Great big rat- what do i do about it? urgent problem.

[Ambience]

Thanks everyone i'm really worried now- my other half things by moving the bags of rabbit waste from next to the house it will get rid of them.

It was out in broad daylight- i saw it twice and it was massive!.

I am seriously concerned about the bunnies.

I wonder if it is living in the coal shed? What conditions do rats like? There is plenty of hay about for nesting as even once clean there are stray bits that remain.

The neighbors have a feral cat to hunt rats and i have seen a cat round here, but the rat is huge- i wouldn't think a cat would take it on.

It must have been about 7am or 8am i saw this rat. I can see it can get in off the farm or countryside through the bottom of our gates and god only knows how many rats there are in the countryside. We are in the heart of it.

I have a double door so the rat would only be able to get into my porch if it tried to come in. I'm going to go investigate with my wellys on.

I do have a puppy yes, but i'm more worried for her safety than that she would scare the rat away.

I wonder if i got a broom and shuffled around under things- especially the hutches, i could establish if there is any rat there. I Will have to get the buns out of the nearby hutches.

Can't believe this is happening- i wouldn't want to kill it either.

 

[janice]

Thanks everyone i'm really worried now- my other half things by moving the bags of rabbit waste from next to the house it will get rid of them.

By moving the waste you will only be moving the problem only a few feet to where you place the rabbit waste. All this will do is make the rats walk a little further, they will live in their same old holes where they currently live.

You need to look at your whole operation and 'tidy it up' from where you store your food, to how much pellets you feed your buns, to where you dispose of your waste and cleaning up after yourself. Whilst tackling removing the food source for the rats you need to also look at reducing / eliminating the number of rats.

I do agree with what has been said about if you only have seen one there will be plenty more about. If their are a number of rats you may need to get the experts in to help you.

Rats will also eat dog excrement so leaving any lying about will also be 'food' for them.

Good luck

 

[Ambience]

By moving the waste you will only be moving the problem only a few feet to where you place the rabbit waste. All this will do is make the rats walk a little further, they will live in their same old holes where they currently live.

You need to look at your whole operation and 'tidy it up' from where you store your food, to how much pellets you feed your buns, to where you dispose of your waste and cleaning up after yourself. Whilst tackling removing the food source for the rats you need to also look at reducing / eliminating the number of rats.

I do agree with what has been said about if you only have seen one there will be plenty more about. If their are a number of rats you may need to get the experts in to help you.

Rats will also eat dog excrement so leaving any lying about will also be 'food' for them.

Good luck

Do they eat horse manure? That is probably encouraging for them too- i always pick up dog poo but it's all over the countryside where people walk their dogs and don't pick up.

Ohh it's given me the shivers- i know domestic rats can be vicious if untrained- hate to think what a wild one is like- going to go out in my wellys until the problem is solved!

 

[prettylupin]

They eat anything. The ones we had ate all the frogs and chewed through plastic compost bins to eat all the worms! :shock: Literally ate all our worms one winter. They can move vast amounts of soil quickly and breed quicker, and will travel some distance to a food source.

 

[nessar]

Dont go poking around where you think the nest is! If you disturb them they will scarper and go somewhere else for shelter (possibly a worse place) and spread. They can get into your house more ways than through the door. Rats can chew through brick no problem.

You dont want to disturb them until you know that if you find them you can kill them. I'm sorry but you really need to contact the council or a professional. As it was out in daytime and you live near fields, you have no idea how many you could be dealing with.

In the meantime, just you taking the dog with when you go out there should deter them from coming near. How big is he? My german shepherd used to kill rats we didnt even know were there, one bite and he broke their backs. Places like farms, yards, rescues etc are bound to get rats, its just making sure they dont live ON your property and minimising the temptation for them to come in. My uncle (farmer) used to have two jack russels trained to kill the rats, which kept the numbers down.

Good news is that countryside rats are significantly less disease-ridden than city or sewer rats.

 

[Zahirre]

Bism

We have rats in our garden too.. OH has saw 1 at night but they keep burrowing under the rabbit hutch to come into our garden to get food and then go back to next door to sleep.
The buns we have outside don't have an outside run as they come inside for free range (temporary thing whilst we're still trying to rehome) ARGH... Silly rats. I didn't want to let the neighbours kill them but after reading this, I guess I'm quite happy to.
Trouble is, we live not too far from large fields and our next door neighbour's garden is very smelly and not so nice, so I guess we're prone to them

 

[Tiabrac]

My son saw a rat in our garden last week it ran over his foot yuck! We don't know how to get rid because the guy next door is feeding birds on the ground :roll: and there is a nest at the back.

 

[ankyferdi]

Poor you, I hate rats! I loved my domestic rats when I was at uni but wild rats really give me the shivers. I'd def agree to go down the rat catcher route. Although if you live near the countryside you may find someone with a terrier team who would come round and sort the problem for free. I don't suppose you live near Leicestershire? I have a patterdale and a staffy x Jack russell who are great ratters. In the mean time you need to keep things imaculate outside, making sure that there is no compost bins, rubbish or recycling around to make tasty pickings. You never know they might up sticks and move on if you make it difficult for them.