How to prevent rat in the garden

[thebellagio]

We have discovered a rat in the garden - can anyone help us get rid of it?

We have a situation whereby we cut back some overgrown bushes at the back of the garden, and discovered that there are no fence panels along the back boundary (we only moved in in Sept). The house directly behind us has a row of trees and overgrown brambles which acts as privacy, but it means that the tree roots make it extremely difficult to install fence posts.

We've discovered that there is a rat living in their brambles and is coming into our garden (we know it's coming from there as we've seen it dash back multiple times). We've removed all bird seed and bird feeders from our garden and we thought that had worked, but we saw it again this morning (it's so weird, it keeps coming out in the middle of the day!).

I guess I have two questions

How can I try to block up access in my garden to prevent the rat from getting in, and what can I do to try and get rid of it? We have a dog, so we can't lay any poison down.

I asked a local tradesman about fencing, he said the usual fence posts would be almost impossible to put in because of the tree roots. We wondered about something like bamboo slat screening, but I don't know how you install them or even if that is enough to try and keep the rat out?

I would put rat poison inside a trap that your dog cannot enter. And bear in mind, nobody has “a rat” - if you’ve seen one, there will be a colony of them.

So a rat is outside in a natural habitat and not causing any issues to anyone?

i’m not really sure what the problem is. They have to live somewhere.

rat poison is bloody horrible for other wildlife.

I'd let the dog deal with it!

Rats are everywhere, even if you don't see them 😕. I doubt it would come out when you're actually using the garden though.

You could put poison in a drain pipe lying on the ground if you really want to kill the rat. The dog wouldn't be able to get to it, but the rat would.

You haven't got one rat....

We had a tamper proof bait box but something, I'm guessing a rat got the bait out and left it on the grass. I am very very lucky I noticed before the dog got to it.

You need to sort the fencing, but that won't necessarily stop them.

We have decking and put the powder stuff down between the boards, then went on holiday for a couple of weeks. There were no rats when we came back.

A fence wouldn’t keep a rat out anyway, if it wanted to get in it would just tunnel under it.
You just have to make your garden totally pointless for it to come in to. Good start with getting rid of the bird food. Make sure you don’t have any food waste on your compost heap (if you have one). Make sure there’s no way any food waste bin can be accessed. Remove any water source (bird bath, dripping tap, any thing that might collect rainwater in it). Clean up any debris and over grown areas and use every part of your garden regularly and move things around (like garden furniture if you have any). Keep ‘rat runs’ near fences and walls clear of debris etc so there’s no cover for them. Rats are suspicious of anything new or new situations and so the more you use every bit of your garden and move things around etc the less comfortable they will there. Obviously a big one would be if you have decking - they love to live under that, but of course not always possible to remove it. Try all of the other measures first.

Can you catch it in a trap and then deliver it to Skinnermarink's place? I'm sure that she will pm you the address.

Thanks. I don't really want to put a trap/poison down because as you say, it's in their habitat and as you say, there's clearly going to be more than one.

I'm going to ask another trades person to come round and try and look at how to install a fence. The first guy was a bit negative about it all.

I agree, it won't stop it coming in, but I figure I don't need to make it easy for it to get in either!

Please don't use poison as PPs suggested. A neighbour did this, the rat died in DMs garden and a family of hedgehogs ate its poisoned remained and also all died in her garden

If you have one rat you have ten more.

Really difficult to eradicate once they have taken up residence. If anyone has chickens nearby they will be all around for the food.

Feeding birds is a no unfortunately although I still hang fat coconuts and they haven't gone for those although the bloody magpies devour them.
Having a dog does seem to keep them away, or at least in next doors garden rather than ours.

Good luck x

Yep, although I also have a resident fox, and he’s great at keeping any rats at bay.

Honestly a fence won't stop them, they are insanely good at getting around things like that. I also agree with you re poison - seems like loads of rats manage to get around the boxes anyway so then you still have rats and are also worried about your dog! Does your dog spend a lot of time in your garden? I'd up that if possible as it might put the rat off.

We also had some success with peppermint oil, apparently they hate it, we doused cotton wool balls in it then put them by the bottom of the fence where they were coming through.

A few years a go I got my self a nerf gun (water pistol), and tried to scare the rat out of my garden with a surprise jet of water.

It worked fine in summer. But I like to feed the birds in winter, so I just moved the feeding stations as far as possible away from the house. We are surrounded on two sides by fields.

When I had my dog, I never saw a rat even in winter. Maybe let the dog use that part of the garden a lot to leave its scent.

As another poster has said, rats don’t like things being different, so use that part of the garden for a while as much as possible. Block up any rat runs you see. It won’t actually keep them out, but the constant changing will deter them a fair bit.

Like another poster has said, they are just living their natural life. But please don’t send me your “spare” rats.

We've laid a few onions around the perimeter which worked for a few days - apparantly that has the same effect.

Do you think it's worthwhile putting a note through the door of the house behind us to let them know, so they can remove any bird feeders (if they have any)?

They might enjoy feeding the birds and not mind a rat 🤷🏻‍♀️As far as I’m concerned rats get to do what they like outside, although I wouldn’t send out an open invitation I’m live and let live in my garden. As long as they don’t invite themselves over to sit and watch tv and share my dinner, but that goes for all the outside animals 🤣

My local council would come out to advise you and your neighbours under these circumstances.

I would just leave it where it is but don't have overgrown areas like grass etc. Rats (and mice etc) will make homes in gardens - I have wood mice in the garden who climb into the bird feeder.

Get rid asap.. I see a rat in my garden, then my car wouldn't start.. would you like me to share a picture of my 40k Range Rover that was eaten by the rats..the damage they did meant my car was scraped. It's a massive problem where I live (rural farm land) I'm contemplating leaving as I've just discovered my new car is also under attack

Get a proper fence in and stop feeding anything In your garden.

We had a rats nest in my compost heap and I did stop putting food waste in there but realistically how do you rat proof a garden? My garden’s pretty big with a field at the end and I can no more prevent rats coming in than I can prevent squirrels and foxes. In fact the foxes are more of a nuisance because they chase my cat.

would you like me to share a picture of my 40k Range Rover that was eaten by the rats

Well…..yes! I mean, I’m sure it was awful, and I’m not unsympathetic, but photos are always a bonus on MN!

they climb up 16 story buildings on the outside so doubt you'll be able to keep out a rat with a fence

Rats are always all around us in towns, cities and the countryside just living their lives, as others have said, it's just that we don't usually see them. They want to see us as much as we want to see them, so will usually avoid human contact. If you are only seeing one or two, unless they get into your house no 'pest-control' action is necessary. Just keep doing what you are doing, and take all the relevant advice on the thread, to discourage them. Block up any ways of them getting into your house, shed, garage and so on - for example, put wire wool in any gaps around pipes. I'm glad to see that you don't intend to put poison down. I agree that it is a horrible death for the rats and for the unintended wildlife and pet victims of it, either because they get to the poison or eat the rats/wildlife that did. If rat numbers increase to the point of it being problematic, then the best cause of action is to get an experienced man in with ratting terriers/dogs. It's the kindest solution and very effective. I would also tell the neighbours at that point because to tell them before could result in some of them putting poison down.

*course of action

They're fairly normal in gardens. If it's not getting into your house, I would let it be.

A cat with a strong hunting drive might sort the problem out, but in my experience it's pot luck as to whether a cat will be interested - some aren't hunters at all.