Oh rats!

[oldherbaceous]

Maybe you could leave them a napkin as well, Bert.

[jane E]

Don't do that - they'd probably eat it - and it might give them tummy ache!

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Jane E, i hadn't given that a thought.

[Primrose]

Can anybody tell me how long it takes for rat bait, put down by a Council's pest controller, to take effect. He came a week ago and put the bait box down near our compost heap, which is where we think our two rats are nesting, which is also not far from some bird drinking water.

So far the pair of them are whizzing around the garden as lively as two kittens, still chasing squirrels & birds, and climbing up fences to get at nut cages without a care in the world. They certainly don't look as if they've eaten any bait at all. I've seen rats which have taken the poison staggering around before they die and these two are showing no signs at all. (I'm half glad for their sakes because I don't like to see any animal die in a slow painful way, but I just want them gone). I keep banging the compost cage whenever I pass it to try and scare them off but they're a pair of feisty little blighters who don't want to be evicted.

[Elle's Garden]

All of OH's advise is completely spot on.

The blue poison is anti-coagulant and the antidote to this is Vitamin K - readily available in brussels, cabbages, Kale, peanuts, maize, many animal feeds including layers pellets. All the sorts of things we gardeners and animal lovers will have lying about either growing, on compost heaps or ready to feed. Alternative treatments are available from pest controllers, but these are not licenced to be used outside at all. The only answer is to try and restrict these items for a period of time whilst keeping a continuous and plentiful supply of the blue poison available, until no more is taken. It must also be remembered that you may be treating the rats from quite an area if your neighbours are close and not looking to their own problems.

Council pest controllers may not have the time or resources to be so readily available, but depending on yours, you may be able to have a sensible , discreet conversation, about minimising vitamin K exposure and maximising poison. If not, you may need to speak to a private company.

Hope that helps a bit, I'll let my pest controlling hubby get back to the telly

[Primrose]

Elle's Garden - that's interesting about rats eating Vitamin K as an antidote o rat poison and this being readily available in brussels, cabbages, Kale, & peanuts. I wonder if this is why, instinctively, they are so anxious to get at the peanuts. Another thing I've noticed over the past week is that the pair of them are systemically stripping the parsley plants I've got in some containers on my patio. They appear to be pulling leaves off them and taking them in their mouths back to the compost heap. I suspect that my putting all my brussels sprouts peelings onto the heap is also negating the effect of any poison.

If the bait doesn't start working soon I may have to start putting all my garden waste into a large bucket in the garden and let it rot down there until the problem has been resolved. I've also spotted them climbing into my newest compost cage, picking up all kinds of green kitchen waste and disappearing with it so I suspect this is going to be a long battle to eradicate them. As far as I can tell, I think we only have two rats at the moment because I'm now starting to recognise their slightly different features & fur colour, but it surely won't be long before more start appearing on the scene.

What concerns me is that they're running across my vegetable patch. How on earth do I eliminate any possible toxicity from any urine they may leave on it? Will rain wash it away or at least dilute it to the point where it isn't a dangerous issue?

[Geoff]

If you are able to observe them so easily I suggest you invest in an air rifle.

[Elle's Garden]

Hi Primrose,

It does sound as though you have all the facilities they need!

Tim says that the diseases they carry, such as leptospirosis, tend to accumulate in standing & stagnant water. Any urine that they may leave across the veggie patch should be washed away by the rain etc, but he does say you should be careful to wear gloves, particularly if you have any open wounds - not because it is likely that there is infection - but because it is a possibility and best avoided. Try to eliminate any standing water where they may drink from because that could also be a breeding ground for disease.

I am afraid he doesn't really know about the likelihood of it getting into/onto the veg - but I would think at this time of year that you would be cooking anything from the patch?

They can be so tricky to get rid of, you may have to have a really determined period of action - or get that air-rifle!

[alan refail]

Morning Primrose

Seems you are in good (or bad!) company!

Rat at Number 10

[Primrose]

I've just watched a very unedifying spectacle in our garden. One of our two resident compost heap rats suddening appeared from nowhere and attacked a magpie foraging around on the lawn. It was an absolutely ferocious attack and although the magpie managed to escape, one of its legs was bitten off in the process and the lawn is now scattered with feathers. I was too late to rush out and intervene - not that I'm any great fan of magpies. (No wonder next door's cat no longer comes into our garden!)

This incident has made me realise just what a menace these rats are starting to become. They regularly chase squirrels and birds around the garden, and although the Pest Control people came a fortnight ago to put down a bait box, the pair of them still seem as healthy as ever, with no sign of any bait having been taken.

We've stopped topping up the bird tables to remove a source of food, although the peanut cages are still hanging out for the bluetits. I think we now have no option but to dig out our two "in progress" wire compost cages mid season, and rehouse all the stuff in Dalek type bins. I was hoping we could avoid doing that until the autumn when we usually dig the stuff out but our garden is now becoming a daily battlefield.

[jane E]

You have my sympathies. My problem is rabbits, who invade and devour everything. Since we live on a smallholding, we can use an air rifle, which my husband keeps up in the bedroom. He takes aim from an open upstairs window and has successfully kept the problem to manageable proportions. Do I gather this is not an option? It's very effective and 'tin practice' improves their aim immensely!

[alan refail]

I wonder where rats prefer to live, town or country?

We live in a village, our field has six poultry houses, the birds are fed outside and they do not always finish it all - at the moment the starlings finish it in the morning - we have a couple of hundred yards of river bank and there are four compost bins in the garden; ideal rat conditions, I should have thought. Yet in over ten years I have only seen rats, or evidence of rats, about three times. The last time was about three years ago when I disturbed a nest; the mother ran off and I dispatched the young with the back of a spade. No sign since. Mice and voles in controlled numbers - the local cats see to that - but no rat problem. Perhaps they just don't like the country life!

[oldherbaceous]

Morning Alan, i think you are just very lucky, as normally where there is a food source, rats will appear.

Hence the continuing problem of feeding birds and rats appearing.

Morning Primrose, i don't suppose they use them anymore but, it might be worth asking the pest controller if they use rat trap cages anymore.
One more thought, you could push a hosepipe into the middle of the compost heap for half an hour, they don't like their nesting area getting wet.

[Primrose]

Thanks for the soaking hint OH. In desperation I've actually taken the plastic covering off the heap where I think they're nesting and am emptying a watering can full of water onto the top of it every day as another deterrent. And still they come back.......

I'm beginning to think we've bred a super rat which is destined to eventually take over the world !

[Geoff]

Don't forget to watch 7:30 tonight

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/head ... ls-in-rats