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Rat in the Garden??

MichG

Mama Doe
I have a rat living under my compost bin... Should I leave it? Whats the best way to get rid of it?

I am worried about it bringing in diseases or biting my buns.
Should I panacur them all as a precaution?

I know there are rats about all the time, but I definitely know this one is around ande under my compost bin (I found fresh droppings this morning!!)
 
Personally I wouldn't want to leave it. I think like mice it's a case of there is never just one... I don't know any bunny safe methods tho... Sorry!
 
I had this dilemma, but it was passing thru my garden, but it seems to have gone - the only thing you can do is get a snap trap (but make sure its out of the way of the bunnies) i did read somewhere that you can get snap traps that are in something to stop other animals / birds getting in (i didn't wanna trap a squirrel by accident).

I also read a horrific thing about a rat attacking a pair of bunnies it was awful x
 
I would get rid of all it's good source as much as possible. If there's nothing for it to eat it won't stay.
Is it eating stuff you put on the compost do you reckon?
 
I had this dilemma, but it was passing thru my garden, but it seems to have gone - the only thing you can do is get a snap trap (but make sure its out of the way of the bunnies) i did read somewhere that you can get snap traps that are in something to stop other animals / birds getting in (i didn't wanna trap a squirrel by accident).

I also read a horrific thing about a rat attacking a pair of bunnies it was awful x

:shock::shock::shock::shock:

I have bought a snap trap and all buns are being confined to their runs with no free ranging until it is caught, I really don't want them getting into the trap.

It has been there for a few days but I wasn't sure if it was a hedgehog as it had dug under the compost bin, but this morning there are fresh droppings. I think it is enjoying all the stuff that goes into the bin :roll:

I feel terrible killing it, but my buns were there first and their safety is more important.
 
use chocolate or peanut butter as bait, when we had rat problem the only way we caught it was to use snap trap in humane trap as t was a to clever and always got away from snaptrap, by puttng ths n humane trap it made sure it got shut n humane trap then had no where to go so the snap went off and that was that
 
:shock::shock::shock::shock:

I have bought a snap trap and all buns are being confined to their runs with no free ranging until it is caught, I really don't want them getting into the trap.

It has been there for a few days but I wasn't sure if it was a hedgehog as it had dug under the compost bin, but this morning there are fresh droppings. I think it is enjoying all the stuff that goes into the bin :roll:

I feel terrible killing it, but my buns were there first and their safety is more important.


If a wild rabbit was coming into your garden would you kill it?

Use a humane trap and relocate it. They will keep coming if there is something there of value, instead, make the compost bin inaccessible. Don't be lazy and let an animal suffer for it.
 
I used to have a compost heap, but had to get rid of it as the rats liked the heat it generated.

Can you get rid of the heap which would be the most humane way to get rid of the problem? Personally I wouldn't used a snap trap unless it was a real problem and I was over run. There are much kinder ways to trap and relocate
 
I used to have a compost heap, but had to get rid of it as the rats liked the heat it generated.

Can you get rid of the heap which would be the most humane way to get rid of the problem? Personll

This is what I'm trying to do as well. Slowly getting rid of the compost heap so there are less places for them to hide. Also, being extra vigilant about keeping all the food and hay in storage boxes in the shed in case they can get in there too.
 
I think it's a bit unfair to kill the poor thing :? Can you not get a humane rat trap and catch it? I often get rats in my garden (they are mainly passing through) but one year we got a family move in behind the waterfall which went into my pond. They bred :shock: and we had lots of baby ratties skipping about the garden. :lol: We caught all of them apart from 1 humanely and released them far away, the one that escaped being caught just disappeared and we haven't seen a rat in the garden since. We took the waterfall out just in case any more decided it was a good place to live. :thumb:

We also get mice in the house but the only way to get rid of them all is to poison them and I am not prepared to this. We have so many animals in the garden and in the surrounding fields that this would most certainly kill off half the wildlife, it's also extremely cruel to the mice. We have humane traps dotted about and occasionally we catch one and release it on the field, as far from the house as possible lol.

Hope you reconsider killing the rat. x
 
also bare in mind if your going to use the snap traps they need to be placed well away from over wild life like birds which could easily get caught out in them as they are not as clever as rats
 
I think it's wrong to kill it too :( There's no reason, just get a humane trap if you don't want it in the yard.
 
I had this problem years ago, when I had a garden. I solved it by changing to enclosed compost bins. I buried wire mesh under them to stop the rats burrowing up into the bins.
 
I went out and bought 2 humain traps.... :wave:

So far no luck. Though I did have a nightmare that I caught it and it was the size of a large cat and its tail was hanging out of the trap :shock: Was slightly scared to check this morning. I am guessing the rain all night put it off coming out of its warm and cozy compostbin home.
 
I went out and bought 2 humain traps.... :wave:

So far no luck. Though I did have a nightmare that I caught it and it was the size of a large cat and its tail was hanging out of the trap :shock: Was slightly scared to check this morning. I am guessing the rain all night put it off coming out of its warm and cozy compostbin home.

you might fnd f the rat s big enough and clever that if trap does go off they stiill get out by messing around with trap door thats what kept happeniing to us
 
Though I did have a nightmare that I caught it and it was the size of a large cat and its tail was hanging out of the trap :shock: Was slightly scared to check this morning.

:lol::lol:

We once had a mouse in the conservatory after a workman left a hole in the wall where a pipe was put through.

We had a couple of the tip traps down, and Beth came down in the morning (she was about 7) and saw the trap closed, picked the trap up, and the mouse jumped out!
We caught it again the next day and as I was taking it out the house to the park I dropped it in the porch and the mouse ran back in the house again:lol:
 
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