Rats

[cacran]

My friends neighbour keeps asking her if she's seen any rats in her garden. He says they are coming from under her fence.  We have looked and can see no evidence of them. she is a very tidy gardener with no debris around.
I was sitting in her garden when the neighbour bobbed his head over the fence to ask/ acuse her again. I say acuse as he was very acusing in his manner. He said he was getting the rat catcher in again and that he would send him round to see her. I told him that there must be rats everywhere because a couple of weeks ago the pest control were putting poison down the manholes in the roads by us. I work at the nearby school where they have had to have pest control in a lot over the past year. Surely this questioning is going over the top. They do say that wherever you are you are only feet away from a rat. I felt really sorry for my pal, she was very embarassed. she has a guinea pig which she puts out in a run for a couple of hours everyday in her garden, and back in the porch where it lives the rest of the time. I think this guy is trying to say the pet is attracting rats. Could it?

[cacran]

[daileg]

no it has moe to do with the food content its been a bad winter for rats very wet and cold no food around but how far away is the local takaways or shops as they heve a big influence on the locality of rats (Rubbish) is it in bags in wheelybins

[cacran]

Rubbish is in wheely bins.  There is a food factory about 1/8th od a mile away which I am told, has rats in the grounds. I think the guy should chill out a bit. This area is well kept, all the gardens are looked after. My friend feeds the wildlife on a high up bird feeder, nothing like bread on the ground etc. We have lots of wildlife around, foxes, squirrels, frogs, hedgehogs and birds. Seems a shame to have a rat fixation, to me.

[Hector]

Cacran, has land has been disturbed somewhere? We live near a railwayline and a farm...whenever they shift/disturb big areas of soil/undergrowth all of us liveing near the line see rats.
In saying that, we have birds and they do throw their seed about, so when we have bad/wet winters we see the rats edging in to garden/trying to dig into aviaries. We clean/sweep daily then as they are more on the "hunt" than usual. So, don't think it's your pals guinea pig but if rats are about it pays to be extra cautious re not leaving food container uncovered etc and important to have robust mesh on gp's housing as the will try to take small mammals ( friends lost aviary birds this way. Will enviromental health sort it?
I think the chap sounds as if he hasn.t twigged that there are always a lot of rats about!
Jackie

[shadowdragon]

We have rats living under our shed, I know because one of my westies caught one once  ;D

My neighbour pointed out that he had seen one recently coming from our garden into his. I pointed out they were living under my shed, but only because they thow food out into the back ect (some of which lands in our garden!!!). And he doesnt have a shed, so no where to live, and that they came into his garden looking for the scraps they discard by thowing on the floor at the bottom of there garden (pizza, chips, chicken bones, you name it they thow it!!) He decided not to continue the conversation for some reason. I did point out with 4 westies there must be a very strong reason to set up home under my shed!!

[Robert_Brenchley]

This sounds ridiculous. Rats are everywhere, it's no reflection on any individual.

[asbean]

We (and our semi-detached next door neighbour) have had a rat problem since January.  There is a rat's nest under one of their sheds, and one of them had babies in our loft.  We tried all sorts of traps, sonic devices lights and radios but it made no difference.  They just danced on the patio, thumbing their noses at our two cats.  Trouble is, they multiply very quickly.

Last week as a last  resort I phoned the council and the ratcatcher from Serco came with his case of poison.  He's visited three times so far, and the visitations are much less - I think there is only one rat left now, who runs up our wall and then rattles up and down the guttering.  He could only deal with next door's problem after they had phoned the council, not on my say-so.  So next door phoned the council just after I did.  It's impossible to cure the problem unless everyone around co-operates.

Mr Ratcatcher said the problem has escalated over the last 18 months, and is due to a lot of factors, changing climate, building works, farmers using different methods, but he is a lot busier than he used to be.  I'm convinced it's building work going on near us, and also there is a lot of student accommodation in our road now, hence more rat-friendly rubbish.

The service from our council is free, so it's worth contacting them, as they are the experts, and can identify the runs and nests.

I hate the poison part of it, but it seems to be the only solution.  They are very careful to ensure that the stuff is laid where it is inaccessible to other animals (cats, birds, children etc). 

[shadowdragon]

  They are very careful to ensure that the stuff is laid where it is inaccessible to other animals (cats, birds, children etc). 

;D ;D ;D

That last sentence made me laugh.