Wild rats around/in hutch! Advice

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rosielx

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I have two large hutches which sit on their runs in my back garden. I went outside this morning and saw a wild rat which had dug its ways under the run :o. I know they are around because we live in a rural area and we've had them in the compost bins before but this is the first time I have seen one in day light :(. I has some spare house bricks so I have put these around the outside of the runs to try and stop them digging under but am not sure what else to do?

Second baby is coming by c-section in four days time so although the hutches are cleaned every three days I'm not in a position to increase this at the moment or for the next couple of months. I've thought about poison but often have young children around and my neighbours cats come into the garden.

I keep the piggies inside over the summer as my conservatory where they over winter would be too hot and there is no room in the rest of the house due to the new arrival. I'm very sad as will have to consider rehoming as would hate piggies health to be put at risk 8...
 
traps is your only option that i can see. i have the same problem but in my house! (we live on the edge of a river so the blooming things come inside!)
poison cant be used due to pets/kids/by the water

so we use traps.


rats may be cute looking but they carry disease and as much as id love to 'save' them and use humane traps, its just not an option.

position them around the run (on the outside so piggys dont set them off) and under hutches (if hutches are on legs)
put a cardboard box or something over them so the rats feel safe going in (dark) but with a hole in either end so they can get in the box. bait the trap with tasty treats (ive found piggy food or cat cookies is a rats favourite)
once youve trapped one remove asap and wash trap. if other rats smell the rats blood they wont go near the traps. (plastic traps may be a bit more expensive but are easier to keep clean)
 
I had the same problem with my rabbit that lives in a hutch outside. I was terrified she would get bitten or catch something off the rat. What also worried me was the fact that where there's one rat there's more.
I have an enclosed garden that's completely "puppy proofed" since we got our dog so the rat had to burry under the fence to get in. Then the brat buried under the shed and made himself at home and snuck into the rabbit hutch at night.
In the end I got some rat poisin and three or four places around the garden and kept an eye on it to see if it was taken or moved. For the safety of your animals the only option really is to kill the rats I'm afraid.
 
Apart from transferring diseases and parasites, rats will also kill guinea pigs if they can get at them or frighten them so badly that they can die from sheer terror - Spishkey had that problem.

I would recommend that you take care of your rat problem before you use the hutch.

After three winters of rats moving into our enclosed garden facing open countryside (and having the council round every spring), I had to reluctantly make the decision to stop feeding the birds, as it simply got too much of a nuisance!
 
We had a similar problem with rats inside the house it was awful you could hear them squealing inside the walls when all was quiet :( I legged it one night to mum and dads and left the guinea pigs (well fed and watered and off ground level I may add) we set traps for weeks on end and we got pellets that were safe to put out as long as the guinea pigs weren't running where they were and we were told there was an antidote for if piggles consumed them and if we had consumed them - why that would happen i am not quite sure as I am not that partial to eating poison pellets lol
 
we had the same problem last year when my bunny was outside. the vet didnt seem to bothered though when i took him for a checkup.
but best thing to do it lots of traps and bait them with peanut butter. also you can buy fox wee powder to sprinkle around to deter rats. failing that, copy my next door neighbour, who sits at night and shoots them! x
 
Wiebke said:
Apart from transferring diseases and parasites, rats will also kill guinea pigs if they can get at them or frighten them so badly that they can die from sheer terror - Spishkey had that problem.
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Not always true - my friends fancy rats frequently get in the GP's pen with them, and they are fairly unbothered by it. Not that I'm condoning it - it's not worth the risk in my opinion, as rats are predators, but they are unlikely to attempt to kill an animal larger then themselves.

My piggies live in the same room as my rats and don't take any notice of them.
 
I think Wiebke is talking about wild rats that aren't used to the company of other creatures and will fight for food. Nothing personal against your pet rats rattybabe :)

I think if you want to get rid of wild rats poisin is better than traps because the rats will go away to die themselves instead of you having to clean out the traps :S
 
keli said:
I think Wiebke is talking about wild rats that aren't used to the company of other creatures and will fight for food.
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Believe me, fancy rats are no different in that way from wild rats. They will kill mice in an instant, as well as small birds etc given the opportunity.

Domestication doesn't remove every wild instinct - as we see in a piggies instinct to run when we want to catch them!
 
rattybabe said:
Not always true - my friends fancy rats frequently get in the GP's pen with them, and they are fairly unbothered by it. Not that I'm condoning it - it's not worth the risk in my opinion, as rats are predators, but they are unlikely to attempt to kill an animal larger then themselves.

My piggies live in the same room as my rats and don't take any notice of them.
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wild rats CAN and WILL kill guinea pigs.
i lost 6 piggys to rat attacks last winter
 
keli said:
I think if you want to get rid of wild rats poisin is better than traps because the rats will go away to die themselves instead of you having to clean out the traps :S
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Not better for the poor rats who die a horrible, painful and long drawn out death. :(
 
rattybabe said:
Not better for the poor rats who die a horrible, painful and long drawn out death. :(
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I've seen plenty a rat in a rat trap with just its midsection crushed and not dead from the force of the trap closing. I wouldnt like to have to make the choice between being crushed to death or being poisoned but it's for the safety of your guinea pigs as well as yourself. When the rat was around my cage my sister used to send the dog out to the garden before she went out to feed the rabbit to scare it away, a cornered rat is a dangerous animal as I'm sure most people know.
 
sophiew said:
I used humane traps but didn't catch anything :( but we have dogs and I think the rat thought there might be better places to reside....
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For humane traps to work you need to bait them and set it so that the trap wont go off. They will eventually work out that the trap isn't anything to fear, and after a few times of them taking the bait, you can set the trap for real.

However, it doesn't matter what method of control you use - if there's a food source around, they will just keep coming back. The only long term solution is to house your piggies inside.
 
I don't have any rats now - as I say, I think the dogs scared them off! :)

I have over 40 guineas and would rather not keep them all inside! :))

Hope your rat problem gets sorted rosielx. Obviously key precautions such as disposing of the guinea pig waste quickly, metal bins for the food etc. help

Sophie
x
 
keli said:
a cornered rat is a dangerous animal as I'm sure most people know.
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If you are referring to all the horror stories of rats jumping for your throat, then that is utter rubbish. Rats have very poor eyesight, so if they are cornered, all they can see is the light over a persons shoulder. All they want to do is escape, so they will attempt to jump towards the light which they see as their escape route.

Wild rats may be a pest, but I'm surprised that so many people regard their lives as so unimportant. Foxes are also a pest, but I wonder how many of you agree with fox hunting?
 
they are regarded as unimportant as they are considered vermin and can cause stupid amounts of damage to properties. lovely creatures as pets but in the wild they are pests. same as foxes.
 
I do not think that this thread was started to start a debate about foxes and rats. I have had pet rats in the past and as much as I love them and feel sorry for wild ones, I wouldn't want a wild rat hanging around my piggies hutch. Rosielx is asking advise on what she should do to prevent rats from getting to her piggies :)
 
'jumping at you' is an arboreal prey response - the rat or squirrel jumps at the predator, making a horrible shriek, to try and startle it into falling out of the tree.
 
aawww this freeks me out i have 2 pet rats and had 20 when i was younger as well as many pet mice but i do and hate wild mice and wild rats they scare the life out of me especally because I'm having a problem with mice at the mo i caught 11 on traps in 2 days and see at least 1 a day no running around my garden next door also breeds exotics finiches which doesnt help but i do have guineas too...ive become very scared to go in my shed even though they dont nest in there i still send hubby in there before i go in as a mouse jumped at my face last week i ran that fast i almost broke my foot...
i do feel sorry for them when i get them on the traps but i just dont want them running around my garden scaring my bunny as she wouldnt go in her shed because they kept chewing through the hutch and eatting her food...poor tara and wild rats scared me to death has they are sooooo much bigger then fancy rats from what ive seen bbrrrrrrrrr....
 
ajb said:
'jumping at you' is an arboreal prey response - the rat or squirrel jumps at the predator, making a horrible shriek, to try and startle it into falling out of the tree.
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Rat are not vocal creatures, and only tend to make a noise when frightened. Wild rats certainly don't view human beings as prey - as with most wild animals its the other way around!

And squirrels are not predators - the are mainly herbivores, but sometimes eat insects. ;)
 
rattybabe said:
If you are referring to all the horror stories of rats jumping for your throat, then that is utter rubbish. Rats have very poor eyesight, so if they are cornered, all they can see is the light over a persons shoulder. All they want to do is escape, so they will attempt to jump towards the light which they see as their escape route.
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I greatly admire rats for their intelligence, and would keep rats if my Father wasn't terrified of them. However, I have had experience of domesticated and wild rats - there are noticeable differences, particularly temperament and size. I am also a difficult person to alarm. Nevertheless, I have had the above happen to me, and I would greatly respect the individual who is not shaken having experienced the same. I screamed at the top of my lungs, and ran around my work's car park several times, whilst in tears and shaking. I was still in shock several hours later. It really was a chilling experience. I would not wish for another individual to experience such an event, much less any of my cavies.

I would advise you:

- to make your garden unattractive to rats, possibly employ repellents, and realistic 'Birds of Prey' ornaments
- make your cavies' run safe, house your cavies on concrete, or look into alternative housing (e.g. the Eglu) etc
- not to use poison, or humane traps
- to use traps (I believe you can get electric traps)
- borrow a friend’s terrier (Naturally, ensuring the terrier cannot get to the cavies)

I am sure there are other methods . . .
 
We too have a rat problem & have had for years with them living & breeding very happily in our garage. They chewed up a tent that was in there & one year chewed the spark plug leads on the car!
I have seen their faeces on top of the hutches in previous years & they have nibbled at the newspaper that lines the pigs hutches but thankfully have never gotten in their hutches though when my step-daughters rabbit lived in the shed he was co-habiting with a rat - we could never work out how his food disappeared so quickly until we day we saw exactly who was eating it. The rabbit wasn't harmed.

I have no food outside which can be accessed by them & our neighbour has stopped putting bird feeders out which also attracts them. They do move on when there isn't a food scource & so far this year, no signs have been seen :)
 
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First, just wanted to wish you well with the c-section. :rose What a stress to have to deal with this on top of that.

I wondered if you could ask someone to lay paving slabs under your runs as a short term measure. I now the pigs wouldn't be running round on grass but they would still have space and the rats couldn't dig underneath. I assume the wire on your runs is small enough mesh so the rats can't get in? (I lost a pig to a ferret this way a long time ago).
In view if your current situation, is there someone else in your family who can set traps or can you pay someone to come and deal with the problem for you?

If you're finding this just too much to deal with at the moment, is there anyone else who could have your pigs for a couple of months or maybe a rescue could foster for you. It might give you time to get back on your feet before you have to make any permanent decisions or give you time to find a solution to the rats.

I don't think you should feel bad about having to deal with the rats. It's unpleasant but you have to put your family (including your pets) safety and health first. Good luck.
 
jessica*rabbit said:
we had the same problem last year when my bunny was outside. the vet didnt seem to bothered though when i took him for a checkup.
but best thing to do it lots of traps and bait them with peanut butter. also you can buy fox wee powder to sprinkle around to deter rats. failing that, copy my next door neighbour, who sits at night and shoots them! x
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that would be my husband ! i think as long as its quick and humane its the best thing to do,
poision does it take a while to work and is it very painful for them?
i have to agree its best to get rid of them for safety's sake, it might be an idea to have the hutches raised up on bricks if they are flat on the floor (ie no legs) its probable that they have dug under to hide under, raising it up might deter them from making home there?
hope you can get rid soon good luck with the new baby!
 
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sorry hun i have just seen its the run that they had dug under! doh kids making a racket and wasnt reading the post right! i thought it was a hutch! hope you can find an awnser soon btw i think the temp forstering is a good idea if you feel that you cant manage its very hard on you at the mo with a new baby due anyday plus it being a c section, once you have all that out of the way and baby gets older you will find yourself in a better position :) at least then your pigs can come home. x
 
Was just told that there's another rat in my garden now @)
Hopefully with the warmer weather coming in there'll be enough for them to forage for to stop them coming to look for food in gardens.
Til then I guess I'll just have to make my garden as unattractive as possible to them.
 
rattybabe said:
Rat are not vocal creatures, and only tend to make a noise when frightened. Wild rats certainly don't view human beings as prey - as with most wild animals its the other way around!

And squirrels are not predators - the are mainly herbivores, but sometimes eat insects. ;)
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I meant the rat thinks He will be the prey!
 
Thanks :). I have left the run on the grass and put bricks around the outside so that the rat can't dig under. I've freecycled my compost bin and cleared the area behind my garage so that no compost or veg waste is present.

Hubby has volunteered to look after them for the next 3-6 months until I'm able to lift things again. Should be fun. There are 7 and I don't think he even knows how much of the weekly shopping bill goes on their veg... Have also started putting the food into their hutch which is a couple of feet of the ground.

Looked into electric traps but they can't be used outside so have had to go for bait traps with a bait recommended by one of the owl trusts which will not affect other pets or wild animals which come across it. Don't like the idea of using bait but have to put the piggies first.
 
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