Blocking holes in garden boudaries

Just leave it, rats will find another way in if they want to come that way.

You're never more than 10m away from a rat or someat....

You 

Will

Not

Stop

Rats

They will climb over that fence without a second thought. All you will achieve is blocking off the hedghog.

Get/borrow a trail camera to see what's using the hole. If you don't see a hedgehog for a few nights then it's probably not being used by them.

If you do block it up then make sure there's suitable access holes elsewhere - fully sealed gardens are one reason why hedgehog populations have declined. General advice for leaving hedgehog gaps in boundaries is to make them about the size of a CD case though ours squeeze though a lower gep under a fence.

In my experience blocking holes, flooding, huge fireworks don’t deter rats. They do like a safe place to eat their food and nest, decking is perfect for that. If you can put a hedgehog proof trap or poison down that will help.

 I don’t like poison though,  I use my dogs.

Do you/neighbours have bird feeders that drop food or have food supply lying about (fruit, rubbish etc etc), you won’t stop rats but the less you encourage them the better. 

you can get cheap spring traps off eBay, I also bought a plastic box with a lid, tape the trap inside, , cut a small access  hole in the side of the box to try to restrict access to grandchildren, birds, hedgehogs etc etc. 

Thanks... Might just leave it then unless it becomes a real issue.
I wouldn't use poison unless it developed into a real issue and then only as a last resort.

Neighbour 2 doors down is an avid feeder of birds.. I guess if that's a food source they could just be commuting through...

We had rats (and mice) under our decking, started after I put up bird feeders. Went away after I put rat poison down in appropriate traps to prevent other animals accessing it.

Might be a tricky ask, but are his feeders “protected” , I have tree and pole hanging bird feeders,I have flowerpots etc etc wired underneath the feeders  (wider than feeder) to try to minimise food dropping down and they’re protected at the top by squirrel baffles.

this was done as we had a rat coming up/down the tree into the tree hanging feeders, and I don’t ground feed for that reason.

Rats live everywhere. My neighbours and I coordinated a hedgehog superhighway through all of the surrounding gardens to keep them off the road. We have mice using it too, but I think that's a consequence of feeding the hedgehogs.

Tickle them, rats love a good laugh.

They're awesome at hide-and-seek, so give up now 🙂

In response to the tickling, the rats shimmied in delight and let out endless “giggles.”

The rats were also given the opportunity to hide while the researchers looked for them, and they proved to be especially good at coming up with creative hiding spots. Their ability to strategize was “almost spooky,” Brecht recalls.
https://www.science.org/content/article/tickled-rats-reveal-brain-structure-controls-laughter

Time to get a local farmer kid to bring their ferret round once a month or so.

In the late 1980's I used to go along with a pal who earned a £10 every Saturday by visiting the three farms, couple of small hotels, and a couple of houses in the village with his ferret. Usually got 25p a rat. His ferret was amazing - would just disappear and then re-appear either with dead rat or chasing them - where me and my pal would be waiting spade in had to dispatch them. We also earned 10p a crow through autumn with a .22.

All was good until he found out that being successful was not good for business and so he had to move to a £2 a visit charge...

+20 to all those that said that you've no chance of stopping them by blocking one [potential] entrance - just live with it or trap them.

Posted by: thepurist

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If you do block it up then make sure there's suitable access holes elsewhere

erm.... 🤔

In the late 1980's ................We also earned 10p a crow through autumn with a .22.

Illegal since 1981, surely? We made do with shooting at those coconut bird feeders that people had in their gardens in the 80s! 😆 

Posted by: thepurist

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Get/borrow a trail camera to see what's using the hole. If you don't see a hedgehog for a few nights then it's probably not being used by them.

Hedgehogs cover a wide area when they’re foraging, and can have a number of hideaways that they use, they generally only stick to one when they’re looking after hoglets. 
I have a couple of ‘houses’ in my garden, but they’ve only used them when they have hoglets, or if there’s a very cold spell and they hibernate, but I’ve seen their footprints in snow before now, where they’ve been scoffing the food I put out for them.

I’ve also had a couple of rats over the last six or seven years, I’ve watched them popping out from underneath my shed, grabbing bits of food that the birds drop - they’ve never been a problem, I don’t mind them at all.

Rats love decking, good dry warm place to live. 
if possible could you cut access hatches in the decking so you can monitor what’s going on. 
Rats don’t like being disturbed, if you continually disturb them they will likely move on to safer areas. It will help if you can put pea shingle under the decking as rats don’t like crossing ground that moves. They also stick to a routine when looking for food which is another good reason to disturb them. 
Rats also hate lavender, we have planted loads around our garden and it certainly helps. 
Contacting a specialist rat Catcher will help as they are almost as cunning as the rats. 
We bought a Patterdale Parsons Jack Russel’s cross who keeps the rats at bay. The most wonderful dog we have ever owned by the way. 
We had to ask our neighbours to cut down on bird feeding as the row of bungalows which we live in was getting overrun, make sure they don’t get in your house as they are harder to get rid of once they move in. 
Amazing creatures and very resilient. 

I’d imagine a Goodnature trap would be hedgehog safe and they’re pretty effective dispatchers of rodents.