Unwanted visitor to the Bird Feeder

snow white

Dont Look If you dont like Rats!


Not nice at all!

Judgement Day

If you live in the countryside these blighters are never far away. Consider yourself lucky that it is content with the birdtable - I had to despatch one with a spade in a friends bathroom (!) last week. They don't like being cornered.

gzoladz

Not a rat like that, we happened to spot a mouse in the feeder last summer.

Haven't seen it again, perhaps feeding the cats that also visit our garden has paid off.

Valmont

A nice trap would sort that fellow out.

Wild_Dogger

hmmm .... does anybody else think rats look cute ?

fabhcungorm

I see nothing wrong with em, just a hedgehog without the spikes, clever too.

snow white

we caught a big rat over the christmas think this one is more of the same family!
The female carry disease thats all Im afraid of!

John Mason

oh, they are the bane of my life. they eat more bird food then the birds.

they are costing me a fortune in poision

Judgement Day

http://www.amazon.com/Victor-M240-Electronic-Rat-Trap/dp/B000LNX06C

I'm buying something like this soon - indoor use only I imagine. Plenty of reviews on Amazon. The only good rat is a dead one - kill them all!!

Kess73

Judgement Day wrote: »

http://www.amazon.com/Victor-M240-Electronic-Rat-Trap/dp/B000LNX06C

I'm buying something like this soon - indoor use only I imagine. Plenty of reviews on Amazon. The only good rat is a dead one - kill them all!!

Just as an aside, dunnocks, robins, and sparrows will check out any rat traps or rat cages you put out.

A number of months back I had a lone rat coming to my bird feeders like your rat is doing. I tried sonic repellents, a water gun, a humane rat cage that would catch it alive so that it could be brought elsewhere, and finally a black widow with ball bearings.

Nothing could get the little fecker, as once it figured out a threat it would change it's route.

But the cage was a pain as the smaller birds that I named kept checking it out, so I was having to check the cage on a constant basis to let out any bird that was in it, and I was unable to set the trap if I was not there, otherwise a bird would have gone in and been trapt for hours and gotten stressed.

In the end nature took care of the rat for me. The regular female sparrowhawk who had nested in the trees behind my house for the previous two years was on her rounds one day when the rat came out into the open.

The rat lasted no longer against her than her regular feathered victims.

jmkennedyie

Yep think twice about putting conventional rat traps near bird tables - have learnt from a friend that they don't distinguish between rats and inquisitive / hungry robins .

TREVOR H

On a serious note wear gloves when filling your feeders.
Rats carry Weils disease, spread through their urine.
Can cause kidney failure.

Rats are afraid of 'new things'.
Put out a wavin pipe on the ground along your garden fence.
Leave it for a few weeks and then place a rat trap baited with whatever they seem to like from your bird feeder.

We had some in our compost heap that came out to feed under the bird feeders.
My dog, a terrier cross, soon looked after it!:)

Angus Og

I agree with above, but remember, rats are not serious pests. Brown rats graze, and need as much as those birds.

Oliverdog

snow white wrote: »

we caught a big rat over the christmas think this one is more of the same family!

We had a turkey. Quite nice.

I think a water rat is visiting our bird feeder - just eating spillage on the floor, after swimming across the land drain. My wife has Googled it and has it identified as a European Water Vole. (Sounds much nicer}. It's quite a cute little thing with a white front and paws, and makes repeated journeys to snatch a little food, mostly seeds.

jmkennedyie

Hmm... if cute little thing and location is Kerry, maybe it is a Bank vole...
http://www.rte.ie/radio/mooneygoeswild/factsheets/mammals/index3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Vole

European Water Vole not found in Ireland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Water_Vole. If it is rat sized then chances are it is Brown Rat.

BrianD3

Had a rat incident myself last night, went out at around 10 pm to top up one of the caged feeders with black sunflower seeds. It was dark outside and I wasn't expecting there to be anything in the cage...just as I was about to lift it off and with my face about a foot away from it, out jumps a rat :eek: Nearly shat myself

I haven't been bringing feeders in at night - I figured that if rats did come, it would be for the inevitable spilled seeds under the feeders.

one things for sure, i'll only be filling the feeders in daylight from now on

Poll Dubh

Decided to get rid of my feeders rather than poison the rats. The rodents weren't bothering anyone before the feeders were hung.

Angus Og

This is the worrying thing:

http://news.scotsman.com/health/Woman-dies-from-Weil39s-disease.4489928.jp

I've seen a number of warnings. They have them up in the recycling centres.

artieanna

I have to say I have had the same problem, this year I moved the feeders nearer to the kitchen window to see the birds. I was looking out at the birds one day and spotted two rats in and our under shrubs they had a path made with all the trips to collect scattered seed. I soon moved the food further away from the house and I've not seen them since. No doubt they are still around though.:(

If I am working in the garden I always wear gloves you never know whats running around peeing etc.....:eek:

Oliverdog

jmkennedyie wrote: »

Hmm... if cute little thing and location is Kerry, maybe it is a Bank vole...
http://www.rte.ie/radio/mooneygoeswild/factsheets/mammals/index3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Vole

European Water Vole not found in Ireland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Water_Vole. If it is rat sized then chances are it is Brown Rat.

I'm going to try to get a picture of it next time I see it.

Alliandre

Wild_Dogger wrote: »

hmmm .... does anybody else think rats look cute ?

Yeah they are quite cute, it's a pity they're such disease carriers.

jmkennedyie wrote: »

Yep think twice about putting conventional rat traps near bird tables - have learnt from a friend that they don't distinguish between rats and inquisitive / hungry robins .

My parents have rats stealing the bird food and my Dad caught a blackbird in the rat trap once.

The rats have come to be more tame/cheeky than the birds lately. If we bang on the window to scare them away, they only run a small distance before coming back about a minute later.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Alliandre wrote: »

The rats have come to be more tame/cheeky than the birds lately. If we bang on the window to scare them away, they only run a small distance before coming back about a minute later.

This is a very serious situation! If you have more than one rat, and have them regularly, then there is a major health hazard here.

You must arrange to have these Rats disposed of without delay!

kowloon

I had a problem with rats attacking my ducks to get their eggs, and later taking the ducklings. Poison was no help as one of the rats ate the poison and threw up inside the duck pen where the ducks could get it.

What did work was baiting them to the same point every day for a week and then, when they were used to it I unleashed the 12 gauge on them.
Some light shot (the kind you would use for clays) is more than sufficient to blast a rat into pieces.

Better for the environment and more humane for the rat compared to poison or something nastier like those sticky traps.

The cheekier the rats the easier it is to shoot them.