Forum Topic

RATS in garden - humane way to get rid of nest

Does anyone know of a humane way of getting rid of a rat's nest in a big garden.   The rat runs are extending now to the outside walls of the house although they've not gained entry but the come the cold and wet.....!   They've got to go.

Trudie Fuller ● 4413d15 Comments

Simply put.....there's no humane way! Yes you can find various things that work to remove one or possibly two...but rats have on average 7 babies every 7 weeks. Even poison put down by professionals struggle to eliminate them because the poison works slowly and the rats continue to breed.Our neighbours had rats under their shed and as we have a pond in our garden the rats had a run through to it. We used to see them every evening. We began with traps that are removed regularly...but they didn't work. Then the company put down poison...but that didn't work either.One year ago we got a cat and whilst he wasn't purchased for that particular reason, we haven't seen a rat since he was old enough to go outside. Nature really is the best option.

John Bodman ● 4412d

Going to get a cat. Rats also in my garden, in the 25 years I have lived here I have never seen one before, now I am hearing of so many!!

Jaz Brown ● 4412d

Jaz,Just be careful that the cat doesn't bring them into the house. Some cats like to present their owners with a gift and mine has regularly brought mice into the house...

Bud Richards ● 4412d

Thanks for your advice - however, I am amazed that a cat would take on a rat.  Farm cats mostly don't and they're wild, feral cats (great mousers) - always used terriers to kill the rats.  They catch 'em and toss them up in the air which breaks the rat's neck/back - job done!  Getting in the rat man with his nasty poison and hoping.

Trudie Fuller ● 4412d

Cats definitely take on rats and seem to enjoy it.

Keith Iddon ● 4412d

Jack Russell terrier. Rats have no chance.

Nigel Brooks ● 4412d

Also be aware that (according to exterminator from the council), rats can become immune to poison if they eat it little and often....eventually the poison actually attracts rats as a source of food.

John Bodman ● 4412d

Rats will only appear where there is a food supply, like rubbish left out in bags and not in sealed bins, or an open skip, or a dirty area where food is left lying around. The other likely possibility is that a manhole over sewage drain is open or broken, maybe the breather pipe in front garden is broken. Check neighbouring properties as well.

Roy Baker ● 4412d

Yes, re breather pipe.....a lovely big fat rat was sitting in ours soaking up the sun. We placed metal netting over it and it seems to have stopped. Our cat(s) kills rate often and brings them in dead.

Penny Crocker ● 4412d

What's a breather pipe?  If the poison fails my pal will need to borrow one of the big cats ofEaling to do the job.I don't think it helps that my friend is surrounded by animal lovers who regularly feed the birds and some put scraps out for the foxes - all that lovely free food for Mr (& Mrs Rat & relatives) to gobble up.

Trudie Fuller ● 4412d

"Scraps for the foxes" *sigh*What is the matter with some people?And why do you want to kill the rates humanely, Trudie? Surely speedily is the answer?Once they have gnawed their way through your home, wiring, and defecated everywhere, you might feel differently.As might your neighbours!

Mark Walker ● 4412d

Well the poison used takes 7 days to work during which time the rat bleeds to death and is in some degree of pain I understand.    It's not an instant poison so a very horrid way to die.

Trudie Fuller ● 4412d

If you are serious about getting rid of them I wouldn't be too fussy about it if I were you.

Keith Iddon ● 4412d

No she's not.  The rat man's been and put down tamper proof boxes of poison on the runs - he returns in a month's time to re-bait the boxes and again 4 weeks after that by which time hopefull they'll all have gone to their ratty doom.

Trudie Fuller ● 4411d

Trudie Fuller explained -" Well the poison used takes 7 days to work during which time the rat bleeds to death and is in some degree of pain I understand.    It's not an instant poison so a very horrid way to die. "While that's very true the fact remains that left totheir own devices, rats like all wild animals willeither catch some fatal disease or eventually get old and gradually starve to death.A process that can't be very pleasant either.What's certain is that none of them are going to die in a hospital bed, doped up with painkillers suurounded by friends and family.Its much the same with humane mouse traps, of which I've been an advocate in the past. The problem being that releasing a house mouse which is used to living in buildings into an open space such as behind a tree in a localpark totally disorientates it and leaves it in a position, on its own where its no longer able to shelter or feed itself. Probably ending up dead within days.I'm not saying there's any real solution to thisbut all solutions are equally unsatisfactory from one point of view or another.michael adams...

Michael Adams ● 4411d