Rats are digging under the concrete &have chewed through the top of the wavin manhole

[ophelia]

I don't mean to frighten wino and Toby but there are some very scary videos on You Tube of rats coming up the toilet bowl. I doubt just closing the lid would suffice to keep them out if they did happen to stroll up. I would be putting something weighty on the closed lid if I had a substantial rat problem.
Just get rid of the decking if it is causing a persistent problem with rats, certainly get a cat too and I bet that will send them packing.
I am speaking from experience of having the odd rat and from suffering from complete rat paranoia for ages after it.

 

[lightswitch]

Really sorry re your situation. The only long term solution is to get a cat or two. My sister currently has rats visiting her back garden and has rent to kill boxes out now to kill them off. She unlike me is not an animal lover but realises the only solution is get a cat and let it live in her garden shed. I personally keep cats to deter mice and never have a problem. A slightly wild cat is best in my experience as a previous poster said some are better hunters than others.

 

[Birroc]

Really sorry re your situation. The only long term solution is to get a cat or two. My sister currently has rats visiting her back garden and has rent to kill boxes out now to kill them off. She unlike me is not an animal lover but realises the only solution is get a cat and let it live in her garden shed. I personally keep cats to deter mice and never have a problem. A slightly wild cat is best in my experience as a previous poster said some are better hunters than others.

If everyone got a 'slightly wild' cat to deter rats, there would be no birds left too.

 

[Murfnm]

Or if you are not a cat person - how about a Jack Russell or other such terrier?

 

[Birroc]

Keep replacing the poison each morning untill they stop taking it.

Nope this is wrong. Rats tend to store/stockpile freely available food. The key is to put the poison out every 3-4 days even if it is taken soon after you put it out. They are more likely to eat it then. I think the Storm containers give the same advice. 2 to 3 weeks of that should kill them off.

 

[ophelia]

If everyone got a 'slightly wild' cat to deter rats, there would be no birds left too.

True, Birroc, but we are talking here about one persons very specific problem with rats. I think what the poster meant was to keep the cat outdoors as much as possible in order to deter the rats from coming in to the garden. Rats are clever creatures and they will not come in if they know the risk.

 

[lightswitch]

If everyone got a 'slightly wild' cat to deter rats, there would be no birds left too.[/QUOTE

Slightly wild cats exist anyway, so it is just a matter of re-locating one - zero net impact to Birds though it is true that some will die due to the cat. In my mind it is a matter of whether you are willing to live with the rodents rather than have a cat. A jack russell as another poster says is also a possible solution, cats just take less maintenance.

By the way it was the bird feeding tables that attracted the rats to my sisters garden. In case anyone else spotted it yes I did start a thread " Feed the garden Birds" during the recent snow

 

[Toby]

Gettig a cat or dog has been discussed here but with a baby and small kids in the house I don't want animals inside - maybe in a few years.

maybe I'll start a different thread on this, but if we got a cat - first how would you get it to stay in your garden and not go live somewhere else and also is it possible to keep it outside or would it keep coming in?

Just get rid of the decking if it is causing a persistent problem with rats,

This has also been discussed but there is significant cost associated with that as we'd have to get the area paved instead!

 

[Toby]

Nope this is wrong. Rats tend to store/stockpile freely available food. The key is to put the poison out every 3-4 days even if it is taken soon after you put it out. They are more likely to eat it then. I think the Storm containers give the same advice. 2 to 3 weeks of that should kill them off.

I'd agree with this, we were putting out lotsa Strom nearly every day for a while this autumn and it struck us that the rats obviously weren't eating it as they'd be dead ten times over - they must have been stockpiling it - yuck!

 

[johnnygman]

Today, 02:47 PM
Toby
Frequent Poster
Posts: 517



Gettig a cat or dog has been discussed here but with a baby and small kids in the house I don't want animals inside - maybe in a few years.

maybe I'll start a different thread on this, but if we got a cat - first how would you get it to stay in your garden and not go live somewhere else and also is it possible to keep it outside or would it keep coming in?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ophelia http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=1123143#post1123143
Just get rid of the decking if it is causing a persistent problem with rats,



This has also been discussed but there is significant cost associated with that as we'd have to get the area paved instead!



A little kennel outside for the cat with some nice warm bedding inside, if you get it as a kitten young enough it will know this as home, few feeds a day and your only problem with rats will be where to put the dead ones that he/she will leave at the door. If the cat lives outside he will always have that wild instinct and will hunt, they will kill some birds sadly but small price to keep away dirty rats...Rats wont come around then as they will know there is a cat in the area..

 

[Birroc]

Slightly wild cats exist anyway, so it is just a matter of re-locating one - zero net impact to Birds though it is true that some will die due to the cat. In my mind it is a matter of whether you are willing to live with the rodents rather than have a cat. A jack russell as another poster says is also a possible solution, cats just take less maintenance.

By the way it was the bird feeding tables that attracted the rats to my sisters garden. In case anyone else spotted it yes I did start a thread " Feed the garden Birds" during the recent snow

I reckon poison will get rid of any infestation of rats better than a cat. All you need to do is find the 'rat runs' and place the poison ensuring to have it in a place that birds cant access - use wire mesh (chicken wire) if needs be. In the cold weather the rats were desperate and it was easy to spot their rat runs especially when leaving food out for birds. Once you find a few active rat runs where the bait is being taken, put out a few pellets of poison every 3/4 days and by 3 weeks the bait should remain untouched. Do not overdo the dosage - read rat poison instructions. Storm are best for me. Leave the untouched poison there for a while in case newcomers move in.

I find that rats will be using compost bins for 2 reasons - to stay sheltered/warm or to eat rotting vegetables. Rats don't normally want to eat rotten vegetables and generally only do so where there is a lot of rotting 'meat' (usually waste/poo in septic tank pipes or sewers) in their diet and they need to 'balance' the diet (dont ask me why). So if you notice rat activity in your compost bins look out for their main source of 'waste' food i.e. holes in sewer pipes. As someone else mentioned, put wire mess (lots of it) or plasterer's wire grids under the compost bin to prevent access.

Some people use big rat traps but its a slow process if there is an infestation and they can also kill birds.

 

[wino]

I agree. I'd rather not have a cat and as I do like seeing birds in the garden. I mightn't have any choice, Three visits later from Rentokil and the rats are still here. They seem to be bypassing the poisons put down by myself and rentokil and are just using the sewer as access. rentokil have agreed to call out again at no extra charge and have instructed me not to block up the hole. I have even bought a cake tin the same circumference as the manhole to block off the hole and then perhaps dig out a trench and cement the hole in the garden. Sounding demented or what!