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Hunting Rats Insight

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Sparkshot

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Sorry, not offering any hoping to get some from more experienced ratters.

I live on the outskirts of a very small village, in a rural area, surrounded by farmland and I get rats in the garden. To me, one rat is one two many and any more than is an infestation and so I bought my first ever air rifle to manage the 'problem'. I shot three and then saw nothing for months. Two years on, that seems to be a pattern: I'll see maybe three distinct individuals, shoot them, then nothing at all for a while. With everything I've ever read or watched on the subject of rats stating they form large communities I suppose I should be grateful that I'm only seeing small numbers but is that really the case or just the very small of a much bigger iceberg?
 
There is likely a nest fairly close by.
I'm not claiming to be an expert, but normally once population get to a certain density, they will be looking to expand their area, you are probably on the edge and taking the stragglers that test your direction.
Also they might have reduced feed at this time of year, so need to find new sources, but I'd look for where are coming from and see if you can identify the main infestation.
 
OldStock said:
There is likely a nest fairly close by.
I'm not claiming to be an expert, but normally once population get to a certain density, they will be looking to expand their area, you are probably on the edge and taking the stragglers that test your direction.
Also they might have reduced feed at this time of year, so need to find new sources, but I'd look for where are coming from and see if you can identify the main infestation.
Click to expand...
Beyond my back garden, there's football pitch-sized patch of green, a cluster of a doze or so houses and then what I think is farmland, stretching all the way back to the next village. I first observed the rats coming in under the back fence and when I inspected the area i found multiple rat holes. I have since taken out two trees so now they come in from the garden to the left, through mine and - hitherto - onto the garden to the right where the slobs who lived there had a dog-poo mountain that the rats seemed to find edible. Neighbouring houses have steps down from the kitchen door to a 'yard' but the previous owner replaced that with a raised deck. Don't know how old it was but I stepped out the kitchen and fell straight through it last year and had to rebuild it and I've a horrible feeling they have a nest under there. They had gnawed holes in the old one that they used to access Slobs Villa but now, when I see them heading to or from the garden on the left, I'm not sure if that's them still heading 'home' or venturing out from a new central HQ.

I shot one the other week and there was no sign of activity for a while. Then, two nights running, a sizeable mound of bird food disappeared completely. One mound was still there at 2a but gone completely by 5am so I bought a night scope. I started seeing them around tea time, just as the feeble solar light came on so I sat there with the kitchen doors open, icy wind blowing through like a wind tunnel and waited just long enough for the scope's battery go flat and watched as a rat so fat it slithered came from the left, down the steps and disappeared behind the decking. I got it on the third evening and the garlic mayo that lured it in remained untouched for a few days but was completely gone this morning.

Part of me is tempted to put out a trail cam, partly to see if they are there in numbers and also if my raised deck is still a thoroughfare or the new rat central while another part of me thinks maybe ignorance is bliss. The right hand side of the deck butts up against my garage wall and there's a tiny gap between house corner and garage corner. When the original deck went in, the gap was bridged by a length of CLS. One time when I was returning home, I watched a rat run from dog-poo mountain and disappear in that corner. When I looked to see where on earth it could have disappeared to, There was a perfectly round hole gnawed all the way through; that hadn't been there a day or two earlier when I was sweeping up the new occupants cigarette butts.
 
Sounds like a fair range of accommodation is on offer, decking has to be the work of some rat overlord, just perfect, hidden, close to people and food, protection from predators.
I'd consider a cheap CCTV camera with built in SD card and have a look from the comfort of your mobile.
I've a Codnida (WTF?) pan tilt, bought to 'just to see how bad the cheap stuff is', and it surprised me, it is fine.
Amazon item B0CGL36F9C about £33.

They will eat a disturbing amount of literal 'crap'.
Sometimes it is impossible to eradicate them, without the help of neighbours, so you could be on a constant cull rather than clearing, so set up a decent bait spot to get them where you want them then using the camera work out a schedule and 'do the business'.
 
Sounds like you have the perfect environment in and around your garden, so as @OldStock has said watch and learn and then put you planned assault into effect, definitely need to bait them into an area to shoot them safely and keep at them night and day.
Who owns the piece of green beyond your back fence, can you make them aware of the problem and ask permission to shoot rats there to prevent them entering the gardens.
You have the kit so why not try to gain permission to shoot them on their land too, always better if you can attack from both sides, also seek advice from you local council as to sorting dog muck mountain as that is just another risk of disease.
But look at it this way, at least you have your own rat shoot and can keep them under control if you try, good luck with what ever method you choose.
 
OldStock said:
I'd consider a cheap CCTV camera with built in SD card and have a look from the comfort of your mobile.
I've a Codnida (WTF?) pan tilt, bought to 'just to see how bad the cheap stuff is', and it surprised me, it is fine.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up on that, just ordered one.

When they come in from the left (another hole gnawed through a fence board), they run along a low retaining wall that my shed butts up against. Once they reach the shed's corner, they pause to see if the coast's clear, poke their head out a bit more and pause again and this is my number 1 Killing Zone. The wall is topped with some of the original decking and the grooves are great for loading up with breadcrumbs or garlic mayo which they have to stop to eat. This is KZ2, for when they're a bit skittish, allowing me to shoot from the living room with less chance of being spotted. KZ3 is immediately below this, the wall acting as a backstop, not so easy to get an angle from the living room but harder for them to see me if I'm in the kitchen

I made some steps meant for me to get up on to the raised 'lawn' when gardening or hanging out the laundry but the rats use them more than I do. Taken a few there but only if they're on the top step as I don't want the steps peppered with pellets.
 
Water food and shelter and you will get rats no matter where you live , I often see people with decking bird feeders and a source of water asking why they have rats . One woman informed us that they weren't her rats and that they came from the council estate 😂
 
It sounds like you live in a very similar spot to me. I have a tunnel trap with a fenn inside at the side of the shed permanently. Close to where the bird feeders are. I’ll get 2 sometimes 3 every year on average, spread out accross all seasons and every one has been a female.
Probably just random chancers that have found my garden/the spilled bird seed and decided to return enough times to investigate the tunnel and get squashed. Although it’s good fun shooting them, the risk is that by the time you notice the damage they’re doing they’ll be well on their way and a lot harder to shift. which is why I have the trap set permanently, in the hope it stops anymore than one trying to set up home. Seems to be working for now.
 

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steevie dan said:
Sounds like you have the perfect environment in and around your garden, so as @OldStock has said watch and learn and then put you planned assault into effect, definitely need to bait them into an area to shoot them safely and keep at them night and day.
Who owns the piece of green beyond your back fence, can you make them aware of the problem and ask permission to shoot rats there to prevent them entering the gardens.
You have the kit so why not try to gain permission to shoot them on their land too, always better if you can attack from both sides, also seek advice from you local council as to sorting dog muck mountain as that is just another risk of disease.
But look at it this way, at least you have your own rat shoot and can keep them under control if you try, good luck with what ever method you choose.
Click to expand...
It is literally a village green, few planted trees, council mow it once in a while, people exercise their dogs and kids sometimes play on it.

The house to my left is currently empty. It was sold last year and the long term tenants disappeared over Xmas. They had cats, loads of them, who would come do their business in my garden didn't trouble the rats any. The characters to the right also moved out, much to the relief of everyone else and dog-poo mountain is no more. New tenants much nicer although no more interested in gardening than the previous occupant even though one of them claims to be a landscape gardener. My garden's hardly paradise, except maybe for the rats as there are ample nooks and crannies for them to hide in. I think it's called Dutch drainage that runs alongside my garage and where it disappears under some steps, there's another gnawed hole in the breeze block riser. I watched one rat try to run with a full lice of bread in its mouth and then try to jump up the steps only for the bread to get in its way. Then it saw me, dropped the bread and disappeared into the drainage. For the next half hour or so, it demolished that entire slice of bread a bite at a time until there was nothing left of it. They seem to have learned that half-slices are more manageable and I watched one drag such a bit from the left, along the one, down the steps, across the yard and disappear, bread and all, without stopping. I had tried blocking th hole and it looks like they just made it bigger to compensate. I installed some guttering to reduce the amount of rain coming through the garage ceiling and have a downpipe draining into the Dutch stuff. While emptying the ash from my log burner I spotted a rat watching me from inside the downpipe.
 
So where are they getting the slices of bread from ? That needs to stop, take away anything they will eat except the bait spots, preferably something wet and runny so they have to lick it up instead of running off with it.
Shoot as many as you can and take away any other food source.
 
steevie dan said:
So where are they getting the slices of bread from ? That needs to stop, take away anything they will eat except the bait spots, preferably something wet and runny so they have to lick it up instead of running off with it.
Shoot as many as you can and take away any other food source.
Click to expand...
Mea Culpa for the whole slice. I had been throwing out small bits to lure the into a killing zone but the little buggers were darting out of cover, grabbing a freebie and legging it back before I could get a shot off at them so I stupidly thought a whole slice would hold them there longer.

They turned their noses up at peanut butter and jam but they do like breadcrumbs and garlic mayo. Seems they're an even bigger problem in the west end of the village
 
They generally won't touch new stuff, if you want them to eat peanut butter leave them only that, might take a few days, but then they will see that as a safe food and from then on better for baiting.
I've said before but not tried this, wipe some peanut butter where they squeeze through, it might spook them for a bit (no harm) but they will have to get used to it.
 
Sparkshot said:
Mea Culpa for the whole slice. I had been throwing out small bits to lure the into a killing zone but the little buggers were darting out of cover, grabbing a freebie and legging it back before I could get a shot off at them so I stupidly thought a whole slice would hold them there longer.

They turned their noses up at peanut butter and jam but they do like breadcrumbs and garlic mayo. Seems they're an even bigger problem in the west end of the village
Click to expand...
So are throwing the rest of the loaf somewhere in the west end of the village or what lol
 
OldStock said:
They generally won't touch new stuff, if you want them to eat peanut butter leave them only that, might take a few days, but then they will see that as a safe food and from then on better for baiting.
I've said before but not tried this, wipe some peanut butter where they squeeze through, it might spook them for a bit (no harm) but they will have to get used to it.
Click to expand...
Look up "Neophobia affecting rats" at
diamondpestcontrol.co.uk

Rats Have Neophobia About Traps

Catching and exterminating rats is far more complex than it seems. There is actually a great deal of science behind what we do as exterminators. For example, wh
diamondpestcontrol.co.uk diamondpestcontrol.co.uk
 
Sparkshot said:
Pied Pipering them away with Hovis.
Click to expand...
Lol you really must stop feeding them with slices of bread though mate, unless you want more of them of course, am i right in thinking you also feed the birds, another source of food for the rats.
I had a similar problem when i had feeders out for the birds as they are very messy eaters found more going on the ground around the feeders, cleaned up and took feeders down and no more rats here.
As said if you are going to bait them to shoot just do a couple of spots where you can shoot them safely with a wet runny smelly bait (food blender until there are no lumps left), give them a week or two on the bait and they will soon get used to it trust me as long as there is nothing else they can eat instead.
Just make sure you have fun shooting them, the sport of kings is Ratting.
 
I've had bird feeders every house I've owned - except this one. I bought a ground feeder specifically to lure rats that are already here into a spot where I can get a decent shot at them. That lasted about a week. I only tried the whole slice of bread thing once and seeing what a spectacular failure it was I've not tried it again. Stopped even throwing bits of bread out after seeing a tip to blitz it into crumbs, putting out about a spoonful at a time. If birds mop up what's left then that's a bonus.

I have to confess to a slight paradox, though. Having bought an air rifle to get rid of rats, I do like the occasional one or two to have something to shoot at, paper targets and spinners aren't as challenging.
 
Sparkshot said:
Beyond my back garden, there's football pitch-sized patch of green, a cluster of a doze or so houses and then what I think is farmland, stretching all the way back to the next village. I first observed the rats coming in under the back fence and when I inspected the area i found multiple rat holes. I have since taken out two trees so now they come in from the garden to the left, through mine and - hitherto - onto the garden to the right where the slobs who lived there had a dog-poo mountain that the rats seemed to find edible. Neighbouring houses have steps down from the kitchen door to a 'yard' but the previous owner replaced that with a raised deck. Don't know how old it was but I stepped out the kitchen and fell straight through it last year and had to rebuild it and I've a horrible feeling they have a nest under there. They had gnawed holes in the old one that they used to access Slobs Villa but now, when I see them heading to or from the garden on the left, I'm not sure if that's them still heading 'home' or venturing out from a new central HQ.

I shot one the other week and there was no sign of activity for a while. Then, two nights running, a sizeable mound of bird food disappeared completely. One mound was still there at 2a but gone completely by 5am so I bought a night scope. I started seeing them around tea time, just as the feeble solar light came on so I sat there with the kitchen doors open, icy wind blowing through like a wind tunnel and waited just long enough for the scope's battery go flat and watched as a rat so fat it slithered came from the left, down the steps and disappeared behind the decking. I got it on the third evening and the garlic mayo that lured it in remained untouched for a few days but was completely gone this morning.

Part of me is tempted to put out a trail cam, partly to see if they are there in numbers and also if my raised deck is still a thoroughfare or the new rat central while another part of me thinks maybe ignorance is bliss. The right hand side of the deck butts up against my garage wall and there's a tiny gap between house corner and garage corner. When the original deck went in, the gap was bridged by a length of CLS. One time when I was returning home, I watched a rat run from dog-poo mountain and disappear in that corner. When I looked to see where on earth it could have disappeared to, There was a perfectly round hole gnawed all the way through; that hadn't been there a day or two earlier when I was sweeping up the new occupants cigarette butts.
Click to expand...
I'm reading this, and can't help related so much. Sat like a fool at stupid o'clock waiting for rats to come.
 
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