Rats

[Green Beginnings]

Hello everyone,

As some of you may know, I am heavily involved in getting my children's school garden up and running.
We have been using the compost 'bin' for about 6 weeks now but we seem to have a rat infestation. I didn't think that it was rats as they have burrowed under our raised beds and displaced lots of soil. I didn't think that rats did that but a few people today have told me that they do.

does anyone have any advice on what we can do to stop them from ruining our garden? the garden is on a large wildlife site and I am happy for them to be anywhere but under our raised beds!!!! How can I attract them away?


P.S. I have recently started a blog about the garden / wildlife area if anyone would like to view it. I'm playing catch-up at the moment though so am writing about the past. Hopefully it wont take me too long to get up to speed.

Setting up the Holy Trinity Primary School Garden

[goispro]

Sorry - I'm not replying with any help, but a reminder that rat's urine can cause Weil's Disease (leptospirosis), which can be pretty nasty. So you really don't want rats around anywhere children are working/playing/picking and eating veg. Good luck!

[Green Beginnings]

Thanks goispro,

We have ordered some plastic composters from the council and are going to put them on paving slabs away from the growing area. Hopefully once the rats realise that they can no longer gain access to the food, they will move on to somewhere else.

[goispro]

Hi again,
We had a problem a few years ago when we were composting. We cleared an old overgrown garden and found several small burrows which had been made by rats. After long conversations with the Pest Control Officer, he pointed out that without a food source being present the rats would move. Although we made our compost bin secure we still had rats in the garden until the Environmental Health Office discovered that a short distance away the local butcher was providing a food source. Once this had been stopped the rats moved elsewhere. It may be that your composting is not the principal food source for the rats, and unfortunately, live trapping can be very dangerous and impractical. It may be more effective to seek advice from your local council, particularly if there is Weil's disease in the local rat population.