Baby rats in garden! Need them go!

[gfts]

But don't want to kill them!

Think they are living under our shed

Is there anything I can do to get rid of them. I've stopped feeding the birds but they are still climbing up the bird table

Ds thinks they are cute!

You need to get a pest controller in - if you don't kill them you will have hundreds of rats in a few months

Unfortunately the Pied Piper is fictional - I'm afraid you need to get in a pest controller.

Also, make sure there are no sources of food ... we had to stop composting kitchen waste and got a metal pole type feeder, and only use low residue food, make sure there's nothing on the ground in the evening. You should let neighbours know there's a problem so they do likewise.

There’s no humane way to remove them really. I had the same problem and bought every humane trap imaginable, but didn’t catch a single one. I had to get rat poison after they chewed through the electrics in the shed

If you want to DIY, read up on it so you do it properly. You need to make sure you're using the appropriate poison for your area - there is resistance to some types in parts of the U.K. - and use it only in a proper bait box. This keeps it away from cats etc (though mice may be collateral damage).

Electric bait box. Get the one that gets them in multiples.

Had the same problem recently. With the humane trap I caught a couple but the adults wouldn't go near it. In the end I removed the bird food for a few weeks and sadly had to resort to poison, which I was very much against but I was worried they were starting to burrow under the house! If they'd stayed in the shed/garden/garage I would just have removed the bird food and left them to it but the thought of them getting into the foundations and chewing through the plumbing/pipes was just too much.

Anyway - the approach seems to have worked and its been a few weeks now and no rats. I've even put the bird food back out and am keeping a close eye on the situation.

And yes to using a proper bait box if you decide to use poison, but the humane traps may well work. I baited mine with a mixture of cooked chicken and peanut butter on bread, but had to give up after I caught 3 blackbirds in a row! (All unharmed but rather startled!). If you use humane traps you must check them regularly.

Are they actually rats or are they wild mice eating seeds and roots in the garden.

Parents had rats - started this way - a few little baby ones on the bird table, then they found a gap in the brick work and got in between the bricks and the insulating wall, then into the loft. Took a long time to get rid of them and made my parents really stressed. I would get pest control ASAP. Some rats are intelligent enough to take enough DIY poison to feed but not kill themselves. Hope you get sorted - in the meantime check your bricks for gaps and cement them up.

Some rats are intelligent enough to take enough DIY poison to feed but not kill themselves.

One of the reasons it's so important to eliminate other food sources, as far as possible, is to ensure they eat enough of the poison. Otherwise, that's one of the ways resistance can develop I believe.

Definitely rats

You're going to have to kill them unless you are just going to let them grow up to breed. Once captured, if you release them nearby, they will simply return, if you release them further away, they will find it hard to locate food and to integrate with the resident rats, so you will cause more suffering than if you were to kill them humanely.

What on earth would you do with rats caught in a humane trap? Take them somewhere so they become someone else's problem? I don't get it?

I think there are more of them in gardens now they cant get food from restaurants.

I live in the countryside and with the humane traps people shoot the rats with an air rifle. The use of humane traps is just to protect the local wildlife etc. The problem with poison is it gets in the food chain and owls or cats and even chickens will consume a poisoned carcass. Quick death though in comparison to poison where they slowly bleed to death.

I'd also say if they're coming out in the daytime you have a major infestation and need to get on it quickly. If you do go down the poison route Tomcat bait blocks makes them really thirsty so they go to water to die rather than under your shed.