but luckily the rat vanished when they came outside. I mentioned this to the builder and he said he has seen loads of them next door and he went to speak to her. Turns out, she knows she has them and has had them for a while, she calls them her pets and doesn't want to get a pest controller in as she doesn't want to harm any animals
I don't want to move into my new house with lots of rats living next door as I have children and also a dog myself. I spoke to my local council who said it's not their problem and I need to speak to citizens advice as it's a legal problem and I will need to take her to court for an enforcement order. Surely this isn't right, isn't it an environmental problem, any advice on what to do?

@Lorddenning1

i dont think she is an official breeder. she has around 4/5 dogs, but at certain times of the year she has around 10, so im assuming they are puppies, as the noise is so bad, they bark every time you park at the front. i dont hear her telling them off etc. we have been in the house sometimes and we cant hear the tv as they are so loud with the barking. we havent said anything to her as we knew we was starting building work and we didnt want any bad blood in case she objected with Planning etc. the house belonged to my OH, and i have never actually lived there yet, but we will be soon, all of us.

If she's breeding more than 3 litters a year, she needs a licence. And it's really anti-social to be doing that in a residential area. All the dog breeders I have known live rurally.

The noise must be horrendous, and I'd definitely report it as noise nuisance if/when you move in.

Just FYI re poison (and it's a bit late now but still). Last year I came across 5 dead hedgehogs in my DM's garden. Just looked like they'd keeled over then further up the garden I found a half eaten rat corpse

I posted about it here confused, and the general consensus was that the rat had been poisoned, died in the garden and the hedgehogs had eaten it

I think you should seriously reconsider if this the house for you tbh.

Next door is full of rats, which you obviously have a massive problem with and you say the garden is a mess and she has so many dogs you can’t even hear your tv over the noise.

This isn’t going to work out well OP.

The rats and mess and dogs are going to drive you absolutely round the bend and they’ll be no way of fixing it.

Killing the rats will be the end of an amicable neighbour relationship, leaving the rats you won’t have an amicable relationship either as you’ll be so resentful of her.
Reporting her to the council wont stop her breeding, she’ll just get a licence.

Is it really worth the stress?

sadly i did have 2 dogs, a full jack Russell and a a jack Russell poodle cross. the poodle cross is soft and has never killed anything small and furry, although she does like to scrag a dressing gown rope around with some force. the full jack Russell would of been great to have, she loved catching mice, seemed to be ingrained into her. sadly she didnt make the new house, as i was sad as i wanted her to retire in a bigger garden with grass, she only passed away in May :(

@ExtraOnions that is good advice, thank you

@Powertothepetal up to now we havent said anything to her because we wanted to keep her sweet, as we knew we were planning building work, but once im in the house, the gloves will come off, i dont care if the relations are soured and she ends up hating us, we have spent alot of money on the house, and im not letting Rats loud digs spoil it!

dogs*

My tenants had an issue with rats getting into the attic possibly via drainpipes and they were traced from coming from the bird feeders next door.

Tenant involved Environment services and they wrote to the neighbours telling them to remove the feeders, and have ability to prosecute if not actioned.

A Jack Russell would be a far better as a rat-killer than poison (other creatures might eat poisoned rats). Rat killing is what they were bred for and is as natural to them as fetching is to a gun dog.

My dad tells old farming tales of Jack Russells (and farm-hands with their trousers carefully tied shut at the ankle) clearing out barns at harvest times. Grim - but apparently all part of growing food.

If you moved in next door with a terrier - the rats might well move out!

up to now we havent said anything to her because we wanted to keep her sweet, as we knew we were planning building work, but once im in the house, the gloves will come off, i dont care if the relations are soured and she ends up hating us, we have spent alot of money on the house, and im not letting Rats loud digs spoil it!
You say that now.
I’d urge you to really, really think and reconsider.
Especially as you have children and this is your ‘family’ home.

I have had bad neighbours and with some people there’s no stopping how far they will go.

Having young children didn’t stop my neighbours throwing broken glass over my fence.

The rats actually are unlikely to pose much health risk to you and you’ll never succeed in killing them all anyway.
We are never far from a rat and poison has disastrous consequences further afield, like killing hedgehogs, which are now an endangered species.

You won’t get far with the noisy dogs either and if they are stressing you out now before you’ve even moved, well, you are going to be driven absolutely bonkers when you are living there permanently with tired children woken up by dogs barking and you and DH unable to relax and decompress of an evening because of said dogs barking.

It may well cause arguments and tension between you and DH aswell, living with our bad neighbours certainly did.

It’s up to you obviously but I suspect if you move in you’ll soon regret it tbh.

Dont use poison. It kills indiscriminately.

I work in a wildlife rescue and we see lots of birds, hedgehogs, foxes etc that come in having eaten the poison or eaten a rat thats consumed it.

Even if your pets or next doors pets don't eat the poison (which they would be likely to do especially if mixed with animal fat as described above!) Then they are likely to eat something contaminated. Lots of dogs and cats end up very poorly or dead from eating dead rats laying around that are poisoned, or catching said rats.

Its also worth noting that a lot of the sonic deterents also bother cats and dogs.

If you go down the trap route then avoid glue traps and you must check them regularly and be aware that its often a painful death and other wildlife like hedgehogs get caught

Realistically if its near fields and a water source then you are likely to have an ongoing battle as you won't be able to eradicate them, it will just be about keeping them out of the house

Just seen you back on to fields. I do appreciate how difficult it is as I also back on to fields.
Unfortunately it will be a case of managing them rather than exterminating as they will be living in the fields

I had rats in my garden & I really didn’t want to poison them, but wanted them gone.

I also have 2 jack Russel cross dogs, i don’t think they even noticed the rats were there!

I googled what else I could do, and it was suggested I change the environment. They were camped out by my bird table, with lots of tunnels under the lawn near it and they’d been seen climbing up it. So I got rid of my table, filled in the tunnels and they left. They also don’t like lavender plants so I planted some of those near their home.

My mum had some in her garage and she was the same as your neighbour, didn’t want to hurt them, saw them as cute. Drove me mad! Finally she did get someone in to clear her garage of all the rubbish and he kicked them all out. He didn’t kill any, just removed their homes and again, bird seed.

You could plant some lavender plants (there are other plants they don’t like too, these are all I can remember right now) on your side of the fence to try and keep them out.

Contact Environmental Health at the council and tell them the rats are running around in her garden, in yours and in the street because they will be, looking for food. The council should make her do something or do it for her.

Rats are usually quite shy and it is true we are never far from one. But you've seen them and I wouldn't rest thinking one could bite my child. If the council still refuse contact your MP.

I dont mean to scare you but it is never just one.

Dont use poison. It kills indiscriminately.

I work in a wildlife rescue and we see lots of birds, hedgehogs, foxes etc that come in having eaten the poison or eaten a rat thats consumed it.

Even if your pets or next doors pets don't eat the poison (which they would be likely to do especially if mixed with animal fat as described above!) Then they are likely to eat something contaminated. Lots of dogs and cats end up very poorly or dead from eating dead rats laying around that are poisoned, or catching said rats

Totally agree @Throwthecam.
@Lorddenning1 please don't use poison. You say you have a dog and children, but what exactly are you concerned about with having rats around?

Video or ask your builder to do. Go back to the council with it.

Your neighbour throwing food out is a problem. Bird feeders can be a problem. Backing onto rural land is a necessary problem. Uncovered drains and pipes are a problem. Uncontained compost heaps which aren't tossed regularly are a problem (though I've never seen a longer or fatter grass snake on my old compost heap).

Don't poison. You could probably kill owls, hedgehogs and your own dog.

I work in a wildlife rescue and we see lots of birds, hedgehogs, foxes etc that come in having eaten the poison or eaten a rat thats consumed it.

Just echoing this to not use poison please.

Your dog and cat will be the best deterrents. You could also put up some owl boxes on your house and they'll decimate the numbers nicely 🦉

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/how-you-can-help-birds/nestboxes/nestboxes-for-owls-and-kestrels/

We had a pest controller in and he went round to next door and explained that the dry food they left out all day for the outdoor dogs to eat, was being eaten by rats. He advised them not to leave food out and they were happy to comply. We don't have rats now.

Some idiot near us put rat poison down and my neighbours lovely dog ate a dead rat, the poor dog died a very painful death as did the rat. It takes 2 weeks for rats to die after eating poison. You say you have children and a dog then think really hard if you want any of them to go the same way.

Be really careful with poisoning them yourself. Unless you get the dose correct you could just end up feeding them rather than killing them.
My parents had rats in their garden and they ended up getting in the loft - total nightmare. I would call the council and again and push for better advice.

Just want to agree with everyone saying not to use poison. My cat died after eating poison and it was really awful :(

It's just part of the local wildlife and it sounds like you will be living in the countryside so you'll just have to get used to it. As long as they're not coming into your house I don't understand the problem.

Poison is a horrible way to kill things btw. Don't be that person.

I live in a semi rural area which makes it hard to eradicate mice and rats when there’s enough to keep them in the area but so much space to make narrowing down where exactly they come from a real problem. I’ve got other animals so I don’t really want poison down anyway. I’m a veteran of the war of attrition with the little shits. If you have a neighbour that doesn’t care about them and who will be doing nothing to deter them, then poison in your garden will be utterly pointless and possibly dangerous to other wildlife or domestic pets. What you have to do is make your space utterly unappealing to them so they simply don’t bother coming in. This means:
1 Clean and tidy garden - no rubbish piles or unused areas
2 Make sure you are in and around all areas of it often, moving things things around for example - rats do not like change, so moving tables chairs etc is a good thing
3 Keep vegetation along walls/fences low so there’s no hiding whilst they navigate the border (they like to run along edges for safety)
4 No food source whatsoever IE No unsecured rubbish bins, no compost heap, no pet food in garden (don’t feed your dog out there or leaves bones etc, no bird feeders
5 No water source IE make sure all drains are secure with cement and chicken wire etc, no water butts, no leaking taps, no pond, no bird bath, no dog bowls or sick like where even the tiniest bit of water/dew can collect
6 No hiding place - do not have decking!!!
I promise this approach works. If there’s nothing to attract them, they won’t bother coming to your garden. And pretty quickly. Poisoning the ones that come to your garden will do nothing if they’re constantly breeding next door.

Stuff not sick !!!!