Spotting rats during the day means that a large population is active in the neighborhood. You are not alone. The neighbors must also join in the project.

I've been overrun with rats before but never thought to be embarrassed about them. They're all part of nature, but I'm not in the burbs so it might feel different there.

Do you have any natural predators around that will help your cause? Hawks, owls, neighborhood cats, a weasel?

That was my thought. Seek out a population of feral cats and borrow a few.

I totally get how you feel, I would feel the same - in suburbia, rats = slovenliness, even if it isn't one's fault. My first thought was to get a cat; now, I don't like cats, they kind of creep me out, but I'll give them props for keeping the rodent population in check. I don't know if I'd encourage feral cats, but then again it can't be worse than rats... Or, if your neighbors have cats, perhaps you can convince them to let you "borrow" them for a short while (if they're cats that go outdoors, not the prissy indoor-only queen of the *itches types of cats). A dog might work, too, especially one in the terrier family; if it were me, I'd get a dog...or two.

Sorry to hear of your "problem". Sadly, Jean is right. A friend had this problem and eventually called an exterminator who checked out their yard and also the neighbors' yards on both sides (peeking over the fences). His analysis was that the rats were breeding in both adjacent yards where the people never cleaned up or raked leaves, etc. His advised them to make sure their back yard was clear and clean and also set traps.

These people had the exterminator coming for a really, really long time because although he could take care of the rats in their yard, there was nothing he could do about the neighbors' yards.

Luckily, one family moved so that their home was remodeled and cleaned up. The other house is still awful. The "boy" who lives there is now in his late 20s, but his tree fort is still in the back yard! I'm guessing that's become a "rat condo."

Is horsebox another word for barn?

No, its another word for truck - big one for transporting horses...but converted to a cabin thingy on wheels

The Rat Man came and gave us kudos for a very good start. We three adults (dh, me and daughter borrowed from chicago for 3 days) had put in about 15 hours raking, shoveling, cutting back in one small area of garden. It's the area closest to the house that had numerous rat holes. We filled our small toyota truck with debris and buckets of rocks. Rats like to dig in near rocks with weeds nearby to cover the entrance and exit holes. And here's something interesting: if one wants to be judicious and targeted about using poison, there's bait that's a like a small bar of sesame candy. Place it around the property and if it's eaten or gnawed at you know the rats are active there and you treat accordingly. I take rat poison very seriously, but at least I won't be broadcasting it where it's not needed. I don't think traps would work on the uneven terrain. Besides I go barefoot a lot and I'm afraid I'd lose a toe.

I mentioned that 5 neighbors have seen them on their property. One is the horseback riding program in an 200 year old barn across the street; two others had birdfeeders with seed; the other's garage doors were eaten through because the rats got trapped. My elderly neighbor on the other side feeds the turkeys and birds with broadcast seed and corn. I told him about the problem but I just couldn't bring myself to ask him to stop. I really think it is one of the few things he can still do and it brings him pleasure.

The barn wouldn't give the Rat Man permission to enter the property so unless the board of health wants to get involved there's not much we can do. MollieP, this may be an option for your friend with the oblivious neighbor. He could file a complaint with the BOH and they can inspect the property without his consent. They can order him (or the landlord) to clean up the property.

There's still a half acre to work on. Hope by fall we'll be finished and rats won't be considering a short-distance move into the house during cold weather. We endured that when the barn was being renovated. One chewed through a cabinent and stole a big bar of baking chocolate. Disgusting.

Was it in the Tale of Tom Kitten...that introduced children to those horrible rats who wanted to bake him in a pie?

Thanks for the words of support. I think Campanula set the bar for truthful disclosures.

Marie

We are farmers. Years ago we raised piggies and constantly had open quantities of feed or feed products. And we had rats wherever the feed was. I hope they stayed near the barns and not anywhere near the house, but I'm sure there were explorers. We always had bait out and would occasionally find dead rats. It was the way it was. You could be very tidy, but hogs are NOT!

These days, no pigs, feed and feed products are long gone. Now we have ground squirrels in the yard and in the fields. DH is a hunter and his eyes sparkle when he sees those little heads pop up thru the grass!!! Where's my pellet rifle?

I feel your pain about critters. I would get some of the bait boxes that keep the bait dry; they work. You just have to check and maybe move them occasionally.

I do have "holes" in my garden beds: voles or chipmunks. I want to put out bait this winter when they do their underground damage!

I saw a rat scurry through my backyard once. Creeped me out. I stopped composting anything except garden waste and did that in an enclosed container. I also put out bait stations. One neighbor must have seen rats too because she had an exterminator come out. She also trimmed up a lot of her shrubs so that the bottoms of shrubs were close to bare - so creatures couldn't hide. I was talking soon after that to another neighbor two doors away and she mentioned she put meat scraps in her compost pile. I think I told her I heard that can draw rats but didn't tell her 'you shouldn't do that.' I just put out more bait boxes.

I have been waging an ongoing battle with some sort of creature that digs around an area near my back door. Exterminators have been out. I've set havahart traps but that hasn't fixed the problem.

Thank goodness for those neighborhood cats slinking around.

I don't know that I've ever seen a feral cat around here. Barn cats, yes but the new leasees of the barn don't keep them. No one...no one around here has outdoor cats anymore.

I used to go out in the morning and see how the flowers were coming along. Recently, I go out and fill in rat holes with the toe of my shoe or a stick; the next morning I look to see if the tunnel has been dug out again.

I"m sure our property was as equally attractive to the the rodents as the barn.. The barn people keeps the food meticulously locked in metal containers. Nope, our yard got away from us and when the rats were disturbed they migrated to our little Eden and apparently are enjoying it as much as we do (or did, as of this moment!)

Thanks you, Marie T., I'll pass that info along to my friend. Poor thing was kind of embarrassed to even have the exterminator and his truck come into her yard, but she has a family and pets and so was anxious and worried.

Molie I'm surprised the truck advertised. many don't have their business name on the panel. Your friend should understand that with the neighbors yard a mess she's just keeping the rats at bay . as long as there's shelter and food next door they won't relocate . On the other hand if his property provides all that in abundance they may not come to visit her

.

i spoke to the rat man today and he told me their professional association reports all parts of the country are experiencing increased rat sightings

we speculated about this nationwide heatwave and the loner breeding season for pests

He commented that if climate change brings increasied rain rodent control will be more difficult. rats will get displaced with flooding and move to new territories; also bait gets washed away or depleted faster

Such a prospect!

Marie, it sounds like you have a good start on the first step to rat control, which is to remove their shelter (overgrown vegetation). The next thing, of course, is to remove resident rodents. I, personally, do it myself. I'm not sure why people would be embarrassed, since rats are a fact of life.

When we moved into this place, it was entirely overgrown with English ivy and Japanese honeysuckle (home-sweet-home for rats), while having major roof rat attractants: an orange tree and, later, a fig tree and grapes. There were 16 feral and stray cats, also, that hung out in the yard, at that time, but only a few of those lazy oafs actually caught rats (mostly tomcats; what you want are industrious female cats who are generally the better hunters).

I removed the ivy and honeysuckle, which immediately helped. There are rodent outbreaks in some years, nevertheless, at which point I trap (I still have one good rat-catching cat, but she can't do it all). The easiest rat traps to set and use are these, baited with peanut butter. Last year the rats were ravaging my fig tree and oranges and I caught ten by tying these traps in the trees and setting them overnight (trip them to avoid catching birds during the day and reset at evening).

Poison baits are ecological disasters: any animal that might eat the bait or the rat that died from it can also die, including raptors, dogs, and cats. I would personally evict any company using rat baits from my property as the negligent, incompetent boobs that they are (speaking as an ecologist). My 85-year-old mother mitigated her severe rat problem by setting her own traps, so it is not that hard.

We have been over run with rats in the past, (neighbours used to store there garbage in a shed beside us and we have a creek). Didn't think too much about it til winter sent them into our motor home one year, we dealt with that. Then the following winter into our house attic. They chewed up wiring, ruined insulation and cost us a few thousand in repairs. Deal with them asap!

In 20 years here I've only ever seen one rat or evidence of one . . . Until yesterday, when I realized that the reason my annual poppies by the front door were lying on the ground was that they being chewed down for access to the seeds by a healthy rat with brown glossy fur. Needless to say there are two large traps out in the bed now, but I'll only set them at night so I don't catch birds, etc.

Don't know if I mentioned one of my posts an observation by the "rodent control consultant" hired by our town. More rat problems reported nationwide, all locations, climates, populations etc. No clear evidence supporting any one explanation why, but the recent nationwide warmer weather, shorter cold season suggests longer breeding periods and lower mortality.