AIBU to want to kill the rats

[ratstails]

I have included an image because I knew its obligatory for AIBU. This is a combination of a neighbour issue and a rat issue so open to advice and input on either.
We live rurally in quite an old house. Next door is another old house with a huge garden and an outbuilding that forms part of our boundary (red square), the outbuilding has attracted rats for as long as we've lived here. Until about 6 months ago the neighbors where a lovely old couple and between us we dealt with any rats moving into the outbuilding quickly with posion, blocking holes and on a couple of occasions when things got bad a pest control company.
Usually it would be a problem only a few times a year. The old couple downsized and the house was bought by a buy to let landlord, new neigbours moved in and seemed friendly enough we've had no issues until a month ago when I started to see rats running up and down the outbuilding wall again.
I went over to tell them and explained how this is usually resolved and they said rats in the building didn't bother them as they have no intention of using the building and they didn't want to put poison down. Since then the number of have rats has escalated, my office looks out over the building and everyday I see multiple rats coming out from under the roof, down the wall and into my garden. Neighbours are still refusing to do anything, I have offered to pay for the posion, put it in the roof myself, pay a professional pest control company to come sort it. They just keep saying its their property and they aren't bothered, of course they aren't because they can't actually see the building from their house and don't use that part of the garden.
Its really awful, I can't go in my garden without worrying about the wee and poo they leave behind, I can't sit at my desk without getting distracted by 10+ rats running down the wall and its really only a matter of time before they end up getting into my house despite me checking for holes, chew marks etc. everyday.
I am pretty sure I ANBU but perhaps I am.

I was going to suggest a .22 air rifle. Our neighbour’s shed backs onto our garden. I kept telling them rats were nesting underneath it and coming into our garden. Our garden was a mess of rat holes and I couldn’t put out feed for the birds.
The neighbours just said ‘they don’t bother us so we won’t do anything’
I bought an air rifle and shot them from an upstairs window. It’s surprisingly easy once you get the sights right.
I put the bagged carcasses in their bin.

One or two rats maybe. An entire infestation? Not a chance a single cat would remotely keep up with that. For every one our cat catches, there are 20 more that got away.

We stick blocks out, down burrows when
we can find them but if you
don’t have access and they are breeding they may carry suitably placed blocks back to the burrows.

You are being extremely unreasonable to use poison in a rural area. Not only is it very cruel (the animal that eats it slowly, internally, bleeds to death) but once it has eaten the poison, the rat might well enter the food chain itself - thus poisoning owls, birds of prey etc. Put "snap traps" with bait on your own land and ignore the critters that are not on your land. We have a family of rats live under a shed (also very rural) but they have been there for years and haven't ever been a problem so we leave them to it.

If you poison them aren’t you going to end up with a bunch of rotting rat corpses all over the place…. 🤢I’m with @sophiasnail .
You need an end game, you will become obsessed/consumed otherwise. Surely you can’t keep poisoning them constantly, with them breeding as fast as you kill them.

Agree with above .

Poison kills far more than the rats .

Use snap traps on your property and then leave it be . If your neighbour doesn't mind them in their property, leave them to it .

Poison kills wildlife that's already endangered. Hedgehogs are going to be extinct within 30 years . Just use snap traps . They'll soon learn where they can and can't go - rats are very intelligent and sociable . I had them in my garden once - never tried to get in so I left them alone.

You can borrow my dog for a week. He's killed 6 rats, about a dozen mice and one stupid pigeon.

He's a terrier and rat killing is his reason for living🙂

If the property comes over your property line I'd fill in all those holes or tell the landlord that's what you intend to... maybe he'll rock up to see what the problem is.
Hopefully when you say you intend to tell all future viewers about the unhygienic rat infestation he might help?

Back with an update and a thanks to those of you who offered advice. I managed to get hold of the agent who had let the house and they agreed to put me in touch with the landlord. Landlord was really helpful when I explained the situation and had words with his tenants about how letting rats destroy outbuildings wasn't on. A pest control company came out a few weeks ago and no rats have been invading my garden since, landlord has arranged for them to come 3 times a year as standard and I have permission to contact him if they become an issue again before the next visit.
Neighbors have been pretty rude every time I've seen them since this happened but thankfully we don't need to have any real interaction. If they really miss their rat friends i'm sure they could walk to the wetland nature reserve 5 minutes away and admire them there 🙄

You are being extremely unreasonable to use poison in a rural area. Not only is it very cruel (the animal that eats it slowly, internally, bleeds to death) but once it has eaten the poison, the rat might well enter the food chain itself - thus poisoning owls, birds of prey etc. Put "snap traps" with bait on your own land and ignore the critters that are not on your land. We have a family of rats live under a shed (also very rural) but they have been there for years and haven't ever been a problem so we leave them to it

I agree. It reminds me of Chris Packham's take on rats, that they are very misunderstood creatures and if you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone. He says they are not vermin. They can make great pets as they are friendly and intelligent. However, I can understand an infestation destroying buildings is a very different matter.

Dont use poison . Hedgehogs etc will die .

Are they really an issue ? They will mind their own business- they are very misunderstood. You don't have to kill them hudt because they are there - they are not incontinent either . They are very clean . I do like pet rats but I have let Wild rats be before now in an outbuilding , they didn't try to get in my house , we had an understanding basically if they left me be I left them be .

Good update OP, glad you got that resolved sensibly!

It's a nice idea to leave rats be, and I do where I can, but it isn't always possible and as for 'they won't bother you'... that just isn't true.

What tends to happen is rats left alone do very nicely for themselves whilst there is food, water and shelter - so nicely that the population increases dramatically.

Then of course, the food tends to run out, or access to water reduces as it did over this summer and now the rats are in a crisis, and so they will go further from home and take more risks - getting into kids paddling pools, going inside peoples homes..

From there they are now a disease risk and a destruction risk, because they'll happily chew through your plumbing and wiring simply for something to do.

Now you and yours are at risk of leptospirosis, electrical failure and fire and leaks.

That might be just fine if you're Mr Packham who likely has private medical care and can afford to repair rat damage - the rest of us may not fare so well and are better off sensibly managing wild rat populations on our land.

WOW...some people are crazy on here...leave the rats alone to breed uncontrollably. Rats are clean...what?

Poster well done for getting it handled. Who wants to live wirh rats😥

I was all for saving the poor rats, but I can see from your well-written post that in reality it's not always possible. Mr Packham is indeed talking from a privileged position than many.

More privileged position than many

So you want to inflict a slow and hideously painful death on them because you have to...look at them? Seriously? You sound petty and interfering and I don't blame your neighbours for being irritated. The only vermin on this planet are humans like you.

Is they're a reason why they're reluctant to put down poison? Do they have pets that could eat the dead (poisoned) rats? If you put down poison in your garden, they'll probably die in your neighbours garden.

I was going to suggest terriers, too. I had a pair of lakelands, and they were fantastic ratters and rabbiters. We didn't have a massive rat problem, but they'd sometimes despatch 3 or 4 in a day.

You need to love dogs though, and even then not all dog lovers are terrier fans, they're something of an acquired taste! However, there may be people locally who have a couple of terriers and would be happy to let them loose on the land now and again.

We stopped having any problem with rats when NDNs stopped keeping chickens. The dogs were so disappointed!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/rats-dont-deserve-dirty-reputation-according-scientists/?utmcontent=telegraph&utmmmedium=Social&utmcampaign=Echobox&utmmsource=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2205McYAhanyv4af3m_sE0QybuE4YBR1S0lrUTh0-r29322y2BvzB3ljk#Echobox=1651507950-1

Now I am biased because I have pet rats and they are as affectionate, loving and cleaner than cats and dogs - (I also have dogs !).

I should also be a Buddhist because I kill nothing ! But I was never overrun with them when a family lived in my garden - in fact most rats dont make it to a year
Old in the wild .

Whatever you do op please don't use poison- that gets into the food chain and kills owls and foxes , and other small mammals.

It's funny I have rescued hedgehogs before and they are more covered in fleas and ticks than any rats I've encountered- I would simply leave them alone unless they get anywhere near the house . Hedgehogs are now declining fast , don't use poison .

I bet not many people have actually left rat families alone to find out if they bother us .

I love my rats - and yes they're fancy rats and pets - but I wouldn't hurt wild ones either . Not unless I absolutely had to .

My bet is the rats living in the old shed would not become a health hazard to you- they are not incontinent like mice - and spread no more diseases than any other wild animals. 🤷🏻‍♀️

If the neighbours do t want to kill them either how about live rat traps and take them far far away into the countryside and release?

I do that with the wood mice that eat the bird food. They are super cute and I just set humane traps and release them on my dog walks .

Wow. They sound bonkers. Glad you got it sorted.

Like me you mean 😂

There is a substance you can get that renders rats infertile. So they can't reproduce. It's a humane way to reduce the rat population (was tested in New York subways) and took about 6 months to eradicate them. It doesn't harm them so they naturally die out. That might be worth a look?