Outdoor Piggys With Rat Problem

[Rainah]

So as my title says I have outdoor piggys, before winter hit in November of last year I caught a rat eating my piggys food, he had dug a hole in my piggys run to which Bruno had escaped. I now only have wolfey and Jordan who are happily living as cage mates now that Bruno is sadly been missing since November. Anyway my mum's dog (German shepard) caught the wild rat and killed it.

Today has been a nice day my piggys have been enjoying running in and out of their tubes to their run and hutch. I have c&c grids under the grass of their runs and I close off their hutch at night so they don't access the runs at night.

This evening my mum's dog was bothering behind my guinea pig hutch so I went to see what was wrong to find a wild rat was behind my guinea pig hutch, I coaxed the wild rat out and my mum's dog killed it for me on command.

I'm concerned for my guinea pigs getting hurt by the wild rats even though I think the rats are only interested in the guinea pig food. I am considering putting more c&c grids up on front of the cage so make it smaller so it would be harder for a rat to get in. I really don't know what to do other than keep getting my mum's dog to help me get rid of these wild rats in hope they get the hint that they will get killed coming in my garden.

I worry for my piggys, this is causing me a lot of worry, anxiety and panic attacks I'm in tears worrying about my Wolfey and Jordan tonight, I wish the wild rats would just go away

 

[Betsy]

As the first rat was attracted by the food, maybe keep the food in the house and put rat poison down behind the hutch where your piggies can't get to.

 

[Rainah]

As the first rat was attracted by the food, maybe keep the food in the house and put rat poison down behind the hutch where your piggies can't get to.

It was attracted to the food inside the cage, I caught the last rat eating out of my guinea pigs food bowel, I keep all food and bedding inside

 

[Betsy]

Oh I see I didn't realise that. Still do you want to try the rat poison? Or do you think that somehow your piggies or your Mum's dog might get to it?

 

[teddymouse]

how did the rat get into your piggies hutch?

 

[teddymouse]

sorry reread you post .not getting into your piggies hutch ,but are getting into run.l have wire lay under my runs and sheet metal round the sides of the hutch which the rats cann't bit though, is is what l have done as a rat as 700lb power bite.

 

[Rainah]

how did the rat get into your piggies hutch?

The first rat dug its way in through the run, I have my hutch and run attached to each other but I block off the run at night

 

[Rainah]

sorry reread you post .not getting into your piggies hutch ,but are getting into run.l have wire lay under my runs and sheet metal round the sides of the hutch which the rats cann't bit though, is is what l have done as a rat as 700lb power bite.

My hutch and run are attached with tubes, I customized it myself with tubes attaching to each hutch and run, since a rat got its way into the hutch previously I modified my run and hutch by blocking off their tube going into their run at night time and I put extra c and c grids under the soil at the runs, I made it basically fox proof at the time I never considered having to have it rat proof until now. I'm going to modify the hutch to try make the bar spacing smaller.

(my run has been upgraded bigger since I took these pic)

 

[Rainah]

Hey all, just checking in about my rat problem, I have done everyones advice and put rat traps down, I put non humane ones at the back of the hutch where my dog had cornered the rat behind and a enclosed poison rat trap down (far from the hutch)

This morning when I came outside to do my everyday guinea pig routein of spot cleaning, fresh veggies, fresh hay I was greeted by and unpleasant smell which I still can smell...

It smells of what I can describe as cow poo, it's not coming from inside the cage it seems to be more in the air? I'm not close enough to any farms for it to be a cow (unless someone has a pet cow in their garden lol)

I'm not sure if this would be a dead / poisoned rat smell?

Ive lived in this house all my life, having outside piggys and rabbits for many years I've never had an issue with rats until end of last year, very strange!