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Rats in garden!
I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this afternoon.
One of my neighbours said that they've had them before. They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed further down the road. Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea. Sue (who doesn't really mind seeing them from the house but is a bit of a girlie when it comes to getting involved!) |
'Sue',
Best to leave everything as it is and contact your 'Pest Control' at your local Council as soon as possible and they will deal with the matter. Regards, Emrys Davies. "Sue" wrote in message ... I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this afternoon. One of my neighbours said that they've had them before. They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed further down the road. Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea. Sue (who doesn't really mind seeing them from the house but is a bit of a girlie when it comes to getting involved!) |
Sue wrote:
I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this afternoon. One of my neighbours said that they've had them before. They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed further down the road. Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea. [...] They will keep coming, even if you poison a lot of them: stream banks are a route they use a lot. You're right in wanting to clear away as many hiding-places as you can, of course. As to feeding the birds, you may perhaps have to stop giving them the things they scatter about; but I wonder if you could hang some sort of tray under the feeder? A dustbin lid, for example. This would get full of water when it rained, of course, and need to be emptied carefully to avoid dropping food; I wonder if it's practicable to make something out of wire mesh, or at least put a big mesh-covered drainage hole in the tray. Tough cats and Jack Russels can be a help. But I suppose we sometimes just have to learn to live with rats: they don't usually do a lot of harm as long as they stay outdoors. I had some in the roof once, and that was a different matter. Mike. |
On 30/10/04 20:29, in article ,
"Sue" wrote: I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this afternoon. One of my neighbours said that they've had them before. They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed further down the road. Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea. Sue (who doesn't really mind seeing them from the house but is a bit of a girlie when it comes to getting involved!) Whatever you do, wear gloves. A friend of ours has just very recently contracted Weil's disease from the stream in their garden and has been deathly ill. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.co.uk South Devon (remove the weeds to email me) |
"Sue" wrote in message ... I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this afternoon. One of my neighbours said that they've had them before. They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed further down the road. Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea. Sue (who doesn't really mind seeing them from the house but is a bit of a girlie when it comes to getting involved!) Google on BBC - Science & Nature - Wildfacts - Water vole, water rat Inter alia, they say ......... Water vole, water rat Arvicola terrestris Water voles are the largest British vole and are often mistaken for a rat....... So first make sure you are talking about rats and not water rats Franz |
Thanks for all the advice. I'll try to ring the council tomorrow. The birds
are fed from hanging RSPB containers filled with sunflower hearts and although they do drop some that's usually quickly cleared by larger birds. Haven't seen any sign of him / them today so perhaps it was just one having a weekend away and he's gone home now?!? Sue |
snip
Whatever you do, wear gloves. A friend of ours has just very recently contracted Weil's disease from the stream in their garden and has been deathly ill. I am sorry to hear that, what a dreadful thing to happen. I have been working in the barn all afternoon and I know that we do have rats around the place - we are rural - I dont usually worry about Weils disease but I am off to bath and change right now. kate |
Sue wrote:
:: I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this :: afternoon. One of my neighbours said that they've had them before. :: They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed :: further down the road. :: :: Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area :: with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's :: where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have :: to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea. You need to remove their food souce and shelter and they will move on, you could poison them of course but this will not solve the problem if there is food and shelter there, another colony would simply take their place. Considering they can breed at 40 days of age and have a gestation period of 21 days, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that if left undisturbed, they will soon run riot - they will continue breeding right through winter if there is a food source. You'll have to remove or rearrange the bricks/tiles/slabs, preferably so that rainwater can pass right through - like us, they don't like being wet - stack the bricks tight up to each other and try standing the slabs around the sides as a wall - they will find any small niche which remains dry and nest in it. Move the birdfeeder to a more exposed spot [1] and utilise some of the ideas mentioned elsewhere in this thread to minimise spillage...rats are incredibly intelligent animals and will exploit any environment to survive, the only thing you can do is make it as rat unfriendly as you can. [1] there will always be some spillage but if it's minimal and in an exposed flat area, they will be loath to venture into it as they will feel vulnerable....this may be a patio or other hard landscaped area, somewhere where there are no hidey holes or easy escapes, they are wild animals after all and do not like leaving themselves under threat, especially if the rewards are negligible. HTH |
In article , Kate Morgan
writes snip Whatever you do, wear gloves. A friend of ours has just very recently contracted Weil's disease from the stream in their garden and has been deathly ill. I am sorry to hear that, what a dreadful thing to happen. I have been working in the barn all afternoon and I know that we do have rats around the place - we are rural - I dont usually worry about Weils disease but I am off to bath and change right now. I suppose this is a good point to say that the Weils disease site that has been quoted widely in urg has now moved (since the caving site that hosted it has closed down) - you can now find food advice on Weil's disease and the causative organism leptospirosis at http://www.leptospirosis.org/ -- Kay "Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river" |
On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 19:29:57 GMT, "Sue" wrote:
I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this afternoon. One of my neighbours said that they've had them before. They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed further down the road. Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea. Seed spilled from birdfeeders is just what rats like. I used to have several feeders, but living in a ratty district finally decided to stop: my cats were bringing too many rodents into the house and not all of them were dead on arrival. You can reduce seed spillage by putting only a single kind of seed in each feeder. If you use mixed seed, each bird rummages through it looking for his favorite, spilling a great deal onto the ground below. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, BC, Canada to send email, change atlantic to pacific and invalid to net |
mmmm... does anyone know what great tits and blue tits are partial to? jay jay |
"jay jay" wrote in message ... Rodger Whitlock Wrote: On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 19:29:57 GMT, "Sue" wrote: - I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this afternoon. One of my neighbours said that they've had them before. They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed further down the road. Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea.- Seed spilled from birdfeeders is just what rats like. I used to have several feeders, but living in a ratty district finally decided to stop: my cats were bringing too many rodents into the house and not all of them were dead on arrival. You can reduce seed spillage by putting only a single kind of seed in each feeder. If you use mixed seed, each bird rummages through it looking for his favorite, spilling a great deal onto the ground below. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, BC, Canada to send email, change atlantic to pacific and invalid to net mmmm... does anyone know what great tits and blue tits are partial to? Peanuts and sunflower seeds. Spiders. Franz |
Franz Heymann wrote in message ... "jay jay" wrote in message ... Rodger Whitlock Wrote: On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 19:29:57 GMT, "Sue" wrote: - I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this afternoon. One of my neighbours said that they've had them before. They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed further down the road. Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea.- Seed spilled from birdfeeders is just what rats like. I used to have several feeders, but living in a ratty district finally decided to stop: my cats were bringing too many rodents into the house and not all of them were dead on arrival. You can reduce seed spillage by putting only a single kind of seed in each feeder. If you use mixed seed, each bird rummages through it looking for his favorite, spilling a great deal onto the ground below. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, BC, Canada to send email, change atlantic to pacific and invalid to net mmmm... does anyone know what great tits and blue tits are partial to? Peanuts and sunflower seeds. Spiders. Franz Boo hoo! :-{ Spider |
"Spider" wrote in message ... Franz Heymann wrote in message ... "jay jay" wrote in message ... Rodger Whitlock Wrote: On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 19:29:57 GMT, "Sue" wrote: - I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this afternoon. One of my neighbours said that they've had them before. They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed further down the road. Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea.- Seed spilled from birdfeeders is just what rats like. I used to have several feeders, but living in a ratty district finally decided to stop: my cats were bringing too many rodents into the house and not all of them were dead on arrival. You can reduce seed spillage by putting only a single kind of seed in each feeder. If you use mixed seed, each bird rummages through it looking for his favorite, spilling a great deal onto the ground below. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, BC, Canada to send email, change atlantic to pacific and invalid to net mmmm... does anyone know what great tits and blue tits are partial to? Peanuts and sunflower seeds. Spiders. Franz Boo hoo! :-{ Spider {:-)) Franz |
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