There is a rat (or rats) in my mum's garden. Neighbours are scruffs and keep leaving food out for them. What to do?

[RatinGarden]

Hi all. My mum has spotted a rat running across her back garden twice in the last three days. She is unsettled by its presence and is understandably very concerned about the possibility of it finding its way into the house. It's a small terrace house. There is a neighbour on one side who throws bread in their back garden every day, and the neighbour on the other side occasionally does the same thing. Can their numbers be controlled by putting rat poison and/or traps down yourself or does it typically need a pest control firm? The local council will only put one trap down and there is a waiting list of 6 weeks for them to even come out. Also, while she has only seen one rat, I realise that there will almost certainly be more of them. It might have been the same rat twice or a different rat both times.

Aren't they, why not? They got in ours! Ring the council OP.

This is a total non issue. There are rats everywhere. Unless she sees signs of them inside there's no need to do anything. Don't put poison down outside under any circumstances, this is illegal.

My neighbour keeps telling me about a rat running across our shared path. I don't know how to convey I really am not bothered. There are very few. Not infested. We are flanked on 3 sides by fields with a stream. Dreamland for a rat!

We've got a neighbour who has a massive bramble patch rather than a garden. Its running wick with rats. We dug a 3 foot deep trench around our perimeter and buried small gage wire fencing, which also extended 4 foot above ground, and pinned tightly to the fence. Cured the problem completely and we've not seen a rat for years now. The wire fencing is sold in roles on line and is marked as suitable for making rat cages and is 'unchewable'.

I've read that rats don't like the smell of onions and garlic

As long as they’re outside, life and let live.

Poison is awful.

Sweet potato

pestweek.com/sweet-potato-kill-rats/?utm_content=cmp-true

They're not going to bother coming into your house if there's plentiful food being provided by your neighbours.

Last year we fed squirrels and birds in our garden. I bought bags of nuts and one day noticed a rat taking a nut and running off with it. Thirty seconds later another rat did the same thing. I watched them at work - the two of them taking nuts and running off. I thought there is no harm in it until I saw more rats and holes in the garden. I saw a massive hole at the side of the drain below the kitchen window and realised we had a big problem which was solved in two ways.

1. My cat discovered the nest which was next door between our houses and killed all the young rats one by one. 2. We stopped feeding the birds. The rats disappeared as quickly as they came. I don't mind any form of wildlife but I draw the line at it coming into the house which is what I thought would be the next step.

Ask the neighbours to quit throwing food out and explain why is the solution here OP

There are rats in every garden. Please don’t resort to poison. Terrible stuff, causes slow, agonising death and harms other wildlife and domestic animals.

Tell your mum to keep doors and downstairs windows closed. Check there are no other entry points into the house.
Rats hate strong smells, noise and disturbance. Peppermint oil is good, as are those ghastly gel air freshener things.
Clear away long grass from the edges of the garden where they like to run. If you have a compost bin, beat it with sticks daily, or put a battery-powered radio there. Ditto sheds.
If there's no food, water or shelter in your mum's garden for them and they fear being discovered, they won't hang around.

Rats carry disease. I as once bitten by a rat as a child- I inadvertantly cornered it in the garden- I was lucky and didn't catch anything, your kids might not be.