You fail to say why you don't want them ? Do you consider them dangerous to your health in some way ?
Whilst there are diseases you can get from rat urine, there are two main reasons we want them gone. The first is the unfortunate fact that their teeth never stop growing an as such rats need to grind them down by gnawing on anything they can find, and we have enough repairs to do already without rats chewing though pipes, cables or floorboards. Secondly, when we've had rats in the house previously they've gotten in to the kitchen and helped themselves to anything they could find.
I can totally understand why people are against us essentially making the rats somebody else's problem, But as I said, the entire town is infested, and when I called the local council to complain that we have to keep getting rats in the house becasue the entire street is infested as well as many or the other streets close by, the bloody council not only refused to do anything about the problem, or the careless binmen who's mess is a major contributing factor to the problem, but they also threatened us with court action and fines if we didn't get rid of the rats on our property. so sod 'em, if they don't think rats are no problem on their property, but demand we get rid of any on on ours, we think it's only fair to take them from here to council owned land.
But that's kind of beside the point, far too many people are getting caught up over our method of disposal, But very few people are suggesting anything to keep them away from the garden once we've dealt with the current batch. I was wondering if anyone had had any luck with chemical or sonic deterrents, or if they knew of any plants that repelled rats.
Thanks @Fairygirl My next-door but one neighbour (the other side of the rat infested neighbour) is my best mate. She is also extremely phobic about rats. She's already contacted the council - they're not interested, so she told them that their young children are in danger due to health and safety. The council have asked her for photographic evidence - of which there is plenty. When they change the baby's nappy they put it in a bag and chuck it out of the 1st floor bathroom window. Sometimes it gets stuck on the roof of the extension and will stay there for weeks (for all passers-by to see!). Usually the bags drop onto their driveway and they remove them eventually. Other times foxes take the nappy bags under the shrubbery in their front garden - there have been 2 bags of dirty nappies there for months now. They leave their black bag rubbish by their garage, so foxes frequently rip them open, much to the disgust of my mate as the bags are close to her side-door. So there's no shortage of photos she's taken. I wonder what the Council will actually do though.
Their once beautiful 150ft garden is now a wilderness. They bought the house only because of the excellent primary school just down the road. They have no interest in gardening (or tidiness/cleanliness) at all.
Shortly after they moved in she asked me if I get lots of flies in my house - well, no I don't. But she does. Her husband works from home but there are rarely any windows open at all to stop the flies getting into their house, even in on hot days - yuk!
You can't choose your neighbours (but I did choose the previous ones when I sold the house and they were the best neighbours I could have wished for. So I basically ignore their behaviours and try and keep the peace somewhat.
I've had neighbours almost that bad, they dumped cooked food waste at the end of their garden, we only found out because one of the dogs came in from her midnight garden stroll with her breath stinking like something dead, so next time we followed her - there was a hole in the fence, and a pile of rotting chicken! I can't relate to that s**t at all. I'd be contacting the environmental health about these scumbags next to you. And they've got a baby?? 😦
According to Which Magazine, " You can also buy ultrasonic rodent repellents that plug in to an
electric socket. One member tried this method in a garage with some
success, but pest-control experts at Rentokil say that although these
gadgets may have a limited effect for a few days, they are unlikely to affect an established colony."
If this was a magic bullet then I think a lot of people would be using these but as we still seem to be reliant on the old methods, that doesn't give me much confidence that ultrasonic repellents work. I have some to keep cats out of the garden.....and I still get cats pooping in the flower beds. I think animals get used to them.
Rats, allegedly, do not like disturbance so changing things around regularly, turning the compost heap, keeping it damp, are all likely to be more successful.
Or you can pee around the garden - I think it has to be male pee. There's also the option of asking someone for their cat's dirty litter tray contents (minus the poo obviously!) and spreading their pee round, which apparently works as a deterrent. I would take what exterminators say with a pinch of salt, I've seen companies exaggerate if it's in their interest.
Thanks @Fairygirl My next-door but one neighbour (the other side of the rat infested neighbour) is my best mate. She is also extremely phobic about rats. She's already contacted the council - they're not interested, so she told them that their young children are in danger due to health and safety. The council have asked her for photographic evidence - of which there is plenty. When they change the baby's nappy they put it in a bag and chuck it out of the 1st floor bathroom window. Sometimes it gets stuck on the roof of the extension and will stay there for weeks (for all passers-by to see!). Usually the bags drop onto their driveway and they remove them eventually. Other times foxes take the nappy bags under the shrubbery in their front garden - there have been 2 bags of dirty nappies there for months now. They leave their black bag rubbish by their garage, so foxes frequently rip them open, much to the disgust of my mate as the bags are close to her side-door. So there's no shortage of photos she's taken. I wonder what the Council will actually do though.
Their once beautiful 150ft garden is now a wilderness. They bought the house only because of the excellent primary school just down the road. They have no interest in gardening (or tidiness/cleanliness) at all.
Shortly after they moved in she asked me if I get lots of flies in my house - well, no I don't. But she does. Her husband works from home but there are rarely any windows open at all to stop the flies getting into their house, even in on hot days - yuk!
You can't choose your neighbours (but I did choose the previous ones when I sold the house and they were the best neighbours I could have wished for. So I basically ignore their behaviours and try and keep the peace somewhat.
I've had neighbours almost that bad, they dumped cooked food waste at the end of their garden, we only found out because one of the dogs came in from her midnight garden stroll with her breath stinking like something dead, so next time we followed her - there was a hole in the fence, and a pile of rotting chicken! I can't relate to that s**t at all. I'd be contacting the environmental health about these scumbags next to you. And they've got a baby?? 😦
My next-door but one neighbour has contacted the council and mentioned health and safety due to their young children. She showed me an email from them asking for more detail and said they would then contact the relevant teams. I'll leave it to her to grumble about.
From my point of view- Life is too short to be forever worked-up about other people and their behaviours.
We're on the edge of countryside and many local residents feed the foxes which encourages rats. There's the 'bird-lady' next door with her 20+ bird feeders and 20ish water stations, who also feeds 'Ferdy' every night - cooked sausages, cheese and dog biscuits - every night! The foxes bury the excess in their larder at the end of my garden - my dog goes out, digs it up and eats it... 🙄 So there's no hope if everyone around me is attracting rats.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I'm just astonished at the attitude here - just dump them in an already infested park. Oh well - that's fine then, it's already infested so it's not our problem... Wind chimes. You're having a laugh -surely?
You're simply adding to the problem @Ben-Jovi and if you think rats aren't causing any great harm in terms of disease, then why do you want to get rid of them? No threat to other wildlife in your opinion, but humans - they clearly don't matter at all. How utterly irresponsible.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Totally agree I'd love to know where this rat infested part of the town is as I don't believe that Northampton has a bigger problem with rats than any other town or city in fact I think that ben-jovi is making this up.
But that's kind of beside the point, far too many people are getting caught up over our method of disposal, But very few people are suggesting anything to keep them away from the garden once we've dealt with the current batch. I was wondering if anyone had had any luck with chemical or sonic deterrents, or if they knew of any plants that repelled rats.
If your town is as rat infested as you say, then you are simply adding to the problem with your method of dispersal - the rats you release will continue to breed and spread.
You could use Snap Traps - correctly baited ( non toxic ) and sited would be a start. Check the traps regularly and dispose of the corpses sensibly. No poisoned bodies laying around to contaminate your soil or pose a risk to other wildlife. At the same time, you could do as much as possible to educate your neighbours as to the problem and suggest they do the same. Does your council not have meetings open to the public at regular intervals with the opportunity to raise problems/ask questions ? If so, make use of that opportunity to publicise the issue and point out the possible health issues. Contact your MP - I doubt whether any MP of whatever political persuasion will enjoy being known as the representative of Rat Town . In other words, make a fuss and persuade others to do the same. If the situation is really as bad as you describe, try withholding your Council tax payments until your council are prepared to help tackle the issue. I'd suggest you stop releasing live rats in the neighbourhood before you make too much noise tho. As for keeping rats out of your garden, it isn't that easy - if you are squeamish about killing them humanely, you won't want to be using chemicals which could also have a detrimental affect on any other wildlife - big or small and probably not do your garden much good either. You could block every possible access point into your garden ? Install rat proof netting ? Only you know what is feasible for your personal circumstances.
The MP for Northampton lives in Derbyshire so I don't suppose that he will mind so much, if Ben-jovi will say which part of Northampton the problem is in and which park he is releasing the rats in something may get done about it.
Shouldn't make any difference where the MP actually lives - he is paid to represent the town of Northampton and should, in an ideal world, be dealing with constituents problems. That said, anyone silly enough to release live rats in their home town and then ask how to deal with the increasing number of rats suggests some kind of wind up ?
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But that's kind of beside the point, far too many people are getting caught up over our method of disposal, But very few people are suggesting anything to keep them away from the garden once we've dealt with the current batch. I was wondering if anyone had had any luck with chemical or sonic deterrents, or if they knew of any plants that repelled rats.
I'd be contacting the environmental health about these scumbags next to you. And they've got a baby?? 😦
I would take what exterminators say with a pinch of salt, I've seen companies exaggerate if it's in their interest.
I'll leave it to her to grumble about.
From my point of view-
Life is too short to be forever worked-up about other people and their behaviours.
We're on the edge of countryside and many local residents feed the foxes which encourages rats.
There's the 'bird-lady' next door with her 20+ bird feeders and 20ish water stations, who also feeds 'Ferdy' every night - cooked sausages, cheese and dog biscuits - every night!
The foxes bury the excess in their larder at the end of my garden - my dog goes out, digs it up and eats it... 🙄
So there's no hope if everyone around me is attracting rats.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Wind chimes. You're having a laugh -surely?
You're simply adding to the problem @Ben-Jovi and if you think rats aren't causing any great harm in terms of disease, then why do you want to get rid of them? No threat to other wildlife in your opinion, but humans - they clearly don't matter at all. How utterly irresponsible.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
You could use Snap Traps - correctly baited ( non toxic ) and sited would be a start. Check the traps regularly and dispose of the corpses sensibly. No poisoned bodies laying around to contaminate your soil or pose a risk to other wildlife.
At the same time, you could do as much as possible to educate your neighbours as to the problem and suggest they do the same. Does your council not have meetings open to the public at regular intervals with the opportunity to raise problems/ask questions ? If so, make use of that opportunity to publicise the issue and point out the possible health issues. Contact your MP - I doubt whether any MP of whatever political persuasion will enjoy being known as the representative of Rat Town . In other words, make a fuss and persuade others to do the same. If the situation is really as bad as you describe, try withholding your Council tax payments until your council are prepared to help tackle the issue. I'd suggest you stop releasing live rats in the neighbourhood before you make too much noise tho.
As for keeping rats out of your garden, it isn't that easy - if you are squeamish about killing them humanely, you won't want to be using chemicals which could also have a detrimental affect on any other wildlife - big or small and probably not do your garden much good either. You could block every possible access point into your garden ? Install rat proof netting ? Only you know what is feasible for your personal circumstances.
That said, anyone silly enough to release live rats in their home town and then ask how to deal with the increasing number of rats suggests some kind of wind up ?