Kitchen Garden Forum

Along where you think they are travelling against the steel sheet.

Thank you Peter! Will do.

Why don't you try a humane trap I used one to catch the polecat you have to bait them and when successful you have to dispatch the rats , with you knowing the runs it should be easy, I didn't have any joy with the bait stations the poison was rarely touched

I have just had about a 3rd of my potatoes eaten by them, what i would like to know is? can i still plant in that bed or will i have to disinfect or even remove the soil, would appreciate your thoughts on the subject. thanks jeff

Afraid I don!t have a definitive answer Jeff. When we had a rat invasion in our compost heap some years ago and the pest control people came in I asked about possibly contaminating the soil on my veg patch by subsequently digging the compost in. He seemed to suggest that the natural weathering and dilution with rain would minimise the risk but I suspect this was a "top of the head" response. Whether he had any scientific information to back that up I don't know.

If nobody on here has an answer which reassures you, either the RHS (if you're a member) or possibly your pest control department at your local council may have more information. I don't know whether a good soaking with diluted Jewes Fluid would suffice.

Maybe several of us should email our respective Pest Conteol Departments at our local councils for advice and compares notes ( if indeed they still exist and haven't been abolished as a result of years of austerity cutbacks).

Blimey Jeff!

Never thought of that on the soil! I have totally disinfected the shed after their invasions in there. They haven't attacked the spuds but are enjoying the low fruit on the trees & peeing on the Jerusalem Artichokes on the way - gross!

Primrose, the council comes down a few times a year & put out traps but nowhere near where near the where the rats run! Found one of their traps under the Rose out the front? Not likely they will run along there when the neighbours chickens are back of the plot! I moved it but what a waste & badly researched so I (& chicken keeping neighbour) spend on the pink blocks which seem to work as have had a clear period for about 8 weeks so feel new tribe as think we wiped out the others!

Seen one rat suffering & not nice & wished I had the bottle to whack it, but but veg over vermin! x

Just had a quick look at our local council's pest control section of their website. No contact information at all for information. Everything now seems to be outsourced to contractor to whom you pay a fee for a visit to come and put down bait but no contact details for any scientific advice of the nature Jeff is looking for.

thanks anyway Primrose I will keep asking around locally. Westi, they are a bit more energetic up here they climed to the top of my apple tree which is about 6ft and cleared the lot last year.

OMG jeff64!

6 foot & got your apples! Here I am pining my plums but my apples store & are more valuable. Got some Victoria Plums up high so maybe mine get vertigo! Hopefully my rats are dead though, so will get another window of opportunity to collect my fruit.

My neighbour is very diligent with his chickens but they can get through anything if they want, but we track their paths together & put out the bait together & think we blew a generation out of the water & now have to tackle the next wave - before they snack on anymore of my fruit!

Are you certain they are rats and not squirrel's

robo wrote:Are you certain they are rats and not squirrel's

In the case of Greys, they're the same thing ........

Tree rats tend to suffer from lead poisoning here.

Definitely Rats in my case & they get my sweet corn if I grow it down on the plot as well. Peter very kindly explained about their abilities at climbing & not breaking stems otherwise I would have blamed mice!

I wouldn't have thought we had a rat problem as I've rarely seen one, that is until my young cat started bringing dismembered bits of rat back almost every day. It is usually a head and the back legs and tail on the mat.

Hi PP!

Your cat must be huge! My rats are the size of a cat! They do reckon though that you are always only a few feet from a rat at any time...gross thought really!