rats

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.

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.

The birds here seem ravenous, although we live in a rural setting! They're emptying my feeders every two days.......that's 3 peanut feeders and a 10 ball fatball feeder plus two large seed feeders. I've got flocks of all the Tit families, greedy so and so's.

Just checked Aberdeenshire services online-there aren't any from council direct, They have contracted service out and have nothing to do with its operation. Charges from private company seem reasonable-£22.50 per visit for rats/mice (min 2 visits) £55 for 4 room flea/bug infestation.

We are one the list for regular calls by the pest control firm The last bill was £80 , but that was for him to nip in and check things everytime he was passing . Seems we are pest free at the minute , we stopped feeding birds 3 years ago but still have loads of birds in the ivy and sitting pecking at the bugs on the bushes and the rodents would have gone except that our neighbour started throwing bread out on the yard

My rat came back again last night! However he didn't eat much bait, probably because he was paddling in neat bleach!
I think he comes in through the boiler vent, so I can't block it. So I've poured bleach outside as well now.
If I called out the council man, he would only put a tray of bait down, have a look round outside, and charge £40!

I know it may sound OTT, but I feel violated by this rat!

Can you borrow a fierce cat Lona?

I remember when friends lived near a pig farm and their very tiny cat used to come home with presents of rats nearly as big as her.

All dead, I might add

Buy bait yourself and put it down.

When we moved into out Oxon house in the late nineties, DH suffered quite badly from cat flea bites (I had some too but didn't react quite so badly). The previous owners had had five cats. Once the cats were gone the fleas had no option but to bite the only other warm-blooded creatures available, namely us.

At that time, Oxon County Council treated the house, successfully, free of charge. I guess council funding cuts since then are the reason such services have now been out-sourced.

I already have bait down Anya. In theory rat eats bait then goes off and dies! In practise, rat eats, goes away, comes back for more or sends a mate!

Can you block your boiler vent with scrunched up chicken wire, Lona? It wouldn't prevent movement of air/gases but would effectively block it to vermin.

I would have thought it should have a rat-proof grid over it anyway.

That's very odd Lona - we had a rat problem at the allotment last year. They were climbing up the plant and eating all our sweet corn. We found their rat runs, and traced them back to our shed and this was where we put the bait.

Changed it every 5 days (? I think) for two weeks. Problem solved.

I hated doing it but the GC come down to the allotment and rats spread Weil's disease.

I have heard of super-rats that are becoming immune to certain poisons.

bags its a very large vent with a cage over it, but I had thought of trying tiny mesh chicken wire. As it has only happened 3 times in 23 years, I'm hoping it will go away! ?

My house smells very, very clean

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I use poison, rats spread disease and do untold damage. Trapping and releasing sounds good, but where are you going to release them, farmland ?, would you want a farmer to catch his rats and release them in your garden ?. Playing field ?, weils disease, woodland ? balance of existing wildlife ?
Wherever you release them, if they are from a domestic property, they will return to another property.

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Bit of a long way to come, so pointless advertising
Reported though.

Ask them over for a free quote

I prefer "Fred the Rat Man" myself. Ooh, I hope that is not advertising???
Why on earth is the Califirnian ad still up, GNHQ??

Well,if they are allowed to advertise, (reported three times to no avail, think GNHQ must be at Chelsea) here is the whole thing for information. I note the free survey and review- tempting
I wonder if they do wasps' nests as well? , I have a bit of a problem in our back wall, but Fred the Rat Man has said he will come out one day next week.
He is about 90, mind you, hope he lasts out!

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