How to get rid of Rats in the Garden
In Pests
If you already have rats in your garden then you will probably have to get a professional company to deal with the problem. There will be a reason or several reasons why you have rats in your garden. The most important one is a food source. Rats are not very good at competing with other wildlife for ‘natural’ food. They need a regular source of high protein foods just eating windfall apples or similar types of food will not be enough for them to thrive and breed. They can obtain some high protein natural foods in the form of slugs, snails, worms, insects even frogs and other smaller vertebrates and invertebrates. This important food source is nearly always man made. In a garden it is usually bird feeding followed by composting. Composting can provide a food source and a home as it provides a warm place for rats to burrow and live while getting food at the same time but it does depend on what type of food is composted, again if just general vegetable waste this will provide some but not the required food for the rats to thrive and breed. Halting the food source is a vital part of ridding a garden of rats. After the food source the next most important issue is where they are living. Ideally they will live as near to the food source as possible but if there are no suitable areas near to the food source or all living areas near to the food source are occupied with other rats then they will commute. If there are limited living areas near the food source then these will be occupied by the more dominant rats, the weaker, older and lower ranking rats living further away and often forced to feed in the more dangerous hours of daylight. The third important item needed is water. Rats need to drink daily but in the UK this is not normally a problem but in Summer ponds and water features and bird baths will provide a drinking water source.
The technicians at PEST UK are skilled in assessing situations where rats are present in gardens and can tactfully talk to neighbours if their activities are causing problems.
Rats BPCA Advice
