Eliminating Rats

[malakoffee]

There is at least one rat using my garden.

Further investigation indicates that it may be nesting in my piles of logs - stored for the woodburner.
No obvious food sources in my garden.

The elderly neighbour on one side has a habit of copiously doling out huge piles of bread for the birds.
This appears to be an ingrained habit, so trying to stop her doing this is only realistically a last resort.
I often see the rat scurrying between the gardens.

I would prefer to avoid poison bait, to avoid knock-on poisoning.
Also, recent info suggests that we have poison-resistant "super-rats" in this area.

A cage trap would permit me to release any other unfortunate animal that took the bait.

A scissor-type trap ( classic mouse-trap type ) would have to be positioned very carefully to avoid other animals . . . and even then accidental victims are a possibility.

Any useful experiences please.

[Asagi]

do you have access to an air pistol/rifle? Trap then shoot.

Or buy a second trap and insert a snap to kill mechanism. If you trap the rat successfully, you place the second trap end-to-end with the first. Open both gates. The rat runs through and is killed by the spring mechanism within the second trap cage. There is an example here:

https://youtu.be/CBAlWgmyYks?t=5m5s

Or the rat is run into a sack and then clubbed. Or you use a terrier to kill the rat on release in a confined area.

You have to steel yourself a little for this job as there will always be arguments against any method you choose to employ.

There is another squirrel example here where the type of kill mechanism is named (the video contains an image of a dead squirrel):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=856FP49zZtc

Asagi

[Meatyfool]

Not sure if I understand you correctly, but please note it is illegal to release Fermin into the wild.

If you catch a rat in a live trap, you have to dispose of it.

Previous post gives example.

Dropping the live catch trap into a water butt is not the answer.

Meatyfool..

[bionichamster]

Cage traps can work I've caught a few in cages, but you then have the problem of dealing with your captive. (sack and big stick, or airgun).

Ultimately you might want to think about placing some kill traps somewhere secure where only the rats can reach them. If you were to create a tunnel behind, under or between the logs and place a couple of traps in there then that might do the trick. There are a multitude of trap types available, a basic 'snap trap' such as a Victor 'easy set' (about £3.50) will dispatch your average rat provided it gets a clean strike at the head. To do this reliably it needs to be in a tight tunnel where the rat can only approach it head on, otherwise you run the risk of an injured angry rat dragging a trap around the place. Make the tunnel long enough so a dog or cat can't reach in (just make sure you have a way of doing so) yes there is always a chance of something else, perhaps a stoat, going in the trap, but if you live in a town this is pretty unlikely, most birds wouldn't entertain going down a deep dark hole. If the tunnel is parallel and up against a wall then it will be more effective and may not need bait (if you are baiting with something rats don't normally have in your garden you can put a few dods of the substance (e.g. peanut butter or nutella) around the area for them to get used to.

Something like a Fenn Mk4 or Mk6 trap is more powerful and more like £6-£10 and should also be used in a tunnel (in fact it's a legal requirement). I've caught a lot of rats in the smaller Fenn Mk3's but they went out of production a few decades ago

For the gold standard have a look at a DOC200 trap (about £30+), must (legally) be used in a box that meets DOC specifications. Very powerful trap and in the right tunnel unlikely to cause problems for pets etc. Highly unlikely that a rat that triggers a DOC will survive!

The other alternative is to sit very quietly in you garden with a muted light or night sight, and an airgun and wait..... maybe not!

Legislaton on rodenticde poison use changed very recently, so be careful to read the instructions before use if you go down that route, but if you clear up and place a few traps I would think that should make it unnecessary.

BH

P.s. Part of my job involves animal traps and i've trapped all sorts of things from weasels to wolves (live trap of course). If you have specific questions I might be able to answer them.

[bionichamster]

.

Not sure if I understand you correctly, but please note it is illegal to release Fermin into the wild.
If you catch a rat in a live trap, you have to dispose of it.

Not really true, there are some animals to which this applies (WCA section 14 1A) ( animals listed on schedule 9* ) and black rat is one of them, but 99% of the rats in the UK are brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) rather than black rats (Rattus rattus) and they aren't listed. However there are a (very) few places where the black possibly occurs, i think if you live near a busy port then there might be a chance, or if you live on the shiant islands although maybe not as the RSPB has just spent half a million quid trying to eradicate them...

*http://naturenet.net/law/sched9.html

BH

[hermit100]

The trap-inna-tunnel solution sounds very dangerous to hedgehogs, log piles and running along walls/fences are just the sort of places that they'd favour.

[Mike88]

Many local authorities will deal with the removal of rats and surprisingly this service is free of charge. Last year my local authority dealt with a similar problem in my garden by using a professional contractor working for the Council under contract. Apparently the Council offer this service in order to keep the rat population down and to prevent the spreading of disease. Poison was used.

[malakoffee]

Thanks for the contributions. I think I have a plan.

As you will have noticed there is no "Recommended Posts" facility in this type of Forum. ( So we will have to explicitly search for the recent posts of any ex-MotleyFool heroes who migrate over here. )

Alas, the last suggestion is inevitably confounded by a possible visit from an armed-Police Response Unit. Something that has to be traded-off against the potential entertainment value.

[bionichamster]

The trap-inna-tunnel solution sounds very dangerous to hedgehogs, log piles and running along walls/fences are just the sort of places that they'd favour.

You should always restrict the tunnel either at the entrance or inside to the minimum size for your target species (around 2 inches for a rat. I'd suggest the chance of catching a hedgehog in such a set up is minimal. If there are signs of hedgehog activity in the gardedn and there is concern about this then placing the trap tunnel higher up in the log pile should suffice, However if anyone is really worried about a non-target kill then a cage trap is obviously the way to go.

I've trapped 100's of rats with kill traps and cage traps and never killed or caught a hedgehog. I have caught lots of hedgehogs though, but for that a spotlight and a pair of thick gloves is best.

BH

[loofa]

We had a similar problem in our back garden. We happily fed the birds every day, but then the rats in the leaky old animal feed warehouse next door (I kid you not - it's semi-rural here) found out. The only way to keep the rats out, we decided, was to rat proof the fence all around the garden. We did this with chicken wire (rats don't like chicken wire - they can't chew through it) stapled to the bottom several inches of the fence and sticking out into the garden for about 12 - 18 inches, which was then covered in soil. Hard work, but it was successful, no more rats have trespassed from the outside.
One mistake, though - we missed one rat that had already dug a nest in the garden. We tried to catch it live using a cage, but said rat was clever. We caught 3 squirrels which had climbed the fence, a polecat which must also have been trapped in the garden, and a robin. Ratty obviously liked bird food and didn't like traps or cages. Oh well, we softies thought, there's only one, and wild rats only live for about one year to eighteen months. We'll put up with it until it dies. This might have been a decent plan, but said rat was pregnant and a little later we had about a dozen rapidly growing little rats who all liked bird food. We kept trying to catch the rats (which age quickly) without success, but after a couple of months more rat holes started appearing all over the garden together with many more babies. At last, we stopped feeding the birds. We now know that to get rid of rats, this is vital - remove all available sources of food. If only we had realised this blindingly obvious fact earlier - doh!
I now had a large tribe of hungry rats trapped in the garden and my lovely vegetarian wife refusing to countenance poison - for both good and bad reasons. Good grief. I could stand it no longer and quietly bought poisoned rat bait, dropping it surreptitiously at night straight down all the rat holes. They were hungry by then, so it worked. The rats have all disappeared, and the holes are now filled with earth, dead animals and my guilty secret. We are feeding the birds again and there have been no ratty reappearances. Peace at last.
I don't know if any of this is remotely useful to your circumstances, but I wish you all the best. Rats are a difficult and unhealthy problem, so don't be too soft. Good luck.

[baldpaul147]

Dealing with rats was covered in some detail in a recent Radio 4 You and Yours episode. Lots of info along with a future humane way of controlling them . Link here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b080pxsr

[88V8]

We had rats living here a couple of years ago.
They tunnelled a nest beside our front wall near the bird table.

I killed them with this
http://www.townex.co.uk/Townex_16066.html

in this
https://www.pestcontroldirect.co.uk/aca ... iles_.html

IIRC, Townex also supply their own boxes.

V8

[malakoffee]

Feedback :
I bought a spring trap and located it in a home-made box.

In the spring, it killed a rat. I don't know whether it was the same one previously seen.

A few weeks later I noticed some rat poop in the rainwater drains.

I feared that a rat had taken up residence in the large soakaway in the back garden.
I was hoping that some rainfall would encourage its departure . . . . but none came ( week after week ).

Then, I found a new hole in the middle of the lawn, adjacent to the soakaway.

I spent half a day digging along the tunnel, repairing the geotextile ( that it had chewed through in a couple of places ) and backfilling the resulting trench.
Then I blocked all exits to the soakaway.

In the morning a new hole in the lawn and a new tunnel.

I have just spent another half day, digging and repairing a large area of shredded geotextile.
I don't think that the rat liked being trapped. ( I won't try that again - it got its revenge ! )

Hopefully, it won't be back. If it does there is some tasty Townex bait in the drain inspection chamber.

[XFool]

Get a cat.

Preferably a lean and hungry one...

[didds]

bung rat poison down the hole.

in a small plastic bag, so it might drag it back to the nest and feed the 3,298 babies on it too.

Or get an air rifle, a bored 15 year old, and get them to sit up all night to shoot it/them (both of these have been successful chez didds!)
"them" because if there's one... there's not only one...

didds

[malakoffee]

Update :
It appears that the rat(s) were only hanging out in the woodpiles rather than living within.

Over 18 months
A traditional spring trap managed to kill one rat and one mouse.

Nevertheless, since then, the rat paranoia has encouraged me to buy two bait boxes and a Fenn Mk4.

This lot, despite being positioned next to an obvious rat hole under a fence, have failed catch any rat interest despite a choice of peanut butter, choc spread or poisoned bait. Too much easy grub from the neighbour I would guess.

Remember that very long, dry-spell back in the spring ?
A rat took up residence in the large, plastic crate soakaway in the back garden.
Having repaired the damaged from its new exit tunnel, I made the mistake of blocking all exits while it was still inside.

Thus, I had to repair the damage from a second exit tunnel. Although it never returned ( to the soakaway ) after that.

The battle continues. . . .. .

[JMN2]

OT, I once had a few mole hills, got fed up flattening and raking them every spring so I took a water hose and blasted one tunnel - a minute later 3 moles or voles or whatever bolted out from 3 various spots on the lawn and headed for the same direction towards the woodland, fast little buggers. A funny sight.

[bungeejumper]

OT, I once had a few mole hills, got fed up flattening and raking them every spring so I took a water hose and blasted one tunnel - a minute later 3 moles or voles or whatever bolted out from 3 various spots on the lawn and headed for the same direction towards the woodland, fast little buggers. A funny sight.

We've had success with one of those humane mole traps, which are basically a length of black plastic tube with an inward trapdoor at each end. (And ventilation.) You bury them in the mole's tunnel, which is easy because they aren't deep, and (important) you remember to check them every day. Not checking them is official animal cruelty.

The first time, the mole trap got its quarry the first night; the second one took three nights. We took the moles (separately) several miles away and let them go in a field where there already plenty of others. Our granddaughter was enchanted. Not so much our two cats, which were both dedicated ratters, and which stood guard over the empty mole tunnel for days until the smell of the beast finally faded away.

For a simpler life, stick a few bunches of euphorbia down the mole holes. They can't stand the smell of the stuff and will push off somewhere else. But wear gloves, because the euphorbia sap will burn your skin.

BJ

[didds]

Jassper Carrot had some advice provided about getting rid of moles...

didds

[tea42]

We have a bird table in the garden. Ratty used to visit it for a feast shinning up the pole and then jumping off if disturbed. I got a load of bramble shoots with really nasty thorns and tied them vertically all around the pole making it impossible to avoid them on his ascent. I then scattered a load more on the ground all around the bird table.

Never seen ratty again...