I saw a rat come down from my tree and eat birdseed. I'd heard of such things, but I never saw it before. It freaks me out. I saw it a second time scurring around my back yard up a bush. I am also interested to know if anyone has suggestions to get rid of them.

Rat traps....

Yes, rats will eat anything they can get.

Lisa

Rats are attracted to bird feeders and if you see them in your yard you need to be careful because their next step is to find an entrance to your house.My neighbor had to remove her bird feeder for a year because numerous houses in our neighborhood became infested with rats. Than goodness my cats kept them from our house along with mothballs around the house and our friendly black racers that live in my front yard and have their home in the back hedge. Now bird feeers are put out in the morning and taken in at night. GET THOSE TRAPS or forget your veggie. They also adore citrus trees and the fruit. Linda

You know, an outside cat might be your answer. If you pretty much keep it outside it won't be an issue in your house. I don't know what your neighborhood is like. I have a couple of neighbors that have cats that they keep out during the day and bring in at night. I wish they would do it the other way around because it might help with the rabbits that ravage my garden. No one around here complains about the cats but you do have to be careful because of who your neighbors are.

Small rats are chewing through our screen onto our lanai and foraging around our parrot cages.
You've just got to imagine 10pm, two tween boys armed with crab nets, Japanese grandma in her 80's with a fly swatter, and grown dad in boxer shorts armed with tile scraper, scurrying around said lanai, shouts of "there it is!" (yelps) "It just ran under the couch!" (screams) "It just ran under the cage!" I was laughing so hard that I forgot to grab the video camera. I think we would have won America's Funniest Videos in a heartbeat. The neighbors must've had a great show.
I called rodent control the next day! (BTW, our city's rodent control website said that cats don't work.)

Here is a link that might be useful: St Pete's Rodent Myths

My cats keep them out of my gardens. I just found one on my porch yesterday. I always give them love and praise when they bring me "presents"

What you need is a daschund! Your yard will be free of all rats, mice, squirrels, possums and moles. Of course, a major garden task will be filling in the all holes they dig, but that's a small price to pay for rodent control. LOL!

*sigh* Oh to have a useful pet. Let's just say that mine looks good... and that's about all.

The pest control people came out yesterday and offered to let us pay them $260 to set down some traps. They don't even check on them once they're in place. I guess we're going to have to set our own traps. From what I've read it's important to get as many rats as possible at once or the population will continue to rise.

I'm really worried about our opportunities for gardening being lost, and the more I read about how to catch the guys the more confused I'm getting. Has anyone actually gone after the rats in their yard and succeeded? I'd love to hear how you did it!

Thanks in advance,
Jane

I already removed the bird feeder. What a shame. As for the rat traps, how can you target it just for rats? I hate squirrels as much as the next person, but I don't want to kill them. Would it hurt birds, snakes, or other animals?

Squirrels are more active during the day, rats are more active at night. Put your traps down just before dusk, pick them up in the morning.

Snakes will avoid the traps. Birds will avoid if you use an appropriate bait for rats (peanut butter or cheese instead of cereal or nuts). Squirrels are going to be the hardest to keep out of the rat traps, unless you primarily use the traps at night.

Raccoons might get into the traps but they probably wouldn't get severely injured, just a little slap on the wrist.

You could always try the live traps that are used for squirrels.

Good luck eradicating your rats...LOL

You know, they live everywhere here in Flarda, right?
Sewers, palm trees, our attics and garages...you name it.

Last year I had one or two in my pool.
Found the entrance to their "home" and filled it with small rocks.
Dunno where they moved to.
Somewhere else in the yard, I reckon.

Then one built a nest inside a box in the garage.
My pest control peeps came out and set out 3 bait traps after she jumped out and landed right on my chest! ACKK!!!!!!

I don't like to poison anything, but the smell from their feces/urine stinks!
...not to mention the fact that she chewed up anything she could find to build a nest!
I own a couple of motorcycles...one being an antique with leather-fringed saddlebags that are...ah, WERE irreplaceable.
She chewed off every single piece of fringe to utilize in her nest!!!

You can't 'shoo' them away...they've got to be eliminated, unfortunately.
Good luck....

Thanks - this made me laugh. We had a rat last year chewing somewhere under the house.. living on dog food from dogs next door. I've heard that many developments don't allow feeders - because they draw rats and the rats draw snakes. My daughter has horses and finds the rat population grows for a time and then disappears - at which time they see lots of snakes.. when rats are gone snakes go and it starts all over again. Hard to decide which ones you want to avoid in the dark.

Where are all the hawks while this is going on?

We live in Bonita as well and dealt with rats earlier this year. They had a field day in my gardening shed and ate my heirloom tomatoes just as they got ripe in the garden!
We tried repellant sprays ( do not waste money there), traps caught a couple mice nothing else and cleaning out the shed and dousing everything with ammonia. The ammonia worked for a couple of days and that was it.
After they began to brazenly climb on the compost pile and make tons of noise in the shed at night we finally, after much discussion, put out poison. In 2 locations that our cat could not get at. In about 5 days we had 2 very dead rats and peace and quite. I garden organically so this was about a 4 month process of losing garden produce while trying different ways to deter them. Once hubby even chased them with a shovel around the garden area and banged against the shed walls every time he was in there.

I have recently planted my first raised vegetable garden. I am very discouraged because of a rat who eats nearly everything. I purchased a solar high frequency rodent repeller. Apparently rodent does not include, rat. I planted 12 brocolli plants that night thinking I had outthunk the rat. Wrong! All twelve plants gone.
So then I planted spinach and covered the leaves with cayenne. I guess Ricky the Rat likes his produce spicy he ate 6 out of twelve. Then I put a thick layer of tabasco around the plastic edge of the bed and, hold on to your trowel folks, either Ricky was at the neighbors eating the dog food or... the hot sauce worked. The spinach is still there as is the few remaining pea sprouts.
Tomorrow I buy traps!

I had, may still have, rats in my attic that came over from the abandoned house next door. They were going into the bird aviary at night after the seed. I couldn't put down poison, because of the birds. One night, they scared my little baby cockatiel to death...literally! I got the birds into cages, took them out for a week, and put down rat poison mixed with bird seed every night. Haven't seen one since.

I have decided though, because of squirrels that have torn up my screen on the back porch coming in after the bird seed, that I will find homes for my birds. I can't take having to replace the screen all the time.

A professional exterminator friend of mine , uses large spring traps baited with cottonballs soaked in bacon grease . She uses small pieces of the cotton , firmly wedged in and says that the rodents have to really tug to get to it and thus - spring the trap . The traps need to be checked daily and be prepared to see some gross stuff . She caught 9 BIG ones in two weeks at one place . Yuck !
As a rancher , rats and mice are a constant problem here . We use poison bait from the farm store . We keep it out year round - otherwise the rodent population quickly grows .
My favorite rat killer is the Yellow Rat Snake that lives in the oak tree by my back patio . The very best rodent killer is a pair of nesting owls . They will kill and eat over 100 rodents per evening !

nothing works better than a spayed/neutered cat....females are better rat and mouse catchers, I found.

I've been fighting rats on and off for years. They move into my attic and garage annually when the heavy rains start. Luckily, none have managed to get into the main house. I use either a pellet gun or traps baited with PB in the garage and attic. For trapping rats outdoors I place the trap in a cardboard box with a hole cut in the side. This prevents my dogs from getting snapped in the nose and keeps other non-target animals out of the traps.

Sure, owls are better. But, here in the city, cant have everything, but by supporting TNR and feeding ferals, I as a result, help reduce the numbers of homeless hungry unfixed cats and have no rats in my yard. I get presents from the cats occasionally, but no damage from the critters.
Well taken care of cat, fixed, current on shots - will leave well beyond 3 years outdoors.
Average takes into consideration a lot of diseases, car accident, and so on. Well managed colonies - cats live long lives.
As a veteran TNR trapper, with dozens of cats done every month, I will stand by my numbers.

In any case, having felines has worked for me. Birds are pretty safe in my yard with their feeders off the ground.
Olya