Problem with neighbours feeding wildlife

Plunger, your comment 'the trap is locked' is misleading. Rat poison is very dangerous!

It's not barking that upsets me about neighbors dogs, at least while barking they are usually having fun or at least occupied. It's when they're left alone all day and whine and howl. That really gets to me.

Definitely don't tell her, but I would certainly stop your dogs from jumping at her fence & barking. As an ardent dog lover & owner I still appreciate the fact that it can be very irritating for neighbours to have their peace disturbed by noisy dogs. It's unnecessary & dogs can easily be trained to keep most of their barking to the doorbell & possible intruders.

I feed the birds in squirrel proof feeders which I bring in at night.
I loathe rats and would always use the council rodent team to minimise them, well kill them.

www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/countryside/a28604641/hedgehogs

Hedgehogs will get extra protection under new building rules

I'm with Quizqueen. The indignation of rats in the garden. ... How very dare they (sarcasm). I have had a big fat hedgehog in my London garden, and of course we get foxes. I don't enjoy the idea of rats but it is what it is. My local underground station car park is overrun with rats. They are everywhere.

Love your wildlife friendly garden Shinamae!
The main problem to hedgehogs , as people have said, is all ourgardens being inaccessible and too tidy. But equally, so much traffic on the roads and also intensive farming and the loss of wild boundaries.
Any foxes that your neighbour may attract will certainly catch and eat the rats if they can. That’s nature. Please don’t even think about putting poison down especially because if a larger animal happens to eat the poisoned rat, they too will die.
Hedgehogs need all the help they can get, as do the foxes who are being killed by the hunts even though fox hunting was banned in 2005. Then there’s the badgers who are currently being culled: up to 64,000 this year will lose their lives.
Soon we will be complaining that British wildlife is extinct, just like we do now about the red squirrel which we were previously responsible for culling as part of another government strategy.
Good Luck with your move.

I have fed the birds for years, and have been constantly criticised by my neighbours about attracting rats. In this world where we are losing all our animals to extinction through lack of food, habitation etc. we all need to do our bit
to try and preserve the wildlife and animals that we have got, I feel it is every one's duty, after all without them, we are gone too!! I have only had rats once, I didn`t want to kill them either, but knew I had to, secure bottom of fences, make it hard for them to enter your garden, and let's do our bit for protecting our wildlife.

My friends parents had rats get into the wall cavities RosesareRed, in the end they had to get pest control out to clear them.
Luckily we don't have badgers or foxes, garden is completely fenced in.
Suspect our problem arises because there are a couple of nearby houses with chicken runs, one placed the other side of one of our fences. That plus nearby unkempt gardens makes a haven for the rats. Unfortunately they decided to live under our shed so OH got straight to work getting rid. Yes we all know they are around us but I don't want to have them running around the patio or getting into parts of the buildings!
They soon get out of control.

I wouldn't say anything. I think it's lovely that your neighbour is protecting and encouraging wildlife. Rats are everywhere anyway, I doubt your neighbour leaving food out has caused many more rats to move to the neighbourhood. And I think that it would be really unkind to upset your neighbour when you're moving anyway. Let the person who is moving in sort if if they want to.

Foxes normally are voracious rat eaters , small rodents are their favourite food. I would leave them to get on with it.
Most local authorities charge for rodent control so if you report rats then the homeowner will be paying. You already have a free rat control service .

I’ve lived overseas where I had rats in and out along with lizards cockroaches and the odd snake so to have a hedgehog visit my garden would be bliss but I have to have a walled garden my house is on a main toad with a vehicled alleyway at the back Fences get knocked down or get holes poked in them by playful kids or bashed by footballs

You don’t think she’d like to know she could be attracting rats to her house?!

I’d be upset if someone DIDNT tell me.

Yes she’s lost her partner, but she’s not a delicate flower.

You don’t need to tell her to stop, but why not mention that you’d seen rats to give her a heads up?

People say rats are a health hazard, I'd say the biggest health hazard to this planet is human behaviour.

Who was there first, the wildlife or your housing estate? If the built environment means there is not enough food for wildlife to source independently, who can blame them for wanting to eat an elderly lady's freebie hand-outs or would you prefer them to starve so you can live more comfortably.

It's probably better to feed the rats in the garden than leave them to come up the toilet into the house to find food. At least out in the open the fox can grab them!

Say nothing. Least said, soonest mended my mum used to say. Nature is nature and often gruesome in the raw. The rat and his family members would have been around for a long time, you just haven't seen them before! Leave it up to the new people to decide whether or not it's acceptable.

We have same problem with our elder;y neighbour. She will insist on feeding the baby foxes & of course they then stay around rather than go over to the woods opposite when they are big enough. Mum & Dad fox try to get them over there but the easy food is just too tempting.
The main problem is we have 4 cats so have a cat flap & the little foxes soon found out they could get rough it to the cat food. We moved the food to the conservatory but they still came in. I found 2 of them curled up with our cats on the sofa in there. Luckily they are now bigger & we haven't had them in recently but they poo all over our patio & garden & have caused havoc in both greenhouse & garage as they found a way in.
What neighbour doesn't seem to get is that they should be hunting & catching food & what happens when it is cold in the winter & she doesn't fancy going out to feed them- will they starve? We have tried to explain it to her but she just says they are sweet!!!

I wouldn’t say a thing to her, let her enjoy feeding the wildlife

sazzl
You are aware of or there may be rats in your neighbours property but thinking ' I'm ok as I will be moving so not my problem ?.How would you feel if it was you moving into a property only to discover there were rats next door which could then enter your property.? Rats are a health hazard and were it me would report it to the local authority.Are you selling your property or renting .Either way I believe it compulsory whether selling or just vacating to report / make aware to those moving into it of hazards and rats are one of those.

We have a neighbour that feeds and waters the birds and leave food out for other animals that might come into the garden. 2 Years ago we discovered that we had rats in our loft, to say that I freaked out was an understatement, I couldnt sleep at night, I felt dirty and I seriously wanted to sell up and move. It took us a fair while to get rid of them, and we had experts in that said they were probably being encouraged by the neighbour feeding them.

No no no don't put down rat poisoning. The rat is then eaten by a predator and then that animal is poisoned as well.....foxes, larger birds and even badgers will eat rats and generally keep rat populations down.

Please don't put poison down for the rats as other animals may die as well.

Absolutely Horton1828. It's the two legged ones to watch out for. I would love badgers and hedgehogs to visit me. Stay mute, you are moving. Leave your neighbour to her pleasure.

Badgers are responsible for much of any ground living wildlife deaths, second to them are terriers, not many dogs will tackle a hedgehog, terriers will. Cats are notorious hunters, rats and mice obviously but birds and young rabbits too