An update!
The rat has we think taken up residence in the space of the little roof covering the log pile.
The bait as yet hasn’t been looked at. Today we will try the Rolo amuse bouche! Just got to buy them and try not to eat too many! The thing is I am suddenly not amused, mainly because the joy I got from feeding the birds will have to be stopped, as the food and water is the huge appeal and honestly who can blame them? We haven’t seen the hedgehogs for a couple of weeks now and interestingly the rat completely ignores the mealworms put out in the box for the hedgehogs so maybe their suspicious nature means enclosed areas pose a danger? I do know they are very canny, we just have to be even cannier!?! I hate killing anything, however the closer they are getting to the house and coming in for winter is a worry, so sadly go they must!
Ellie isn’t in the least bit interested, in fact if anything I think she is frightened by their presence in the garden.
Part of me thinks that if we hadn’t started putting on the light to watch the hedgehogs we would never have known of their living along side us and let’s face it we all live in close contact to wildlife of many sorts. Rats seem to be the big bad boys of the underworld.
Am I talking myself out of killing them I idly wonder? What do you think?
Yes, don't kill them! Hide away the bird and hedgehog food for a while and they will find other places to picnic.
ReplyDeleteIt is a tough one Adie? I have tried the citronella trick hoping to discourage them that way. Their response is they have moved closer!
DeleteLX
Agree - don't kill them. Try installing ultrasonic plug-in devices in the house. They emit high-frequency soundwaves inaudible to humans and dogs but hateful to rodents.Not everyone believes in them but all I can say is that I have never had a mouse or a rat since I purchased these and I live very close to a river. Rodents also hate the smell of bleach so it may be worthwhile leaving little bowls of it scattered around. It's just a matter of making your house and garden as uncongenial as possible so that they move on to somewhere more attractive. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSo far they are not in the house, luckily. Trouble with pungent approach is I don’t want to put off the hedgehogs. The citronella has been put at the top of the garden where I am pretty sure the hedgehogs don’t go.
DeleteLX
The hedgehog are preparing for winyersleep in a little while. They don't need your care anymore. Please lock away anything edible, put bleach on the roof thing and let the rats find a better place to live. Also, turn off the outside lamps and delete the memory from your mind. Ignorance is bliss. X
DeleteGood thinking Batman... but wait, Ellie is getting frightened of ‘the rat’, she isn’t the bravest of dogs, that is probably why she was so badly treated on the farm where she first lived. It is obvious she is a shrinking violet, just like me!?!
DeleteLX
Sorry, I am very firmly of the view that the only way to deal with rats is to kill them. Sure, you will never get rid of them completely but if you have them (it’s never just one) living in the garden they will become a menace. They chew cables, spread disease and they will kill fledgling birds next spring. Put down secure bait boxes (so that neither the hedgehog nor Ellie can access it) and if you think it’s living in the roof of the woodshed then move things around to make it less comfortable for it.
ReplyDeleteThey haven’t been seen tonight, almost like they know our evil intentions? On investigation today the roof space isn’t enclosed and they look as if they are zipping off next door. After us having a look today they being canny creatures have given us a wide berth, probably just as well!
DeleteLX
LX
But if you made things uncomfortable outside for them, wouldn't they choose to move indoors? Oooo-er!!!!
ReplyDeleteI never used to worry about rats until my neighbour told me that her cat often leaves a rat on the doorstep. I knew it was a bird-killer (I saw it kill 'my' pair of blackbirds this year) but now I'm hoping it concentrates on the rats from now on. Neighbour doesn't help the situation as she regularly puts out bread and food leftovers on her lawn 'for the seagulls'. Aaaarrrggghhh.
They are very intelligent creatures and I would in an ideal world love to live in harmony with them, however their creeping ever closer is a worry!
DeleteLX
A program that Bill Oddie made about rats made me modify my views on them somewhat. I'm now on the don't kill (at least don't poison) side or the debate but accept that may mean adapting lifestyle to discourage them from sharing it. I wouldn't want them living as close as my woodpile either regardless of Bill's admiration for them.
ReplyDeleteNo sign tonight so they live to nibble another day!?! I do think you have to be not only patient but skilled as well to do the deed. Poison I wouldn’t ever consider. The peanut butter hasn’t been a huge success so the rolo approach is next...
DeleteLX
They are marvellous animals..but, and it is about but, carry disease and are dangerously destructive.
ReplyDeleteSo, killing it is and as others have said, hedgehog proof traps
The hedgehogs are I think with their new families, that is the only reason I can think of for them both over the course of a week not to turn up for free food. The trap is behind the wood stack, primed tonight. I feel sad but know that we must before the whole thing gets horribly out of hand as only a rat’s lifestyle can!?!
DeleteLX
Excuse me! A truly canny rat would have chosen a better garden.
ReplyDeleteCouldn’t agree more and so many lovely Ludlow gardens to choose.
DeleteLX