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Rats climbing outside tomato plants

Sazz101Sazz101 Posts: 248
in Problem solving
Hi All. I have rats climbing up and picking the ripening cherry tomatoes from my vines  :s

 Any ideas on how to stop them? They are not shy, out in day time and very relaxed about us chasing them away. 


Posts

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    The rats around here have been very bold this year, I'm not sure if they're a bit desperate for food with less mess from takeaways etc. It makes them easier to shoot though so I'm not complaining.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • strelitzia32strelitzia32 Posts: 758
    How are they getting into your garden? Rats are habit forming, to stop them you need to break the habit as quickly as possible. Put bricks over holes and destroy their tunnels as quick as you can. 
  • Sazz101Sazz101 Posts: 248
    Thanks Wild Edges and Strelitzia 32. I would love to shoot them but unfortunately not an option. The garden is open on all sides to rats since it’s just fence panels on a diagonal slope.  I think you are right though @strelitzia32, I need to break their habit. I’m going to scrap the tomato plants. Too worried about disease to eat them anyway with rats crawling all over them. Bloody rats.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited September 2020
    I’m live and let live with most things, but I won’t tolerate rats around my home. Years ago a school friend’s 11 year old brother caught Weil’s Disease from rat urine in the garden. 

    I would get a licensed pest controller in to deal with your rats. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • strelitzia32strelitzia32 Posts: 758
    I really don't like rats but they are a fact of life here, my "formal" garden area is bordered by a stream and wood, perfect environment for them so not much I can do about the source. This time of year they start looking for food...

    I keep a pile of house bricks to hand so whenever I see a rat hole in fencing, I put a brick in front of it. I collapse every tunnel with a spade, and I clear up bird seed if needed (although the flying rats usually handle it for me). Again none of this stops a rat, but it helps break habits.

    The one thing I've never quite understood is that they seem to prefer to use their own holes. I've got hedgehog gaps cut into various fences and several times on wildlife cameras I've caught rats spending hours chewing a hole in a fence, when 2 foot away is a huge properly cut hole for a hedgehog. 

    I had one chew through the pond filter cable last year, not even electricity stops them...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    My brother is a potato farmer ... he says rats will gnaw through concrete to get into a potato store. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Sazz101Sazz101 Posts: 248
    Following @Dovefromabove’s mention of weils disease I’ve booked an appointment with pest control. The council do it for free thankfully. They were quite cute when they were small (thought they were wood mice at first), but a few weeks on they are bigger than my very fat pigeons. 
    @strelitzia32 I hope the eat the ruined your wiring got a nasty shock in the process. 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited September 2020
    Dovefromabove said:
    My brother is a potato farmer ... he says rats will gnaw through concrete to get into a potato store. 

    Living with rats in south east Asia I can safely say that, yes, rats will happily gnaw through a fridge and also concrete to get at food, if motivated.
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    Having watched a rat climbing the post of my bird feeding station I bought a squirrel deterrent, on line, for around £15.00 It is a conical shaped cone of metal which clips onto the pole like an inverted ice cream cone. After several attempts to climb over it, and failing totally, the rats have abandoned the feeder. They are obviously still around as the cat has brought several young ones home as pressies for Mum. Dead thank goodness. The best kind.
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    That cat should be rewarded with something tastier than rat! We had rats chew through the concrete floor of the barn to get at our ducklings, they then killed several. Where I am we pay a yearly fee as part of the council tax for rat control. In the previous house they only came when called, but since I now have a registered farm they come once a year even if you don't call.
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