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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Rats in garden

61 replies

Moonbun · 18/07/2022 17:30

Found evidence of rat holes in the garden. Both of our neighbours have chickens which I think encourages them. How would you deal with it? DH is really against using poison. I just want them gone

OP posts:
ForestofD · 18/07/2022 20:03

Firstly, I seem to remember the rat man telling me it is the responsibility of each landowner to ensure the control of rats. (I'm not totally sure but worth checking) So your neighbours need to take action. If it gets really bad, the council may intervene.

It's worth talking to them- a lot of chicken owners fill up the food, say once a week. Plenty gets spilt by the chickens and the rats go after that. An easy change is to top up the feeder on a daily basis, with what they need. It will also been in their interest because the rats will take eggs, along with all the other issues. It's a bit of a pain but worth it.

Our council deals with ours for a set fee- they keep coming until it's dealt with. You can put traps down but rats are creatures of habit- if you just shove a trap in their walkway, they will avoid it.

Trim back undergrowth, bush etc- so you can expose the holes. They don't like this. There are noise deterrents you can get but I've never used one of those- worth an investigation maybe? The quicker you take action the better- they can have many litters in a year. They have taken my live chicks before, so take extra care if you have young birds.

Hlglu56 · 18/07/2022 20:13

The council came out and got rid of ours. They put some poison down. It cost £45 for 3 visits I think but this was a few years back.

We have a dog and young children so couldn’t risk them getting ill. There are a lot of diseases in their urine. A few years on I see the odd one but nothing like before, I was seeing them everyday, even in broad daylight.

MrsMAgain · 18/07/2022 20:16

A man with a good ratting terrier is your new best friend. Please do not use poison.

Knittedfairies · 18/07/2022 20:19

Call your local council's Pest Control Officer. Rats got into our house through a redundant drain that wasn't capped off when we had an extension built. They had the audacity to die in the roof space of the downstairs toilet; the smell was horrendous...

ilovemydogandmrobama2 · 18/07/2022 20:22

peanut butter and a trap worked well.

Nephilim77 · 18/07/2022 20:25

We had a massive infestation in our garden, due to a neighbour keeping chickens. All the other neighbours suffered, no one could sit out in their own gardens because of it and the pest control guy actually said it was the worst domestic infestation he had ever seen apart from farms. Worryingly, he stated if you are seeing loads during the day, which we were, night time were be a whole other horrifying level. He also said that it was just a matter of time before they end up in the houses. I was very concerned about deadly Weils disease which they spread through them constantly urinating which can be fatal to humans and animals. Also worth noting, if you keep dogs, rats are also attracted to their faeces as a food source. Grim, isn’t it? I didn’t believe this until I saw them eating it in the neighbouring garden! Residents have a legal obligation to keep their gardens vermin free, and if animal food is not being contained or cleaned up daily, the environmental officer will issue enforcement notices immediately. Thankfully the neighbours got rid of the chickens, and the problem went away, but I was prepared to use whatever means necessary to eradicate them whether copious amounts of industrial strength poison and/or gas powered traps or even call the environmental officer to enforce the neighbours.

Itstank · 18/07/2022 20:26

We had evidence of rats in our loft when we moved in. The whole area stank and clearing it up was beyond disgusting. Maybe those feed them would be happy though?!🤔

OurChristmasMiracle · 18/07/2022 20:30

I would recommend asking someone to come in with a couple of ferrets and sorting out the food source- no poison and natures own way of culling the rat population although I know not all people like ferrets either.

user1471541711 · 18/07/2022 20:37

It’s cruel to use poison

devildeepbluesea · 18/07/2022 20:44

Have a look at ratting terriers on YouTube. Absolutely amazing.

MrsMAgain · 18/07/2022 20:48

Please don't take up the suggestion to shoot them unless you are an excellent shot. An injured animal will suffer, like poisoning.

BMW6 · 18/07/2022 20:56

Borrow my terrier. He has killed 4 .

RebOrHon · 18/07/2022 21:01

goodnaturetraps.co.uK

HoundHound · 18/07/2022 21:13

It's not just rats you will kill if you use poison.

nildesparandum · 18/07/2022 21:14

I had houses being built in the field behind my house.When the land was being dug unto lay the drains the rats came up in their droves.Also the council refused to empty the bins as the waggon could not get access.So the rats had parties invited their mates around resulting in loads baby rats.They were running all over place.

Sweatingmytiitsoff · 18/07/2022 21:21

girlfriend44 · 18/07/2022 18:31

Rats and other animals are part of the world. We have to share the planet with animals. Why do we have the right to poison them.

We don't poison human beings who do vile things to others, so why should we poison an animal who is just living its life.

Yeyyy let's just let rats take priority. If OP was going out of her way to kill rats yes it would be cruel.

It's a different matter when rats are surrounding your home. Have you ever had them in your house? It's really noisy, frightening at night, they breed and difficult to get rid of. Rats are a health hazard they will chew through anything It's dangerous!

Sweatingmytiitsoff · 18/07/2022 21:23

@Itstank I had the exact same issue. My loft was in my bedroom too!

girlfriend44 · 18/07/2022 21:26

Sweatingmytiitsoff · 18/07/2022 21:21

Yeyyy let's just let rats take priority. If OP was going out of her way to kill rats yes it would be cruel.

It's a different matter when rats are surrounding your home. Have you ever had them in your house? It's really noisy, frightening at night, they breed and difficult to get rid of. Rats are a health hazard they will chew through anything It's dangerous!

Sounds like some humans 🤔

Mollymalone123 · 18/07/2022 21:32

We have chickens but we don’t have rats anymore because we always put their food away at night.You need to speak with the neighbours as they must be aware they have them.also anyone we putting out bird seed will be attracting rats as well.
take the food source away and they will find it elsewhere

using poison won’t just kill the rats but could kill cats-dogs foxes etc who may eat their carcass

thankyouforthesun · 18/07/2022 23:08

We have chickens but no rat problem on our land. There are rats on neighbouring fields which I can't control because neighbours have bird feeders etc but as others have said chickens themselves don't attract rats, it's their food. If your neighbours will control that then the rat problem solves itself as they will go away to a new food source.

We used to have a terrible rat problem and at one point used poison. If anyone in your area has pets or children I would not consider doing that. Locked boxes don't make it safe. Rats carry it from the box to their nest and can drop it on the way. We had a pet eat it and die an agonising death. It could just as easily have been a child, whether ours or someone else's. You cannot control the rats dropping the poison once they pick it up. If you are going to kill them consider pets, wildlife and children and use safer methods such as shooting, terrier man and digging up the nest. However given the nest is not in your house and you know what's attracting them it should be easy enough to persuade them to move on.

What you need is proper rat proof feeders. Well your neighbours do anyway. The best ones are quite expensive, they are called grandpa's original feeders but they save money on feed as you aren't feeding the rats as well. Also all the feed should be kept in stainless steel bins not just in sacks in a shed ready for the rats to eat. Hopefully your neighbours are willing to discuss this seriously with you. As a minimum they should be putting their feeders away at night, if they insist on using the cheap plastic ones they need to go in the steel bins or in the neighbour's house.

We found during the chicken lockdown when our chickens were bored we gave them too many treats and they weren't eating them all, so the rats were coming out at night and finishing them off. Now we're much more cautious and give very limited treats, if any, so they are always finished before chicken bedtime.

Rats like sheltered secret runs and to travel around undisrupted, so the more you can rearrange your woodshed, tidy your garden, dig in their nest, dig your compost bin, clear any old rubbish and wood you may have laying around which shelters them (ideally get neighbours to do so too) - they will feel less safe and want to move on to live somewhere more secure.

1stTimeMama · 19/07/2022 00:17

This is truly grim reading. I would sell my house if there were rats in the garden, not that anyone would want to buy it, and now I'm worried because next door have chickens!
Nothing terrifies me more than rats!

QueenCamilla · 19/07/2022 02:07

Anything unwanted coming into my house is fair game to exterminate.
Just bought a house that had been uncared for and empty for a while.

I've killed flies, spiders and some poison seems to have eliminated the slug problem. No mice, surprisingly but there are numerous cats frequenting my garden and so I give them a couple of Dreamies now and again!

Some people on mumsnet are strangely pro-spider life. After watching one spider eat another it seems that spiders themselves would disagree 😂

InChocolateWeTrust · 19/07/2022 04:17

Get a cat. We have two and they are extremely effective at rapidly controlling any hint of a rodent.

Sweatingmytiitsoff · 19/07/2022 05:50

1stTimeMama · 19/07/2022 00:17

This is truly grim reading. I would sell my house if there were rats in the garden, not that anyone would want to buy it, and now I'm worried because next door have chickens!
Nothing terrifies me more than rats!

Its part of the environment moving house won't really solve it tbh. Pest control would tell you the same. It's another thing when they want to be a lodger in your home though!

Sweatingmytiitsoff · 19/07/2022 05:56

girlfriend44 · 18/07/2022 21:26

Sounds like some humans 🤔

Honestly it sounds like an exaggeration but it literally sounds like humans. You'd have to have a rat problem to know the sound. Pest control said he went to a ladies home... she called the police to say someone was in her home.. they came and searched the loft and everything.

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