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Original poster

House near pond & fear of rats

23 replies

Honey1975 · 19/02/2017 01:28

I know this sounds a bit weird but we've just had an offer accepted on a house that we really like but it is close to a large pond and I'm worried about rats as I have a real phobia of them.
The current owners have lived there for 25 years so it can't be bad but I keep having thoughts of seeing them in the garden or worse.

DH says I'm being silly but
i really do have a phobia. House is just what we want. What do you think we should do?

OP posts:
pillowcase6 · 19/02/2017 01:34

I think rats are manageable.. you could get a pest company to examine the house before you move in and then take all precautions to keep them out of your house.

DPotter · 19/02/2017 02:10

You do realise rats live all over the place, not just near ponds?

FoodPorn · 19/02/2017 08:59

I spent 15 years living in a house with a pond in the garden and only saw one rat and it was dead!

smu06set · 19/02/2017 09:02

If you are that worried, buy a terrier, they will kill any rats!

creampinkrose · 19/02/2017 09:07

I understand this actually Honey as I had a similar problem once.

You are fine with ponds. You will almost certainly get frogs and wading birds and so on, but while rats are drawn to water they prefer canals, rivers and streams. Ponds are stagnant and also aren't usually great for food supply.

Also, I am right by a wood and a stream now and I've never seen a rat. I know there are a few mice around because my cat keeps killing them Sad but no rats.

WhirlwindHugs · 19/02/2017 09:09

There's a pond/stream very close to our house and never had or seen a rat. I'd be more concerned about areas where lots of rubbish gets left out than ponds.

There have been mice in the very dilapadated shed, but they didn't come anywhere near the house. Also hedgehogs nesting, frogs and an interesting variety of birds.

Palomb · 19/02/2017 09:12

You will definitely have rats. Rats are everywhere.

scorpio1981 · 19/02/2017 09:14

As someone who worked in loss adjusting, I very strongly advise you not to buy a house anywhere near water. It staggers me how many people make this mistake because what looks wonderful in summer with sun reflected off the surface and insects buzzing around can quickly turn into a raging torrent running right through your lounge. Find somewhere else to live not because of the rats which frankly, is a minor issue but because your prospective insurers might take a very dim view of your purchase. Fancy £25K flood excess do you, that's if you get flood cover at all.

creampinkrose · 19/02/2017 09:17

I've always lived near water of some description scorpio and have yet to have the problems you describe.

Palomb · 19/02/2017 09:18

This is an pond, not the river Thames.

Bluntness100 · 19/02/2017 09:23

I also have a stream running through the garden and there is no flooding risk, as the stream is on much lower ground than the house. It's burst it's banks many times, but never flooded the house in fifty odd years that we know of and the house has been standing for over four hundred years. There was also no excess to pay on the insurance. Flood risk depends on many things, proximity and placement being two of them.

Also no rats.

PuntCuffin · 19/02/2017 09:25

It depends which way the water would flood to. We have a stream which runs through our garden. Never had an issue with flooding, no insurance risk. If the stream breaches, it runs away from the house. It is daft to assume EVERY pond creates a flood risk.

As for rats, my neighbours have chickens and rats eat the chicken feed. We get rats coming in from their garden to get in our composter as it is nice and warm. I just put bait in it, problem solved.

engineersthumb · 19/02/2017 09:26

I live near a river too. It was a worry when buying but the area doesn't have a history of flooding, though we are just outside of the flood map. We didn't choose it for the river it was just at the bottom of the garden! I so think that the insurance industry should be regulated to prevent abuses as described, fare tariffs are one thing but not hand washing of all risks! Never seen any rats by the way... frogs, squirrels, ducks and more but no rats!

creampinkrose · 19/02/2017 09:26

The only time I've had a problem with wildlife was in London, with foxes. There were two mating and she was screaming. I was so scared, I really thought someone was being attacked! Shock

Mumofazoo · 19/02/2017 09:30

Our garden has a large pond and just behind our garden there is a forest and a river,and I have yet to see a rat. There's plenty of mice but I've not seen any rats.

creampinkrose · 19/02/2017 09:30

Generally rats and mice don't live in the same places so if you see a mouse, OP, you're fine :)

Jaynebxl · 19/02/2017 09:36

Nowhere near water here and we often see rats in our garden. Fact of life, the little buggers are everywhere. OP I can almost guarantee you've had them where you live now at some point.

WhirlwindHugs · 19/02/2017 09:39

The searches your solicitor does should talk you through any flood risk.

Ours is zero, despite the stream, because of the layout of the land. Our insurance is perfectly reasonable, never had an issue getting it.

wowfudge · 19/02/2017 16:16

Just don't have a bird table OP.

Pigleychez · 19/02/2017 16:20

We have had a few houses with ponds and never had/seen any rats at all.

MiaowTheCat · 20/02/2017 14:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Twistmeandturnme · 20/02/2017 14:13

We had a house on a modern estate where the bird feeder intermittently had rat droppings in, so one must have been climbing up to get in.
Never seen one close to our rural, older house.
I don't think a pond is a major factor.

specialsubject · 20/02/2017 14:22

Flood risk doesn't need a body of water, just a new development of houses uphill.

Rats are unlikely if you dont have decking, keep normal hygiene standards and don't feed pigeons, seagulls etc.

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