I've just come here to ask the same question. I have a squirrel-proof cage feeder up a pole near a tree in the garden, and it is successfully squirrel proof so far - but not rat proof. Just seen one actually inside the cage in broad daylight. Furious.
Unfortunately a baffle isn't practical for where the feeder is (the rat is jumping out of a tree onto it and there's nowhere in my small garden to move the feeder away from the tree). I was wondering whether I could somehow use peppermint oil or spray somehow to deal with it, but I'm not sure if birds tolerate peppermint or if it'll put them off too. Anyone know?
I am lucky with so many foxes and badgers visiting I haven't seen a rat for ages, but my neighbor was troubled with them a few weeks ago they even burrowed into his greenhouse, he bought a catch em alive trap and caught two, he took them to a local park and released them-no sign of rats since.
isn't wild wonderful
If I had rats, I would immediately call out pest control.
Regards,
Ian.
Trouble is Thomo pest control only use poison a danger to other wild life
Unknown said: Trouble is Thomo pest control only use poison a danger to other wild life
Then so be it. Rats can spead disease if left unattended and if it’s the only way to get rid of the rats, I would definitely call pest control.
Bit late to this, but i had three rats persistently coming to garden over Christmas 2017 in to new year 2018. I stopped ground feeding altogether as they used to come in broad daylight. I thought they'd move on but nope - think they'd set up camp nearby by this point. In the end i caught two using a humane trap, with peanut butter on a cracker. It took a while for them to enter the cage and were very suspicious, but eventually they succumbed! Caught two over a week or so. The third disappeared on its own. I released them in some fields round the corner (away from houses) and they never came back. PETA suggest humane trapping but not releasing more than 100 metres from catch site. I was probably a bit more than that to be honest, but had no choice as it was a matter of time until neighbours saw them brazenly wandering about the garden! Some of my neighbours feed seagulls over winter and ive seen rats brought in by that, so i suspect ill have another visit this winter!