Cant Start Thread In Rehoming But Need Help

Sorry have put this in wrong place as cant seem to start a thread in the rehoming section.
My friend has many outdoor rabbits that are homed in a large shed outside in her garden.
However, she has been plagued with rats and her landlady has said that the rabbits have to be rehomed before they can deal with the rats.
One of the baby rabbits has unfortuneately been lost to the rats which was extremely traumatic for my friend so she is now desperate to get the rabbits rehomed in case anything happens to them.
If anyone can help and they pm me i will give you her number to call and talk to her.
Hope you can help xx

If there is no other way round this with her landlady, if you pm SOAD she would be able to put all the details for you in RIN She'll need to know things like sexes, if they're neutered / speyed, vacs, ages etc.

I really hope you're friend is able to get things sorted for her bunnies - she must be so upset

I think first though I'd be tempted to speak with Environmental Health at her local council before doing something so drastic. We had a bait box put down last year when we started getting rats in the garden & it sorted our problem out Our neighbours were convinced it was the bunnies that had caused them, but in fact rats appear for many other reasons too :?

Has your friend tried contacting her local private rabbit rescue or RPSCA rescue first? :wave:

Has your friend ensured that there is no food laying around? I only feed my rabbits at night when they are locked away in their shed. They get hay and the garden to munch the rest of the time. This ensures there is never food available when access could be gained to the shed.

Good luck to your friend. Hope she manages to sort it out without having to rehome them. :wave:

Bunnyaddict said:

I think first though I'd be tempted to speak with Environmental Health at her local council before doing something so drastic. We had a bait box put down last year when we started getting rats in the garden & it sorted our problem out Our neighbours were convinced it was the bunnies that had caused them, but in fact rats appear for many other reasons too :?

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I'd agree with this too. Bait can be very effective if it is a sudden local surge in rat population. We had one here. But it must be used in a bait box to protect all other wildlife and especially your friend's rabbits, and the box kept well out of any area that the bunnies use.

Thank you that is really helpful, what is a bait box and how would she get one.
Unfortunately they have eaten a whole into the shed and when covered went and ate another so they are nesting under the shed that the rabbits live in and so are tunnelling up and trying to eat at the rabbits food.
The neighbours etc are all saying it is the rabbits.
The landlady says that pest control have said they wont come out to clear them until the rabbits are gone as they will just come back again if the rabbits stay.
I was a little worried that this is not true and the landlady just wants the rabbits gone, but dont know enough about rat infestations to say.

Rats come in for all sorts of reasons, normally food brings them in in the first place, but when we had our rat problem - under nextdoor's decking! :roll: they simply ate all the frogs, worms and slugs/snails in our garden. We had removed all bird food by then but it made no difference. Rats will eat anything.
Your friend needs to do several things:
Fill in the holes under the shed everytime they appear - rats can shift huge amounts of soil - they did under our shed.
Remove any food that is accessible to the rats. So the shed needs to be made rat proof - all holes mended/sealed off and make sure they can not get in under the door etc. Buns need ventilation though so she will have to figure something out.
Remove any bags of compost, waste, junk, anything around the shed or garden that the rats could move to. This means cutting back bushes and scrub and basically tidying your garden up. They will move elsewhere... but can and will still visit so ALL source of food need to be kept out of reach. Put rabbit food into sealable storage containers with lids and only feed rabbit food in the shed itself. If the buns are outside at times - as already said only give them hay outside - hay/grass throughout the day is ideal for buns, they do not need food outside. Rats do NOT eat hay!
Remove any bird feeders/food for the time being.

Bait boxes and bait can be bought from places like B&Q or Scats countrystores etc. You must wear gloves when handling bait and wash hands afterwards. Fill the bait box as directed on instructions somewhere well away from rabbits and over something that stops it dropping on grass/ground, put a sheet down or do it over a bin or something. Seal the box and put it somewhere the rabbits can not get to it - round the back of the shed, behind the fence or if you leave the holes under the shed open you can leave it facing into the hole so they go straight in. It takes a while to work but it is very effective. You have to use sufficient bait to prevent resistance to the bait.

We also used traps - personally I feel they are much quicker and more humane than bait - but we had a very strong rat here that broke both heavy duty traps and got away:shock:. They work well on the young however.
I hate this whole thing, I couldn't do it, my OH had to deal with it all as killing anything upsets me. The rats were in our neighbours garden and under their decking and all the gardens were being overrun. One neighbour pointed out it must be our rabbits bringing them in - until I told her that I don't feed rabbit food at all - that shut her up! :lol: It was nothing to do with our rabbits, they were coming in to everyone's garden for bird food amongst other things, and with such competition from so many rats, they ate all the insects/worms/frogs etc instead. We even had a fish go missing from our little pond.
Very sad really But unfortunately has to be done.

Thanks very much for all your info and help, will pass all this on and see if we can get rid of them. xxx I agree it is so sad, i think she felt like this too, but when she found her baby bunny being attacked by them she changed how she feels and now feels angry towards them, i am glad that has not happened to me as i would be so upset must have been so horrible. x

It might also be worthwhile to get a drain check done, most rats live in the sewers and only come out when there is a break in pipes somewhere.
Where we lived before our neighbour had a break in their pipe, the rats were getting into the cavity walls and using next doors loft as a nesting site Once the drain was repaired everything was okay.

Hope it gets sorted and your friend keeps her bunnies

I would be very surprised if the Council had refused to come out until the rabbits had been rehomed & suspect the landlady is spinning her a yarn :?

We have 24 buns & the Council never once intimated we would have to rehome the buns when they came to visit us. Granted we were not over run with rats, we'd only seen a few - but it was enough to make our neighbours freak & assume it was us! :evil:

The Council were more than happy with how we kept the buns & cleanliness etc - they said it was actually more likely that my neighbour feeding the birds & having a compost heap that had attracted them :? We had a bait box left for a week, which was replaced by them each week for the next 3 weeks. Ain't seen another rat since You watch now I've said that, they'll bloomin come back :?

I hated having to have bait boxes down, as like prettylupin has said, I hate the thought of having to kill anything - even a rat. But I had to tell myself it had to be done sadly for the sake of our bunnies.

I'd be tempted to ring the Council myself if I was your friend & not rely on her landlady's word :?

Thanks so much for all responses i shall pass it all on , i think very much the same as you, but i think she is really struggling as all the neighbours are getting so upset by it all now. Fingers crossed and thanks for your help x

I guess the landlady is spinning a yarn here too!

We had a rat problem suddenly occur over a few weeks at the rescue, and had to get someone in to deal with it.

They used bait boxes and managed to work around the fact that there were 2 dogs using the area along with 160 rabbits, the vast majority of whom have enclosures.

The problem was solved quickly and efficiently, no rabbits or dogs were harmed (although I should think quite a few rats were), and we've had NO reoccurance since.

Whilst your friend tries to resolve this she needs to tack wire mesh all around the base of the shed, and lay it inside on the base of the shed if they are coming in from underneath to protect the bunnies.

thank you that is really helpful. xxx

If your friend is in Banbury, try Barks to see if they will take them, or Blue Cross at Burford.

Hello raine thanks, yes have given her some numbers now. I am in Banbury but she is just out. x Thanks again

I think it would be more humane and efficient to use LIVE traps. everyone thinks they don't work or you can't catch them fast enough but thats not true. If you can with deadly traps and poison, why not live ones? Same difference really. Just set out a few every night with strong smelling food in them and you'll catch and relocate a few everyday. You can even use buckets so that way you can set out many at once.

William said:

I think it would be more humane and efficient to use LIVE traps. everyone thinks they don't work or you can't catch them fast enough but thats not true. If you can with deadly traps and poison, why not live ones? Same difference really. Just set out a few every night with strong smelling food in them and you'll catch and relocate a few everyday. You can even use buckets so that way you can set out many at once.

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I appreciate this is ideal and far more humane but where exactly would you suggest relocating them to? Especially for those who live in cities? Surely that is just moving the problem elsewhere without actually solving it?:?

has this lady thought about getting someone to foster her bunnies whilst the rat problem is dealt with, some rescues will help out or know of someone.

Basically you will pay for all food and any vet treatment whilst being fostered.

Might be another idea?

William said:

I think it would be more humane and efficient to use LIVE traps. everyone thinks they don't work or you can't catch them fast enough but thats not true. If you can with deadly traps and poison, why not live ones? Same difference really. Just set out a few every night with strong smelling food in them and you'll catch and relocate a few everyday. You can even use buckets so that way you can set out many at once.

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Unfortunatley you cannot catch rats & release them - I was told by our Council I would be breaking the law doing this & could be prosecuted. Basically all you would be doing is relocating the rats elsewhere to become someone else's problem :?

That's a really stupid law. How would they get back into someone's home if you released them in the woods or a field somewhere? I'd just do it anyway, there's no way they could find out and how would you be arrested for saving innocent lives?