To move home because of this

[Charltonstrek]

Maybe im overreacting but been in new place 2 months and we have issue with rats coming into the garden so far tried natural deterrents without success im adverse to poison and to be honest its a battle I could do without help please im petrified to even use my garden so upset.

I tried my own bait stations but the council did a much better job, found where all.the runs were and advised us about what to do to stop encouraging them.

They will charge, it's your property.

Assuming you have home emergency cover on your home insurance, try contacting them. They will cover some initial expenses relating to pest control if you have that cover.

Well I will contact the council and see what they say

Just now had to quickly go into the garden to retrieve something and I was in and out like a shot it was the one I saw early this evening thats really triggered me it must have been the size of a rabbit its awful I cringe when I think about it

I feed the birds but only from suspended feeders. My local rats, however, live under my neighbour’s shed. Neither they nor I want to put poison down and my cat is far too lazy to hunt the rats, so it’s live and let live round here.

My husband grew up on farms, he absolutely detests rats this is because one day a massive rat the same size of his JR sunk its teeth into the dogs neck killing it almost instantly.

BTW op, if you have been feeding birds nuts and seeds the RSPB are advising we don’t feed birds until end of October.

DH uses a shovel. And a rat trap. He dispatches whole communities pretty sharpish. Chickens = rats.

A Jack Russell will definitely do the job @Charltonstrek, but please don't get one as a rat catcher. However, if you have already had dogs, and actually want one at the moment, you could consider a Jack Russell, if, you want an energetic and fast speed dog, who loves to chase anything that is moving, particularly if it is moving fast! So he would try to chase anything from a rat - usually successfully - to a bicycle, or a car, or even a cheetah if he got the opportunity!

Many people will say that the dog's human, or if necessary, a professional trainer, would be able to train the chasing obsession out of a Jack Russell. I would answer that with a "No You Can't", and trying to do so would be a waste of the poor dog's time, and of the human's time as well. I am not saying that they can't be trained in any way, they can be trained not to wee or poop in the house, and they are usually very brave (stupid!) If they had to face 3 hungry wolves, they wouldn't turn and run away, they would run straight towards them, whilst barking at the top of their voices. I don't know what the wolves would do, and I would rather not think about it!

Treated properly, Jack Russells will usually adore their human/s, and be very loyal to them. They would also, almost certainly, 'guard' their human, which can cause a few problems in certain cases. If they take against someone, judging them as not being nice, they would consider that person to be a threat to themselves, and/or their family. J.R.'s are not quick to bite a person, they seem to prefer to intimidate them by barking very loudly, and showing them their big sharp teeth, but they can bite if they deem it necessary. I have never heard of a J.R. savaging someone - but I still wouldn't let him get too close to babies or young children, as children can be as unpredictable as dogs can, and maybe hurt the dog unintentionally.

I don't believe that Jack Russells are safe to be let off their lead anywhere, apart from their own home, and a secure garden. Another two places that would hopefully be secure enough to let them off the lead, would be in the middle of deserted countryside, or in a secure dog exercising field, one that you probably have to pay for! Anyone who has a Jack Russell 'should', in fact, 'must', make sure that they are taken frequently to safe places to run off their lead. If you think that all of that sounds great, and you love really cheeky dog's, then getting a Jack Russell could be the perfect dog for you OP.

There's no point moving as they are everywhere, so long as they stay outside of the house it's ok.........calm🧘‍♀️. I've seen them at my last three houses and on my way across asda carpark in broad daylight. Many years ago my dad broke glass up and plastered around a drain pipe where they were coming in which worked, but if you have any holes where they could enter just push wire wool in them. I've seen them for years in my garden, (particularly bad when someone had bird feeders next door so get rid of those) but they have never come inside. I did put wire wool inside a hole in the brick work that was obviously from an old drainage pipe and they haven't come in and I've been here 14 years ( they don't like chewing through that or broken glass). I wouldn't use poison as the stench when they die is abominable 🤢 I had one on my patio that had been poisoned so obviously one of my neighbours had put poison down.

Feeding the birds brings you rats.

You need to stop that and do as good a job as possible cleaning up remaining seed (rat food)

Then get a couple of nice big cats or a terrier.

Op don’t move! There will always be rats. Stop bird food, block where they are entering/tunelling. Call an expert

Call in pest control. But also, have you contacted your solicitor? This should’ve been disclosed in conveyancing by the sellers. Which is why you would need to solve the issue before you could sell anyway. You also must deal with it because you don’t want them finding a way into your property.

Air rifle. We shoot the rats.

Not true if you own a Jack Russell!

This is a very accurate description of Jack Russell behaviour!
I'd like to think the wolves would be so confused they'd walk away from the crazy beast!

I love feeding birds but have had to stop as it attracts rats. We haven’t seen a rat since we stopped. It’s a good time of year to put the feeders away anyway.

We had a rat problem once as a result bird feeding. They went away working a few days to a week of stopping feeding the birds, and we were able to return to feeding the birds without them coming back. No need for anything else. I loved watching them though!

How big is the garden? Killing them won't stop the ones that remain from breeding.

We had a rat problem and blocked off every place they could get in. No rats now.

was going to say the same. I know someone up the road who spent a few evenings blowing them away with a rifle. He’s a bloody good shot.

My husband does the same.

If she putting bird food out she'll soon end up with rats at the new place too.

My black cat kills them on sight.

Start feeding the birds the rats will be used to that food source take that away and they will start looking elsewhere

All remedies apart from poison are useless in my opinion, and we've tried them all. We had about 50-100 rats about our land and outbuildings when we first moved here. We'd watch them running along the telephone wires at night, twenty of them in a line.

In the end we didn't need poison because four stray cats turned up, which solved the problem, and keeps on top of things. We have four massive compost bins which would be a rats buffet if the cats weren't so effective.