"Spider" wrote after...
"Amateur Gardener" wrote in message

I've just become aware of rats running up the bird table to get
the bread. The rats seem to live under the shed.

I've put down poison bait on tobacco tin lids under the shed,
and this gets taken, but so do the tin lids!

The rats ignore the spring traps and the squirrel trap (big square
wire frame)

How do I get rid of them and also know that I've got rid of them?

They're only 10 foot from the kitchen door which I now keep
resolutely closed.



If you only put bread on the bird table and not the ground, try using a
squirrel baffle (large plastic dome used umbrella-like on the leg of the
bird table) to stop the rats reaching the table surface. If you don't
want to buy one of these, a large tin lid usually does the same job.
However, if pigeons feed at the table, their messy eating habits will
scatter food on the ground anyway, which will still attract the rats.

The only remaining options are to a) stop putting out bread for the birds
:~( or b) to call in the council rat operative, who will probably tell
you to stop putting out bread anyway :~(

Also, there is a kind of pepper which you can buy to dust on bird food.
Squirrels can't stand it, but birds are still able to eat the food. Only
guessing, but since a squirrel is essentially a rat, it may deter rats
too. Alas, I can't remember the name .. it may be cayenne or paprika .. or
something else. Hopefully, someone else here will know ... or you could
google for the RSPB site.


IME not all Local Councils have Pest Controllers nowadays, ours hasn't. We
had to pay Rentakil to rid us of our rats in our garden at home, they were
even swimming out onto our pond to take the Koi food!
We also found that the rodent poisons sold by GCs didn't work on the ones on
our allotment that were eating stuff so we got hold of some professional
poison in sachets which works well but I think some of the small rodents
that are causing problems don't like the peanut butter smell. Oh for a few
good hunting cats locally.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden