Another rat problem

[garjo]

Hope you can help me with this one. Next door neighbour feeds birds. There is a day which continually goes across the top of hedge across our garden into next door to feed in fallen seed etc. We have spoken to neighbours who have cleared up fallen bird seed and still continue to feed birds. The rat still comes across the top of the hedge too if hedge down into their garden to feed. My problem is how to get rid of the rat, if I put bait box near side of fence, is this likely to attract the rat? ( I suspect not), I don't have an air rifle and anyway to shoot would be close to house's. I don't know what to do next, I'm worried the rat will kill/ eat chicks of blackbird who are also building best in the hedge. Any thoughts which might help, ta. 

Edited April 4, 2021 by garjo

[Scully]

You could tell your neighbours that the rat is still visiting, and ask if you can take action to get rid. You can do this by either contacting a local pest controller, or environmental health. 

[Mice!]

@garjo live catch trap bellow the hedge or a kill trap enclosed enough that only the rat can get in, fat balls with some chocolate spread on them, I'll bet you've caught it within a few days.

I would also put a fat ball feeder above the trap.

I would also ask the neighbour to only feed sunflower hearts or crushed nuts, general bird seed will always get thrown out by the birds looking for the good bits which will attract rats.

[WelshAndy]

34 minutes ago, Scully said:

You could tell your neighbours that the rat is still visiting, and ask if you can take action to get rid. You can do this by either contacting a local pest controller, or environmental health. 

This. I see this weekly - if there’s bird feed in winter you will get rats. 
Phone your local authority, their pest control should be cheaper than rentokil. 
 

[The Heron]

I would say that rats are a creature of habit I had one not long ago that turned up at between six forty five and seven every night so led to his demise go on amazon and purchase some rat glue boards and put them on the top of the hedge and any where so that they cannot be touched by pets I have found them most successful, good luck. 

[Ultrastu]

An air rifle   is way more fun than a rat trap .

More expensive obviously  .but more fun .

[WelshAndy]

45 minutes ago, The Heron said:

I would say that rats are a creature of habit I had one not long ago that turned up at between six forty five and seven every night so led to his demise go on amazon and purchase some rat glue boards and put them on the top of the hedge and any where so that they cannot be touched by pets I have found them most successful, good luck. 

Wouldn’t recommend these - especially on top of a hedge where birds could get stuck. 

[Rob85]

48 minutes ago, The Heron said:

I would say that rats are a creature of habit I had one not long ago that turned up at between six forty five and seven every night so led to his demise go on amazon and purchase some rat glue boards and put them on the top of the hedge and any where so that they cannot be touched by pets I have found them most successful, good luck. 

They are a great job when they can be used in a spot that isnt going to indiscriminately target anything that passes. Remember my father using it when rats came across from our neighbours, father lifted glue board and rat, slapped them off the pebbledash wall and binned the lot.

[WelshAndy]

For me they are a last resort. 
 

If you choose to use them, please read this. 
 

https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/foi/152211aw.pdf

 

[Jim Neal]

I'd use a Fenn trap in a tunnel box, screwed to the top of the fence.  Bait the inside of the trap box and treadle of the trap with something tasty they can smell from a distance, I'd stick some peanuts on the treadle as well.  Problem is if you haven't got a trap & tunnel box it's a bit of a faff and/or expense to kit yourself up with one just for what is hopefully a small scale problem.  And really it's your neighbours attracting the rats who should be doing the right thing and addressing the issue.   Do you know anyone locally who's a gamekeeper, they should surely have a fenn and tunnel box they could lend you.

I bet you it's more than one rat.  There's never only one rat.

[old man]

An observation, if using live catch you must be able to humanely dispatch.

[yates]

12 hours ago, Mice! said:

@garjo live catch trap bellow the hedge or a kill trap enclosed enough that only the rat can get in, fat balls with some chocolate spread on them, I'll bet you've caught it within a few days.

I would also put a fat ball feeder above the trap.

I would also ask the neighbour to only feed sunflower hearts or crushed nuts, general bird seed will always get thrown out by the birds looking for the good bits which will attract rats.

I have rat who sits under the bird feeder and the bits of sunflower seed that drop to the floor. It’s a balance between getting the pleasure of seeing and enjoying the bird life and unfortunate attraction of the vermin. 

[Mice!]

1 hour ago, yates said:

I have rat who sits under the bird feeder and the bits of sunflower seed that drop to the floor. It’s a balance between getting the pleasure of seeing and enjoying the bird life and unfortunate attraction of the vermin. 

Are you feeding sunflower seeds or sunflower hearts? With the hearts there is very minimum waste and by the time the pigeons,  blackbirds,  robins and Dunnocks have scoured the floor there is very little left lying around.

And a rat sat under my bird feeder wouldn't last long Pfft whack flop. 

[yates]

1 hour ago, Mice! said:

Are you feeding sunflower seeds or sunflower hearts? With the hearts there is very minimum waste and by the time the pigeons,  blackbirds,  robins and Dunnocks have scoured the floor there is very little left lying around.

And a rat sat under my bird feeder wouldn't last long Pfft whack flop. 

Just sunflower hearts. If his pals arrive then I’ll take more drastic action. 

[garjo]

Many thanks for all of your advice. We have again spoken to the neighbours. It looks like the rat is coming from a property which is empty. They plan to call in pest control, hopefully this will sort it out. Once again, thanks for your input, always value advice from pw members.

[lakeside1000]

We had a raised wooden deck behind the house which the rats loved as it was dark , they moved in shortly after we built it and I soon found the tracks and droppings around the base of the bird table, I had a couple of days great sport lying in wait for them with the Air Arms PCP, non left now and the deck has been removed and concreted over.

Now there is nowhere for them to hide we never see them, 

I worked in a garage with a huge rat problem, we used a cage trap with peanut butter and chocolate spread mixed and left in the trap in a bowl, we would catch 2 or 3 every night and just drop the cage in a water bath for testing tyre puncture repairs, they definitely cannot live under water for long. ( Sadly no shooting allowed around the garage premises )

[JKD]

6 hours ago, lakeside1000 said:

We had a raised wooden deck behind the house which the rats loved as it was dark , they moved in shortly after we built it and I soon found the tracks and droppings around the base of the bird table, I had a couple of days great sport lying in wait for them with the Air Arms PCP, non left now and the deck has been removed and concreted over.

Now there is nowhere for them to hide we never see them, 

I worked in a garage with a huge rat problem, we used a cage trap with peanut butter and chocolate spread mixed and left in the trap in a bowl, we would catch 2 or 3 every night ( Sadly no shooting allowed around the garage premises )

Hi lakeside, I'd remove the last bit of your final paragraph [as I've done in the quote] if I was you 👍

To the OP,,,, a live trap and an air pistol is probably the best and cheapest way to go 😉

[lakeside1000]

On 06/04/2021 at 11:27, lakeside1000 said:

We had a raised wooden deck behind the house which the rats loved as it was dark , they moved in shortly after we built it and I soon found the tracks and droppings around the base of the bird table, I had a couple of days great sport lying in wait for them with the Air Arms PCP, non left now and the deck has been removed and concreted over.

Now there is nowhere for them to hide we never see them, 

I worked in a garage with a huge rat problem, we used a cage trap with peanut butter and chocolate spread mixed and left in the trap in a bowl, we would catch 2 or 3 every night and just drop the cage in a water bath for testing tyre puncture repairs, they definitely cannot live under water for long. ( Sadly no shooting allowed around the garage premises )

Just to clarify the last paragraph, the date was January 1970, the place was Auckland New Zealand , at that time and in that country there were no regulations about how you treated trapped rats, shooting of any kind was out of the question as it was a place open to the public but infested by rats. the control of these was not down to me as I just worked there.

[JKD]

8 hours ago, lakeside1000 said:

Just to clarify the last paragraph, the date was January 1970, the place was Auckland New Zealand , at that time and in that country there were no regulations about how you treated trapped rats, shooting of any kind was out of the question as it was a place open to the public but infested by rats. the control of these was not down to me as I just worked there.

Whatever,,,, if you had stated that detail in your first post I wouldn't have commented on it 🤔😏

[lakeside1000]

15 hours ago, JKD said:

Whatever,,,, if you had stated that detail in your first post I wouldn't have commented on it 🤔😏

Sorry didn't mean to offend , I was at fault for not making it clear, and I do appreciate your advice, we cannot be too careful 

[JKD]

3 hours ago, lakeside1000 said:

Sorry didn't mean to offend , I was at fault for not making it clear, and I do appreciate your advice, we cannot be too careful 

No need for apologies,,,, was just looking out for a fellow shooter. We can't make assumptions in any walk of life, and thanks for the explanation 😉