We recently moved into a new house - back garden is mostly raised decking. Last night, one of our neighbours popped round as his dog keeps being sick and he wanted to check if we’d been putting poison down for the rats under our decking.
We have rats under our decking? we ask, recoiling in horror.
Oh yes, sez he. The previous owner had terrible trouble with them.
Well, we reassured him that no, we hadn’t put anything down for the rats we didn’t know about, and then I gibbered in fear for about an hour. I can handle spiders, snakes, heights, enclosed spaces, open spaces, and pretty much any other common phobia you care to mention, but rats give me the heebie-jeebies.
Once I’d finished, though, it occurred to me that not only have we seen no signs of rats (though we haven’t been out in the garden much) but also my mum’s dogs are round here several times a week, often in the garden, and they’ve never shown any sign of there being anything under there. They’re Staffies, so not the “right” kind of terriers for the job, but they go ballistic at squirrels, so I would have thought that they go equally mental if they could hear/smell rats out there, wouldn’t they?
So what do you think? Am I probably alright or should I get some exterminators out to take a look anyway?
I’d wait until I have some actual evidence of rats. On the other hand, if you can afford the expense of hiring an exterminator for a look-see, it won’t do you any harm, and will probably set your mind at ease.
Go to a building supply store, buy an inexpensive trap, bait it, place it under the deck and within a day or so you’ll know if there are rats,
Nonsense. Get a ghillie suit and a good air rifle. Why not make it sporting?
It’s possible the rats didn’t wait around to see if the Staffies were the ‘right sort of terrier’. (Protip: There is no ‘right sort of terrier’, if you’re a rat.) It’s also possible that you aren’t providing the rats with food (ie: garbage), unlike the previous owner, so they decamped.
Been fighting rats lately myself. Damn tenants, and their filthy habits! But anyway, on the theory that acetaminophen is lethal to dogs, I made some nice acetaminophen-and-peanut-butter crackers and put them out. Acetaminophen is cheap, rather cheaper than rat poison. My (provisional) sense is that it’s working. The I found myself wondering if an overdose of vitamins would have the same effect. The dose makes the poison, as they say, and if you can get three times the daily human dose into a comparatively small rat, its liver should just explode, no?
Once upon a time, I left a huge bag of birdseed out on my back porch and forgot about it. As time passed, a tarp fell near the bag of seed. One day I went out to futz around on the porch, and when I jostled the tarp, a number of baby rats scurried about. Now, I am not afraid of rats; in fact I’ve kept them as pets, so my reaction wasn’t to panic, but more squee at the cuteness (seriously, baby rats are pretty cute). Nonetheless, I do not want wild rats in my house, so I decided something must be done.
My first step was to clean up the porch. I removed all the junk that had collected, swept up everything, and got rid of my birdfeeders. Actually, that was also my last step! After their nesting area was removed, they left. I’ve never seen them since.
So my advice to you is to just clean up under the deck and make sure there’s no food available for them. I imagine it’s very different once they’re established in a house, but I think while they are outside they simply move on when it’s no longer a good place to be. The dogs certainly help too. 