There's a rat in mi garden, what am I gonna do?

[hollycomputer]

So, got a guy in to cut back neighbours out-of-control ivy on our side and he tells me we have a rat run from under our shed through to under next door's decking. Part of it is visible under a loose paving slab at the side of the shed. I've never seen rats but am not surprised.

He suggested poison in the run, but never having had to do this before, I'm not sure what's most effective. Any suggestions?

Call the council.

We had rats a few years ago - huge ones as big as cats. They were living under our decking steps.

We had put down poison from B&Q, and the rats were eating it, but not dying. I called the council and the guy came out and said that anything you buy in B&Q is never going to be strong enough.

He put down some super duper poison, came back a week later and put down some more. They were gone within 3 weeks.

I made sure I washed all hard surfaces down with Jeyes.

I'll check out the council website. That hadn't actually occurred to me so thanks!

haven't you been watching spring watch? They are very cute and clean

have you or your neighbour got a rat bird table which provides rat bird food?

They also need water, so look for ponds, rat bird baths, dripping garden taps.

There is never "one rat"

Does anyone know how you can tell if it's a rat versus a stoat or a vole? We have something living in our shubbery. The dog is endlessly fascinated and spends hours racing around yelping looking for it. I did see it shoot across the grass once towards the compost heap but I didn't notice a tail. It was probably about 5 inches long.

they are hard to tell apart at a fast glimpse; one of the weasel-type guys is very red coloured which rats never are. I suppose you'd need identifiable droppings or gnawing to be sure, otherwise.

ps: voles are tiny. Can't be mistaken for rats.

Rats love decking.

I second the advice to call the council.

Call the council, ours came out free of charge.

Ugh. Called the council and they don't do pest control unless it's a 'large scale infestation'. So it's back to Plan A of poison in the run.

We don't have decking but the neighbours do and the run goes from under our shed (garden office) to under their decking. I know they've had problems with foxes before under it too.

Pity.

Would the neighbour be open to a joint approach? Either both lay poison or share the cost of an exterminator.

OK, so I put some bait poison blocks in the run. The only thing I didn't so was bang nails into them to keep them in place as it seemed a bit pointless (dry earth). A few days later all the blocks had gone and there's no way anything else ate them.

I've told the neighbour and they're quite keen to get it sorted so this time we've bought some powder poison. If that fails, we'll discuss with the neighbours about getting an exterminator in. I don't see a problem with us sharing the cost - we get on well and they've been happy to share costs of other stuff before.

I've still never seen the little buggers (rats, not neighbours) so we'd kind of hoped that it was an old run but it appears not.

They'll have taken them back to their nests to share them with friends and family. Hopefully, they'll invisibly expire there.

When I had the ratcatcher, the reason he gave me for not using over the counter blocks was that the rats would take them away and might drop them in the open where something I didn't want to kill might find them. Exterminators put the poison in special containers. But if only the rats had access to them, you should be OK.

Urgh. Rat man lent me a pistol to shoot ones I saw in the garden whilst waiting for bait to kill em... It was the sport of that summer and I was the sharp-shooter of the street.

oh God, really OP? I wouldn't want to shoot anything, also you may just injure them - plus then you have to dispose of the bodies [faints]

If all the baits gone I think you should put down some more??

Our exterminator, for mice, only cost £100 for three visits, so if you can split the cost with your neighbour it may work out cheaper just to get them in rather than buying more and more over the counter stuff. Find a local independent rather than Rentokil.

Thanks for the replies! The second lot of bait went too (I only put down what was left in the box to get rid of it) so they must be taking it away. I'm going to try powder but if that doesn't work then exterminators it is.

I'd have a go at shooting them with DH's air pistol but the she'd takes up most of the end of the garden and there's just too many places for them to hide.

The guy from our council told me that the over the counter stuff isn't strong enough to kill them. It might be worth going online or to a farm suppliers to get strong stuff.