rats

it isn't surprising the council's are now charging for pest control if you consider the way their budgets have been slashed. Our council, like many others, has cut front line services to the bone. I agree that we all need to be more responsible in deterring rats and other pests but like so many of the cuts to services, it can only make a bad situation worse.

Cheapest solution is to stop feeding the birds for a while (few weeks) and the rat will move on to where it can find easy food elsewhere. We had the same problem in Oxon and that's what the rat man advised me to do. I did it. It worked.

Birdy people have been saying on Twitter that they have had fewer birds than usual at their feeders this autumn. They think it is because it has been a mild autumn and birds can still forage for wild food quite successfully.

I have checked the Northumberland County Council website and I think you are mistaken to think you will be charged for telephone advice ethel.
www.northumberland.gov.uk/Protection/Pest.aspx#pestcontrol
It says they charge £50 to deal with rats, (£25 for concessions), and if they come out and are unable to do the treatment you may be charged £25 for an advice visit.
That seems very reasonable to me.

Lucky that these days we can go online, buy products cheaply and do it ourselves then.

In Wiltshire the Council website says that for rodents they charge £85 (£42 if on means-tested benefits. This is for a maximum of 3 visits per treatment

Some what more expensive! ?

Just checked our council's charges. Call out charges are as follows:

Pest type

Charge

Rats £24.00
Mice £36.00
Bed-bugs £60.00
Cockroaches £60.00
Fleas £60.00

No extra charge if treatment is needed. If you pay reduced council tax there is no charge.

Just looked at our council site - £90 to come and get rid of your rats for you! £30 to come out and advise. But, very generously, they will speak on the phone for nothing!

£25 for telephone advice! - disgraceful! What do they think you pay your council tax for!!??

Northumberland has a garden waste recycling scheme, but it is only for raw, uncooked vegetable and plant waste.
You have to pay extra for it (£26 a year I think) and it's fortnightly from the end of March to the end of November. The council turn the waste into compost which you can then buy back from them - I understand it's a nice little earner for them and they have won a recycling award.
I make my own compost in bins and a heap using fruit and veg peelings and most of the garden waste, except for vigorous weeds and very woody stuff.
Touch wood I haven't seen any rats so far <shivers>

Oh yuk, Iam64 how irresponsible of them!

Yes, our compost bin sits on a paving slab, they can't burrow underneath.

We have a large green bin for garden and food rubbish, collected by the council fortnightly. They also provide biodegradable bags in which we're encouraged to put bones and cooked food. We've had no problem with this but the pest control chap (who came to kill the rat) told me that in some parts of town, people complained they found rats in, or sitting on those bins. My mum always told me never to put meat/bones in the compost because it encouraged rats.
We have a covered compost bin in the garden, which sits on a large paving stone. We do hope this means that no rat family can creep under the paving stone and set up home in the compost. I put veg peelings, grass and some garden waste in ours.
When I worked in our town centre, our office was on a street with a number of fast food outlets. I got the rat chaps out after seeing a number of them. They said the cafe's put oil and fat down the drains, along with the days uneaten rice and other food items. Obviously the rats thought the all you can eat buffet had been extended, just for them.

Doesn't your council have a food recycling scheme ethel?
Ours provides two plastic bins, one little one for indoors and a larger one for outdoors (supposed to be rodent-proof). They also provide potato starch sacks.
However, the refuse collectors broke our large plastic food bin and apparently it is not recycleable and has to go to landfill.
I despair.

he found the family nesting in my compost bin.
Ah yes, we had a couple of open compost 'bins' and used to put peelings on there (but no meat or cooked food) as well as garden waste. That is where we had a rat nesting a few years ago -it's nice and warm as well as a good source of food.
We have one of those plastic sealed ones now for peelings and so far (fingers crossed) haven't had a problem.

I remember many years ago my DB and SIL lived in a house with a brook at the end of the garden; SIL was horrified when DN (aged about 2) came in from the garden and said 'there's a big mousey who wants to play with me in the garden' . The rat catcher was called immediately!

Two years since I had the rat man round and last night was the first time ratty came back and ate the full tray of bait!
It only stays in the corner near the boiler, doesn't seem to actually come out of the cupboard, but it makes me feel really shaky.
Anyway, the council charge £40, so this time I went and bought the bait myself which cost £9.99!
I also pour neat bleach round the back of the boiler where he must climb in.
I hate rats.

Oh that's good he established where the nest was. Hopefully no more trouble. I wouldn't put kitchen food in the compost. Round here we have small bins for food waste collected weekly. But I put tea bags and next door's unusable windfalls etc in the compost plus grass cuttings etc. I wonder if the rodents are just using the bin as a cosy nest, not for any food they might find in there? I know hedgehogs do this. Not sure what the answer is.

Ratty and co are dealt with, I had to get the pest man out and he found the family nesting in my compost bin. He put 'stuff' down and hopefully there will be no more bother, Ive stopped feeding the birds.
I was annoyed because the compost bin was bought from the council and is approved by them and is strong and with no entrances. I shall now be putting food waste in the rubbish bin for landfill, something we are not encouraged to do but what choice do I have. Any ideas anyone ?

Yep, stop the bird feeding and they will go away.
we live in a village in the countryside, and we feed the birds and put up with the odd rat snuffling up the spilt birdseed, ditto a pigeon or two, as at least they clear it up.Never seen more than one, but if I did I would stop the birdfeeding at least for a while.

The council used to provide the service free round here, but now you have to pay. We used to get rats in the garden regularly (we do live close to an estuary).

One year DH did put poison down. He found a rat dying and came in ashen and shaken - he said never again and we just stopped feeding the birds. It worked...

I had a quick look and am shocked to find that some councils charge for what should be a free service on health and safety grounds.

Perhaps a firm like Rentokil would be cheaper?

I had a friend who used to feed them and thought they were pretty, I wouldn't normally harm anything and will put spiders etc outside but rats - no. Disease ridden vermin. You can't risk it with children playing in the garden. I would stop feeding the birds, get someone in to get rid of them then water around with dilute Jeyes fluid.

A friend of ours is a pest controller and he says that poisoning rats really has to be done by professionals (and with great care!) because they have become immune to so many poisons and even enjoy eating some of them now. A decent pest controller will put the poison in safe places. It may take several visits to get rid of all the rats.

Get a terrier. He would see it as a matter of honour to be rat free. We have no rats and there is bird food all over the ground. We do however have the odd mouse and our terrier spends hours standing stock still or digging like fury.

They have a duty of care to residents regarding public health; I would argue the toss with them about paying.

Now, perhaps someone can find a link? or you could ask Citizens' Advice.

Is £50.00 in Northumberland to have the pest control out. If you are on benefits then they reduce it, If however you want advice on the phone it is £25, the council are just plain greedy. I pointed out that I had been off work for a long time and it made no difference, I also said that I was alerting the council to a possible danger to public health but they said as I had made the phone call I had to pay. At least we will get rid of the rats, Im holding out as long as possible to pay.

Gagaran, when I phoned the council about a rat run in my garden, i opened the door and said "oh, you must be the rat man". "Pest control Madam" he said, with a straight face. He was an absolute joy to be honest. Very kind in his approach, despite the fact he was laying poison. He was lovely with my dogs, very careful about where he put the poison and came to collect the dead Mr Rat so it could be safely disposed of. He said he quite likes rats, shy creatures but hates squirrels. He described them as ferocious and told me that where rats would scurry off , squirrels attack. He said he and his colleagues disliked the task of catching squirrels who got into roofs. They also cause damage, chewing through electric wiring etc (as do rats)

DD had a rat in her kitchen when she lived in London and the vermin chap (not sure what his official title is) found where it had got in. It was where the waste pipe from the washer went through the wall - a tiny gap but apparently they can squeeze themselves through very small spaces. She brought baby DGD to stay with us until Mr Rat had been evicted. They sold the flat and moved soon afterwards.