Just saw a rat in my garden

[Kayrel]

God I struggle to even type the word. Phobia isn’t the half of it

So our house does back up onto countryside so I’m realistic in that they must exist somewhat close to me. Neighbours also compost and 5 or so years we had to block an entrance said animals were using into our garden.

im worried cause my dog is very interested in a side garage which we do not use. (Direction it ran)

We do not leave rubbish out due to my phobia. I make extra dump runs to avoid this. All access points are sealed.

Please tell me what to do. Money is tight (had to fork out for car issues)

Someone sensible please tell me what to do. I have broken my phone before by chucking it when I unexpectedly saw a pic of said animal. Phobia is terrible. This will cause an issue with dh cause I am blowing up issue

Shit the dog is going back to said garage and sniffing

But there’s never just one is there? I’m trying to be proactive!

Awww cute!

Leave it be. It's just a wild animal. We've build houses everywhere, where are they supposed to go.

Maybe get help with your phobia instead of killing animals.

Nothing you can do, there are many more rats than there are people. They generally mind their own business.

Your issue is the phobia. Deal with the phobia. There will always be rats, whether you see them or not

@Kayrel buy a rat trap and put it near where the dog is sniffing with some food in it!

There is no point trying to eliminate rats because they will be living all over the area. You can’t change that, the only thing to do is to try to change your own phobia.

You can buy rat traps (that are like large mouse traps housed in a box)

I accept they can come in and out of garden, just don’t set up home

I am struggling to even look at this thread

I had a mouse phobia and it helped looking at cute mouse pics and reframing how I saw them and how much more they are frightened of me.

All you can do is remove food, cluttet and water as much as you can

Thanks to those offering advice massively appreciated. I’m frozen stiff on the sofa.

Give me a spider/snake - no problem

Bless you, real phobias are horrendous. Definitely get some therapy, exposure therapy is great. DD had similar to you about dead bodies, mummies, that sort of thing. She is now completely cured by exposure, took a while and was hard, but it can be done.

Shit there are tonnes of boxes in our side garage and tools and bikes in another. I mean they are organised ish but I would classify it as cluttered

Thanks!

They just want to eat, sleep and breed. They don't want to harm you. They go foraging like we go to work to feed your family. They dog, dont let him in the house without checking his mouth is empty. Get a pest man to set traps.

This is how I got over my crippling spider phobia.

I now have several jumping spiders and a tarantula.

I also have pet rats but never been scared of those.

Killing one or 2 of them won't stop your garden being rat free OP.

You're just making animals die a slow death.

They'll.always be rats around.

Just like I realised there will always be spiders showing up in my house.

I learned to deal with it instead.

😲 Just how many dead bodies did she have to be exposed to, before she was cured?

Count yourself lucky you don't have my husband and daughter. We had a rat in our shed and they fecking named it and refused to let me try and catch it and release it somewhere else. It's their rat now. He's called Archibald.

If you back onto countryside there will always be rats, always. You could ask husband to get one of those humane traps and stick it in the garage, if you catch one he can release it (at least a mile away!).

Apparently they don't like lavender and peppermint so you could get potted versions of those and get husband to put them in the suspect garage, it might force out any rats that are considering it as a home.

We are very rural and have rats in our garden. My husband feeds all the birds and wildfowl we have, and that attracts the rats. When they get big, our son shoots them.

I think you should get help for your phobia, OP.

I do feel absolutely horrendous about using traps. I’m a vegetarian and wanna be vegan. But a selfish one sadly whose morals bend with the wind (on this issue)