[iwantanallotment]

Today I noticed rats have been coming into my garden from next door. Found their tunnel and watched one sat not 6ft from me, sussing me out.
That particular one bit the dust cos one of my bulldogs killed it later, not a foot from where I'd seen it.
But I'm wondering, with the season about to begin - do rats pose a big threat to a little veg patch? Should I be taking further measures to eradicate them, ie they'll decimate my patch if I don't?
I do have some humane (live) traps that could be used, but then that causes strife with OH because (as with our recent mice infestation) I won't release them until we have the whole family to release together...so we end up feeding them in their prisons & popping jam jar lids of water in etc...
Rat-catcher dog is an unknown quantity, because although she got this one, we've not had rats before...maybe she just got lucky.
Any ideas? (Not poison, plz  )


 

[peterjf]

crocodile rat traps with peanut butter on , breaks the necks , no pain lol ,

 place near a hole or where you see the rat droppings , works for us ,

[Salmo]

These traps are powerful enough to kill a rat instantly. Make sure that cats or your lovely dog cannot get nipped.

[RGManby]

Look for a man with a terrier, am sure he would clear it for free, just for sport.

If there is one there will be  many more. I know what you mean about poison, I don't like it myself. The above posts on traps is an option, but you need to get it sorted. An infestation of rats would be a nightmare if left. They will eat any thing, including your veg, and each female capable of producing 500 offspring a year!

If using traps, peanut butter (as mentioned above), lard or bacon rind is good bait.

[lanky lurcher]

hi, i had rats last year living under my shed! they ate many of my seedlings my main worry was how quickly they breed and the possible illness from their urine! 
although my 2 dogs never saw or caught one, the dogs presence seemed to move the rats on (i allowed my dogs to wee near the rat nest entrance too)
hope this helps !

[wafflycat]

Rats... oh dear, my list of wildlife I have no sympathy for seems to grow. Moles, magpies & rats. Rats do spread disease. They really are vermin and will breed to seeming uncontrollable numbers very quickly. Dogs & cats will keep the numbers down. As will trapping to kill & poisoning. If they're visible in hours of daylight, there's a serious infestation there most likely  and it needs to be sorted.

As I said in a previous thread, where I live now, one of my neighbours grew up here and he says that since more people in the immediate locality have cats and dogs, the number of rats has dropped considerably.

[Salmo]

The council will clear the rats for you and advise if there is anything that is attracting them. Birdfeeders are often a problem where seeds fall off.

[Stripey_cat]

Please don't trap and release rats!  All you'll do is move your problem somewhere else.  The humane traps are intended to be used with gas, drowning or firearms to give a clean kill (rather than the possibility of an injured rat dying slowly in a snap-trap, or a snap-trap killing other species by mistake).  If you don't think you or your OH can dispatch a rat cleanly, put a snap-trap into the run.

[iwantanallotment]

Plenty of food for thought - thank you all.
Stripey_cat you have a point, I hadn't thought of that 
I saw one yesterday afternoon in broad daylight, another today and the dead one, so it's worrying to think how many there are that I haven't seen.
We're getting a few hens soon, so obviously this needs to be sorted before then.
Thanks for all the advice, going to chew it over.
Oh, and getting a replacement cat for our old girl who died last year is top of the list!

[Goosegirl]

We live in a farming area and they are always active and tunnels appear in the dyke edges and also at the edge of our hen pen and in the sheep shelter. We put poison in large drainpipes so other wildlife cannot access it and it seems to work. Our cats aren't that good at ratting although one brought a dead one in and put it on the carpet just as I was about to go to bed. As I am not frightened of them I just disposed of it outside. 

[iwantanallotment]

Have chewed it over and decided to get traps. I'm not happy to kill them, but needs must - one was on the back doorstep yesterday and it's bad enough having them in the garden, don't want them in the house! However, it has to be a quick, clean kill.
So I have been looking at traps on eBay, and this one looks the meanest, to my ignorant eye - item 170302566403, T Rex Rat Trap - can any of you in the know please say if this looks the job?
Thank you 
(ps - dogs will be safe as they don't have access to the rats' run area)

[Ropster]

just a word of warning, try not to put the traps out in the open as you may catch birds,

[iwantanallotment]

Thanks for the warning ropster, good thinking.
I'm planning to put the traps in my plastic greenhouse on the yard, which is where their tunnel is - they tunnel daily from next door into my plastic greenhouse and that's how they access my garden, via a gap under the plastic. The door will be left closed after the traps are set, so no innocent creatures can be hurt.

[madcat]

And if the dog does do more rat killing (Good Dog!) keep a careful eye out for rat bites.  They go nasty very fast and can cost you a mint in antibiotics @ the vets.   

Ditto squirrel bites.  Cat only caught one once (thankfully) but it was a fortnight of pills night and morning.  Nearly 20 years ago but still a nightmare to remember!   

[iwantanallotment]

Update. Many thanks for all the advice, peterjf I reckon the traps I got are your 'crocodile' ones. Mean things (I got the T-Rex ones), had a few scary close shaves with my bare hands!
But they do the job, quickly and cleanly. Death is instant, they trap the rats with such force that the traps flip right up in the air and land with rat belly up. No suffering, maiming or blood.
Caught 3 big adults in a week so far, with a bait of homemade plum jam (got no peanut butter!)
lanky lurcher, my rats must be Rambo rats because they're totally unperturbed crossing my 4 dogs' 'toilet area', and in fact it's their regular route  :blink:
I don't like seeing the bodies and am unable to remove them from the traps myself, because it was still a life, albeit a pest. I'm trying to train myself to see them as aphids now, far less upsetting than killing furry things!
Thanks all, and I'd really recommend these traps to anyone else troubled by rats.