[Closed] There's a rat in my garden what am I gonna do?

Why do you need to do anything?

Nail it with a shovel. Bit of Goats cheese and some balsamic vinegar, maybe served on a bed of rocket. Best with a nice Rioja.

I guess you need to ask why it's there in the first place and do something about that. Do you or your neighbours have rabbits?

Air rifle from 1st floor window so the bullet goes nowhere if you miss

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"You're gonna fix that rat, that's what you're a gonna do"...

Sorry, it needed saying! 😉

Unless it poses a threat to health or livestock, just leave it alone I say. Too many people too quick to kill these lovely, intelligent creatures just because they've had bad press in the past.

Place I lived in; we had a nest under our garden. Had to get the council ratchatchers (as seen on TV!) in to deal with. Neighbours had complained and were fearful a child's face might get bitten. Personally I wasn't too bothered. One did almost knock my petite flatmate over mind.

The sight of dead creatures on our lawn, killed for no reason other than they were an 'unsightly nuisance', convinced me to vow never to kill another one unnecessarily. Poor little things. 😥

Get a cat - next.

....better still have mine - the bugger is bringin all kinds of small mammals at the moment....

The sight of dead creatures on our lawn, killed for no reason other than they were an 'unsightly nuisance', convinced me to vow never to kill another one unnecessarily. Poor little things.

So, Elfin, what would you do if you got a tape worm, fleas, nits or lice?
Bet you wouldn't be so understanding then, eh? 🙂

As to the rat, I'd go for the air rifle approach first.
Then nail it's body to a cross in the middle of the lawn, just to give the others a subtle message.

Partner's daughter is a researching diabetes and spends her days experimenting on rats.
She then goes home and fusses over her two pet ones, Bombay and Gordon.
They're very cute TBH, but if I saw one running about the lawn, I'd be getting the artillery out.

I'm sure I put no UB40 puns?

The next door neighbour has two cats, but that seems to make no difference. Like I said the rat walks around the garden as bold as brass. The neighbour the other side has two dogs and the family are a bit slack at picking up the dog sh*t. Dont know if that has attracted it to my garden?

Like Az said dont have a major problem with it, just dont want it nesting in the sheds. I dont know with the cold weather on the way if it will be hybernating soon?

Matt

So, Elfin, what would you do if you got a tape worm, fleas, nits or lice?

Got to doctors/chemist and get something to treat it, innit?

Can you get those things from rats? I've not heard of that. I mean, there are millions of rats about, and lots of wormy and nitty children around, but are the rats to blame? Loads of other creatures pose health risks to Humans, but we don't go round killing all of them.

Rats in da kitchen is another matter, but I say, unless they're posing a direct health risk, then leave the poor buggers alone. Work out ways to deter them from entering the garden, rather than just slaughter them.

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Buy him a cute little house:

Next door have a rat trap and they caught one on Sunday. He released the rat and their terrier had it within seconds. A few sharp shakes and one dead rat. Very efficient.

On a serious note, unless you have a cat that is the size of a small dog, and as hard as nails, they will more than likely give a rat a wide berth. I've seen a couple of cats come off VERY badly in a fight with a rat before. They can be nasty vicious creatures when pushed!

Best bet, if it's not hurting anyone, leave it alone. If it's being a nuisance, then a humane rat catcher thingy to trap it, then release it somewhere else (miles away!)... That way also gives you a chance to find out if it is someone else's pet, and if it is as such, you can alert your neighbours to its wherabouts.

Rats are not a sign of a dirty neighbourhood or anything - they're resourceful scavengers and will just take advantage of the proximity of us humans to find a meal, whether that's from bins, compost heaps, bird feeders or whatever. If you've got a bunch of gardens backing onto each other the chances are there's a rat population in there somewhere.

The truth is that rats aren't the disease ridden death bringers that popular myth would suggest, but they are vermin that dribble p!ss wherever they go, gnaw at anything and everything and breed at a fierce rate. It's up to you to decide whether you want to encourage that or not.

I tend to agree with leaving it. Make sure there is no food/water for it and it will probably soon stop wandering in.

Of course it becomes very different if it comes into your house or starts nesting.

Had a rat in the garden for a while. Can't say it ever bothered me. Quite cute to watch to be honest (there is a reason people keep them as pets).

But when we found it in our pantry one night, nibbling on my porridge, we had to take measures.

We went for sonic plugin deterrents as a humane "fair warning", backed up with poison under the floorboards as a "final solution".

Buy him a cute little house

Karin; I do hope that's got a little lift or something up to the upper floors. Has it got disabled access/facilities? Many rats suffer quite debilitating injuries you know. 🙁

Call your local authority. They will figure out how to deal with it. Generally, no charge for this on residential property. (other than your taxes of course). It has become more of an issue since they encouraged everyone to get into composting!

Can you get those things from rats? I've not heard of that. I mean, there are millions of rats about, and lots of wormy and nitty children around, but are the rats to blame? Loads of other creatures pose health risks to Humans, but we don't go round killing all of them.

I more interested in the general moral question.
I've a couple of friends who used to bang on very loudly and at great length that they'd NEVER knowingly harm another creature under any circumstances, until something similar happened to them.

Similarly, I wonder if the Dalai Lama would medicate against a tapeworm, or just give it a name and get on with the embarrasing scratching?

OMG! You're right! I almost discriminated against the less able-bodied rat - here's a rat bungalow.

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I suspect there's a family in our compost bin.
There doesn't appear to be much damage done.

But a couple of years ago there was a family brought up behind our kitchen units - we caught one youngster in the toaster. We replaced the airbricks under the house - that's where they were getting in. No trouble since then.

Generally, no charge for this on residential property.

We paid Harrogate Borough Council to get rid of our rat.

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here's me (but not the dog) in 'rat kill' mode when I was about 14. I shot literally hundreds with that old Airsporter. Rats give me the shudders.

Oh dear. 😐

I had mice. got some B&Q plastic traps (£3for 2 IIRC, B&Q own brand), withn an hour, BANG dead mouse. Reset it 20 mins later BANG another dead mouse. Whatever the bait is it seems to be prety irresistable. I'm sure there's a bigger beefier equivelant for rats.

As far as it being someone else's pet is concerned - do you think they're going to ask for it back?

@Spanner: yep I'm a big believer that we shouldn't end a harmless animals life for no good reason. e.g. I carefully catch and realease spiders, flies, moths that find themselves in my bedroom and I find the typical human reaction to stamp on them quite unpleasant.

But in terms of moral relativism, i'm quite happy to eat meat (that IS a good reason imo) and defend myself. So anything that is harming me or mine (tapeworm, mosquito, leech, etc) may find me slightly less merciful.

you have plenty of options, including the guns and the rat houses...alternatively;

one of these;
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Or;

I was going to put a picture of a landmine but searching for an appropriate picture just made me sad.

I have one too. He lives in my compost heap and loves it in there. Always scarpers when I get the compost out but he's soon back home afterwards.

Nice to see some wildlife.

McHamish > Brilliant idea, I'm getting one of those. Do they come without the bloody great eagle?

Ah yes, girls in blue cardigans are very effective rat killers

Not sure...but she could leave it outside looking for that rat.

Leave it to the professionals
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Leave it to the professionals

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right in it's cute little face.

hand grenade wrapped in bacon with cotton running from the pin to your suitably placed arm chair. obviously. I like to call this method "The Jimmy Savellie, hows do u's like that then" technique.

Speaking as someone who was basically driven from their last house by rats, I would personally get rid. My understanding is that if you are regularly seeing them during the day, there is a significant problem as they are normally nocturnal creatures. Although we thought we only saw one or two during the day (and they were [i]cat [/i]size, not like large mice), when we started baiting, there must of been hundreds. Going out in the back garden was not nice for months...dead rats....everywhere.

We sold the house and moved. My wife was pregnant, and I could not really see the baby and rats (dead or alive) being a good combo. Each to their own, but it was horrible. Once they got into the house, Jesus, I did not sleep properly until the day we moved.

these lovely, intelligent creatures who've had bad press in the past.

Relate to them can you Elfin?? 8)

Nothing unless it gets in your kitchen. Ba bum tish! I'll be here all week!

Oooo, an Airsporter. Nice rifle, a mate had one and we usd to destroy Airfix kits with it. Never shot a rat, though, they weren't as common back then. Regarding disease, they carry Wyles Disease but you only catch that swimming in polluted water and swallowing it. Oddest encounter with a wild rat was at West Kennet Long Barrow, near Silbury Hill. The hippies leave "offerings" in the barrow, and a young rat got wise to this and set up home inside the structure. I was up there on the bike and spotted him looking out of his hole, so I found some scraps and held them out. He came up and sniffed them, then climbed onto my hand and started eating, then ran up my arm and sat on my shoulder! Even had some tourists take photos, then he ran back to his hole and disappeared. So cute.

We used to have a semi tame rat living under our decking but our neighbour put poison out 🙁 However 6 months on and we have another one back so it was a bit pointless really.

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I've got one of these for catching small mammals. Got to be careful about killing grey squirrels though - RSPCA won't be impressed if they hear you've killed one in an inhumane way....

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You call the local authorities who send round the pest control officer (ratcatcher). Free for domestic properties. Had one come several times. First time my wife asked how to remove it humanely. This was met with a withering look!

Just got in from work. Looked out the patio windows and low and behold, as bold as brass Mr Rat is sat in the middle of my back garden sunning himself, with out a care in the world! Now I know he posses no threat to me at the moment and he is technically doing me no harm, but if he gets the idea that living in my garden is a "cushy" number I dont want him to invite all of his mates around for a party!!! I also dont want it to end up like a scene from Caddyshack where Bill Murrey goes to great lengths to out smart a Gofer, but always ends up loosing badly!

Matt

Phone the council, tell them you've got rats, they will likely come round and sort it sharpish for nowt. And for those people defending rats as harmless, the fact that your local council will usually get rid of them for free should tell you something about how [url= http://www.ratbehavior.org/WildRatDisease.htm ]desirable[/url] [url= http://research.ucsb.edu/iacuc/zoonotic.shtml#Rodentia ]they[/url] [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptospirosis ]are[/url] as neighbours.

I think rats are brilliant, but I wouldn't want feral ones anywhere near my house, thanks.