So yesterday I was standing at the computer in the living room, which sits beside a window overlooking our (completely paved) back garden, when I notice some movement.

I take a look, and it is a rat of fairly substantial proportions.

I am in an end-of-terrace with a solid brick wall surrounding three sides of the garden, and only a gate beside the house leading down a passage into the rest.

It was bin day.

Rat psychologists: Any guesses on whether the hideous creature was just exploring and this is a one-off, or if I can expect him to have moved in and invited his mates?

Should I be preparing for war?

Clean the mess from your garden. They won’t hang around if there’s no food.

Do a massive poo in the middle of your yard. That should err, well, just do it and report back. No need for photos.

They travel single file to hide their numbers.

Or is that sand people?

There’s always more than one.

@saxon, as above give the garden a good clean out – no food = no interest for them. Re wall etc rats are good at digging 😉 , they will find a way in. TBH they are probably out and about most nights when you are tucked up in bed. Only really an issue if you have young kids and especially if they start coming into the house.

They’re pretty good climbers too, I’ve caught one scaling the 6ft fence in my back garden!

Paint your fence in Rolandseal.

IGMC.

I saw one in my garden a week or so back – first one I’ve seen for a couple of years.

Last time, we were advised (by neighbour who’s retired pest controller) to stop feeding the birds as the rats just feed off stuff dropped off the feeder and bird table. He also suggested getting rid of my log pile, as apparently would make nice habitat for rats’ nest. (I only did the former…)

I suspect this new one could be living down the garden under shed, but I also saw it (or could it be one of its friends/siblings/parents) on the patio, which did concern me – too close to house for comfort, especially with summer and leaving patio doors open.

I don’t fancy the idea of putting down poison so instead bought an electronic zapper; they get fairly positive reviews on Amazon. So far though, despite being bated with bread (obviously in true STW fashion made in bread machine) and peanut butter I’ve not caught anything yet. Not seen ratty this week though, so maybe one of the neighbours has dealt with it.

They’re pretty good climbers too, I’ve caught one scaling the 6ft fence in my back garden!

had a couple in the hawthorn trying to get to the bird feeders once, seemed quite at home in the branches

Just Nuke it from orbit!!

**May be slightly overkill**

Google nooski traps for a non poison based catch.

If it was a squirrel would you be worried?

If it was a squirrel would you be worried?

You should be

[/url]Squirels by sandwicheater1, on Flickr[/img]

If only it was in your kitchen. You could sing a song about it.

You’d be surprised just how close we all are to rats and mice. Lots of them everywhere.

In my old house I heard a scratching/breaking noise then suddenly what sounded like hundreds of little feet running across the attic above my bed.

When the ratcatcher says ‘the traps/poison will catch em but they may smell for a couple of days if one manages to crawl off and die in a void….

If only it was in your kitchen. You could sing a song about it.

Thats a very old Ska/windrush song. UB40’s was merely a cover of it!

No!! No!!

eeees a Siberian Hamster!

When I was kid, the occasional appearance of a rat in the garden was the cause of much excitement for my brother & I as it meant we could shoot something living with our air rifles with the full blessing of our parents.

Vicious critters – I mean the rats, although I guess a teenager with an air rifle is as well!

Still remember the time our Doberman got a rat cornered – and I had to pull it off. No – I mean I had to pull the rat off the dog – literally, as it bit through its lip and wouldn’t let go!!

I just looked up the Nooski Rat Trap online, and was impressed until I looked on Amazon. First of all, it gets poor reviews, then I got grossed out when I saw that ‘Customers that bought this product also bought the “OXO Good Grips Smooth Potato Masher”‘.

inside one of these

They love strawberry 🙂

I get them in my loo too.
Nothing worse than a nice relaxing poo curtailed by the sound of free-diving turd burglars beneath your swinging undercarriage.

Twang

Worse if you have read this

I’ve spent a few quiet evenings in my backward, beer and air rifle. Just waiting. Soon.

hora – Member
You’d be surprised just how close we all are to rats and mice. Lots of them everywhere.

^This – not necessarily a cause for panic.

The dry stone walls in our garden are very old and we live (relatively) out in sticks, so they are home to frogs, toads, newts, lizards and at least two types of mice. Despite some of them being seen within a metre or two of the house, we’ve never had them inside.

Keeping the garden clean and tidy and free of food – at the very least close to the house – is key, as is ensuring the place is “animal tight”; mice can squeeze through unbelievably small gaps and also scale walls. I;d imagine rats are not far off in this respect.

SaxonRider – for the purpose of this thread, perhaps a change of username?

When I was kid, the occasional appearance of a rat in the garden was the cause of much excitement for my brother & I as it meant we could shoot something living with our air rifles with the full blessing of our parents.

+1

As a kid I used to spend many a Saturday lying on top of a stack of hay bales, sniping rats on a family member’s farm.

One tip…you need a good backstop. 😳

^devils advocate. So if cats werent cuddly, would we be fussed about the above picture reversed in someway? 😉

^ you can play fantasy mammal face-off to your hearts’ content, Barnaby and I are not interested 😀

We had one visiting our garden and my experience of live traps and poison with mice led me to buy a rat sized snap trap.
Didn’t take long to not have a rat in the garden

With poison they run off and die – horrible death.
Live traps you have to take them miles away to be effective.
Snap trap – clean, quick and painless.

Years ago one of my kids came in the kitchen and told me there was a big mouse in the garden. Was actually the biggest rat you’ve ever seen. Went for it with a length of wood (been doing some diy) and it shot into a drain, cover was off, jammed stick down, water seemed to be foaming with rats. I was sure there were at least three. Horrible. But actually only one, big bugger, that I wanted to parade in triumph up and down the street. (I probably had a touch of that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, mind, as a few weeks later on hols at a cottage with friends we thought there was a mouse in the drain. I got a stick and gingerly moved the drain cover and a little sparrow flew out, is what happened; monster rat jumped at my face is what I thought, for an instant.)

Anyway, the moral of the story is hit it with a stick!

Live traps you have to take them miles away to be effective.

<insert Double Face Palm>…

You kill them there and then, either an air rifle or just drowned them (while in the trap). Plus no half-caught rats (ie legs) left as in a normal trap.

Went up into the loft yeaterday, lovely smell at one end and mouse crap lying about the place, can only imagine what it could havce been eating up there.

We got a decent electronic scarer that worked, think it chased them all upstairs though, will need to get some more…

I had a pet rat called mr sleeks….he was a lovely little fella. Much nicer than that horrible looking cat up there…given the choice between shooting a cat and a rat, the cat would get it every time. Loathsome creatures…

Get a cat, then you find dead rats in your house most weeks….

IIRC, legally if you catch a rodent, you have to kill it. If you take it somewhere else you merely displace the problem/infestation.

I seem to remember something too about an obligation to control pests on your own land, although that is a bit vague and is not tantamount to zero tolerance.

Jack Russells…

Job done

[video]https://youtu.be/RntxCmqQqSA[/video]

Don’t hurt the poor chap, probably got a family.

Any building work going on near you?
When I was sanding our floors one came up to the French windows for a look .
Cheeky bugger. It was massive and looked as healthy (shiny coat) as the cute one up there.
Poisoned it .. Now the fox keeps most nuisance animals away.