Weil's is a serious disease carried by rats,they contaminate water and their urine surfaces.It is a really nasty disease that causes kidney damage at the least.Of course you can not help liking them at a distance and they are part of the wild life but they can breed at a alarming rate and can when confronted give a very very painful bite.
My compost bin was colonised by fieldmice, last year. Sometimes I would lift the lid to see a baby, completely unafraid, blinking up at me. They enjoyed the fruit and veg peelings I dropped in every day. When the weather got warmer, they disappeared
The best rat deterrent is a rat catching dog; Jack Russells are good. I have had to reduce my bird feeding too, and put trays under all the feeders. Suitably modified pot dishes work well and are cheaper than purpose made types, but they encourage pigeons so a cylinder of clematis netting is also added. Blackbirds still get at the seed ok; and a squirrel sometimes unfortunately. A finer metal mesh would help but stop the blackbirds too.
Sadly I no longer feed the birds at all due rats not just in the garden but in the loft! Even a bird feeder stuck to a window was at risk - the rats would climb up the wall next to the window, and try and jump onto it. This did provide me with a way of catching one, but there is always another eventually, if not immediately. They are scarily intelligent - it's extremely hard to lure them into traps, and they are not put off by noise or movement for more than a few seconds. Electronic rodent repellers don't work, and even a rat-catching cat doesn't put them off (he's not too happy about being shoved in the loft either!)
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Weil's is a serious disease carried by rats,they contaminate water and their urine surfaces.It is a really nasty disease that causes kidney damage at the least.Of course you can not help liking them at a distance and they are part of the wild life but they can breed at a alarming rate and can when confronted give a very very painful bite.
My compost bin was colonised by fieldmice, last year. Sometimes I would lift the lid to see a baby, completely unafraid, blinking up at me. They enjoyed the fruit and veg peelings I dropped in every day. When the weather got warmer, they disappeared
The best rat deterrent is a rat catching dog; Jack Russells are good. I have had to reduce my bird feeding too, and put trays under all the feeders. Suitably modified pot dishes work well and are cheaper than purpose made types, but they encourage pigeons so a cylinder of clematis netting is also added. Blackbirds still get at the seed ok; and a squirrel sometimes unfortunately. A finer metal mesh would help but stop the blackbirds too.
Sadly I no longer feed the birds at all due rats not just in the garden but in the loft! Even a bird feeder stuck to a window was at risk - the rats would climb up the wall next to the window, and try and jump onto it. This did provide me with a way of catching one, but there is always another eventually, if not immediately. They are scarily intelligent - it's extremely hard to lure them into traps, and they are not put off by noise or movement for more than a few seconds. Electronic rodent repellers don't work, and even a rat-catching cat doesn't put them off (he's not too happy about being shoved in the loft either!)