Possible rat.

[teenmum13]

The dog went out earlier than usual today due to one of the children being on a school trip.
She darted after something (I couldn't tell what) towards the back of the garden.
I've since been out to have a look and can see holes under the shed and into next doors garden so I'm wondering if it was possibly a rat and also dug up soil in the border near the back of the garden.
Do I call someone out now or attempt to fill the holes under the shed and refill the soil and see what happens?
Is there likely to be a few or just the one?
One of the neighbours saw one a few months back in their front garden.
We live near a field but I've never seen one before if it were a rat.

If a neighbour has seen one it almost certainly was a rat. Get pest control out. Filling up holes in shed won’t do any good, they are already gnawing through it. Pest control can advise on dog-friendly measures.

We had rats in our garden in the summer. We got pest control out. They said that they were living under the shed. Rats always follow the same path apparently. Hence the phrase 'rat run'. We have a dog and a cat. He put down 4 sealed boxes of poison along the run that were safe for our pets. He came back at weekly intervals for 2 weeks to empty them etc. Cost us £300 😢

We were told to stop feeding the birds unless we wanted the rats to come back.

I'd not bother with pest control for a rat in a garden. They'll put down poison which will kill some rats, and lots of other things, and aill be a risk to your dog.

But the world will still be full of rats, including in the sewers, in the field...

What I would do is make the garden as unappealing to rats as possible. I'd chuck water down their holes, then fill them in. Make sure there is no rubbish, or bird food, or composting waste out. Move all the pots and things about, often, as rats hate change.

I'd check the shed, and the house to make sure they're not getting in. Have a look at any drains or patios to see if anything looks different there. And I'd tell the neighbours and ask them to not feed the birds for a bit and be careful with waste etc too.

Living near a field, there will always be rats nearby. I wouldn’t bother with pest control.

Rats don’t like ‘changes’, do if you see anything that looks like a run or a hole, you can disturb the soil, move things around - just so they know these are not unnoticed areas.

Make sure they keep them away from the house and theres no harm in blocking up potential routes into the home.

I think having a dog is the best deterrent for rats. The presence, noise and smell of a dog in my personal experience kept rats out of my garden for years and we are surrounded by fields.

Sadly my dog died and I can now see them coming into my garden for the first time.

Rats need to drink a lot of water so if you can remove any standing water that will deter them too.

Thanks all, there doesn't appear to be an hole in the shed, just under, I was just panicking incase there is a family or rats under it.
I will look to fill the holes at weekend, after flushing water down and see if they reopen then if they do I will call pest control. Martha how long did it take for them/it to be caught in the box?
We have nothing that I think is edible in the shed, just bikes etc. There is a neighbour further down the street that feeds the birds but the immediate neighbours don't

We had a rat visiting our compost bin (he was sat on top munching away when my husband lifted the lid).

I got a bait station from Amazon, and checked it every few days. I also gave the compost bin a very good water! Apparently rats like standing water, but not wet soil/compost. There was no further evidence of rats once the bait had been taken. I moved the bait station after a week, I think it was, because I obviously didn’t get the rat run first time.

I get 2 rat holes each year in autumn and am adjacent to a field. Fill the holes, by magic they appear again, on average 3 days later. They stop in summer so I don’t bother now. I might if I saw them, in daytime, but I figure they were here before us and they’re fine if they stay in the garden (ie outside!).

Is it true you’re never more than 5 feet from a rat? I live rurally so see them in headlights too, big field rats, and the dog catches them out on walks sometimes which is grim. Again I can’t believe the size of them. This probably isn’t helping but my point is they’re everywhere.

They’ll be under the shed or passing through so as others said deter by making changes and don’t put out food.

Saw one in garden only once, munching on a bird feeder. It was huge - so no more bird feeders 😂

If I didn’t have a dog, I’d definitely get pest control if they were appearing in numbers or came in the house. Outside fine, inside it’d be one strike only.

They went within the first week. By the second week yhe boxes were empty. They haven't been back so far.

We flushed under the shed and nothing came out but we found the hole dug under the shed came into the shed further along and then a hole going into next doors garden.
We aren't sure if they were just using it for a way to hide from our dog and then go on there travels.
Holes blocked and we will see what happens this week and if not then call someone out.