There are Rats in my garden!!!

[Bill Hicks]

I'm having a problem with rats that keep coming into my garden. So far i've killed 3 of them in the past 4 days via the old fashioned Tom & Jerry style rat traps. But there is at least another 2-3 that that I've seen out of my window that so far have avoided my traps! I bought a ultrasonic rat/mouse deterant on saturday but that's about as effective as a chocolate teapot! All this nice weather and the missus doesn't want to go out into the garden. Is there a chemical that I can use to kill them? What if I put bleach on the floor, will that stop them coming in?
Gotta be something more effective than peanut butter baited traps!

[WibXL]

If there's a lot of them call the council and they'll try to find out where they are coming from (broken pipe etc) and put poison down.

[Jacksonjnr]

The 2 methods I use are Poison & a.22 BSA Superten Airifle. If you live in a built up area and don't want a visit from the Armed Response Unit you are probably better going for poison. My advice though would be to call your Local Authority, tell them you have a rat problem and they may come and sought it out for you.

Do you have any idea where they are coming from/nesting?

Also if you use bird feeders I would stop until you get rid.

[Naaktgeboren]

Your council will have a contract with a firm who can deal with this, probably free of charge.

Rats will stay near a source of food, no food = no rats. Have you got a rabbit hutch outdoors or any other outdoor animal? If so, its worth having a good clean up everyday until the rats are gone. Also make sure that all household rubbish (food wastes) are stored somewhere with no access to the rats.

[mjn]

I can loan out my Bengal if you want....he's an expert catcher.

Somebody's pet rabbit this morning.........

[JohnG]

I recently got rid of a few rats, there were 3 of them feeding under the bird table one day so i got some poison pellets which you wrap up in clingfilm and place somewhere where they will pick them up. I found a couple of rat holes in my garden so placed them near those. I haven't seen the rats since
My local council will not come out if you have a bird table in the garden so I had to sort it myself. I think they came from over the back from me as there used to be some waste land there, but they have started building on it so I assume that cleared the rat population out and they came to my garden to make use of my bird feeders and ponds !

[GasDad]

Our next door neighbour once phoned us up to complain that:

"Your rats our in our garden"

Wy she thought they were our rats she didn't have an answer for - it turned out they were nesting in her compost heap

The council came and got rid of the nest and she now has a rat proof compost bin.

[Jacksonjnr]

How clever and tough are Rats?

We live out in the middle of nowhere with most of Noah's Ark so we have Rats permenently. Amongst other things they have unscrewed bottle tops to get at animal suppliments, shown immunity to poison if we use the same sort all the time and regularly eat chicks and ducklings if not defended by their mothers. They also dig under or chew through anything that isn't metal and climb like Monkeys. As a rule I would never hurt another living thing but I dispise rats with such intensity that I have no qualms about killing them.

A few years ago we had Fox trouble but apart from trying to scare it off I would never dream of hurting it. We have also had Stoats kill chickens but we just put it down to nature doing what nature does which is OK......as long as it is not a Rat.

I can only put this down to reading the James Herbert horror novel "The Rats" as a teenager and the traumatic effect it must of had on me.

[nheather]

Know anyone with an air rifle?

Most are desperate to be given permission to shoot vermin.

Cheers,

Nigel

[biggles1958]

Originally Posted by nheather

Know anyone with an air rifle?

Most are desperate to be given permission to shoot vermin.

Cheers,

Nigel

or borrow a Jack Russell - and proverbially let loose the dog of war

[Razor]

Petrol and a box of matches.

[WibXL]

Originally Posted by Jacksonjnr

How clever and tough are Rats?

We had a rat once and it used to be able to eat the bait from the trap without setting it off so we glued the bait to the trap only to find the next day that the bait had gone but so had the trap. The rat actually dragged the trap off so that it could remove the bait at it's own leisure.

This went on for a few nights until we finally got it and it was huge, longer than my size 11 foot. The rat catcher was coming around that day to see if he could find out how it had got in and said that it was the biggest rat he'd seen in years.

EDIT: and my Jack Russell was useless with it.

[razz1979]

Originally Posted by nheather

Know anyone with an air rifle?

Most are desperate to be given permission to shoot vermin.

Cheers,

Nigel

That just rats or other pests? Stray cats/dogs/teenagers...

[danmc_82]

Use them to make a rat burger

[Decadence]

Yeah rats can get massive, especially out in the country...I shot one once that was almost as big as a cat! Another time one went for me because I had it cornered, I had to whack it with my rifle before it could bite! It was a bit of a tense moment!