Rats and other rodents roaming around our homes and gardens are less than ideal but how can we keep them away?
Gardening experts are warning homeowners to protect their homes from rats who will be looking to find warmth during the cold winter temperatures.
Homeowners are also being warned to look out for super rats after a woman in Bolton was left afraid of entering her garden after super rats had taken over the space.
The rats dug holes so can now access her neighbours’ gardens and the rats made it impossible for her grandchildren to play in her garden due to rat droppings and the smell of urine.
Any rubbish lying around could mean rats become attracted to your garden (Image: Getty Images)
While you might think a super rat is a rat that’s much bigger than the usual kind, this isn’t the case.
The Pest UK website explains that the term super rat “refers to their immunity to current poison baits used across the UK.”
Gardening experts at GardeningExpress have shared some tips to help you keep rats out of your garden.
How To Keep Rats Out Of Your Garden
Debris, rubbish and garden waste that’s left on the floor provide rats with the ideal nest as it’s warm and attractive to them.
Make sure you clean up any that you might have accumulated over the winter and make sure your garden has no spaces that might entice the rodents.
If you have any gaps or holes in your garden, you’ll need to cover them up if you want to avoid rats getting in.
Rats can enter the smallest of holes in garden sheds and plant pots and choose where they’d like to make a new home.
No matter how small the gaps are, make sure they’re covered up to help deter rats.
Rats don’t like strong scents such as garlic powder or peppermint oil so if you’ve got some vulnerable areas in your garden, it’s worth sprinkling some on the ground.
Make sure all drains and grates in your garden are covered and intact.
If they need replacing, try to do this and check around the perimeter of your home for any points of potential entry for rats.
For rats to set up a new home, there needs to be a water source so it’s important to avoid offering them a dripping tap, water butt or blocked drain.
If you have a dry compost heat in your garden, this will attract rats as it makes for a warm home.
To deter them, keep your compost heap moist throughout.
Rats are attracted to food left around, including on bird tables (Image: Getty Images)
If you’ve got a bird table, it’s worth checking for any spilt bird seeds in the late afternoon when birds have stopped feeding.
Bird tables are notorious for attracting rats so tidying up should help keep them away.
Chris Bonnett, gardening expert and founder of GardeningExpress said: “The cold snap expected this January will mean that these rodents are fleeing their usual habitats and are in search of a warm home.
“You may find that they are trying to enter your home and if you’re experiencing them in your garden it means they’ve viewed it as a suitable place to begin building a nest and keep warm. “This is likely to happen if you have any debris and garden waste on the ground or sources of food growing such as fruits and vegetables. “Having rats in the garden is a major inconvenience so we’ve shared a range of ways people can keep the rats out of their homes altogether.”
How To Keep Rats Out Of Your Garage
Rats find their ways into our homes and gardens when the environment seems ideal for them but they can cause huge problems for homeowners.
As the temperatures decrease in the colder months, rats will try to find somewhere warm and with shelter, including areas like garages.
To help you make sure your garage is secure and doesn’t become a home for rats, garage expert Richard Berry at Lidget Compton has shared some tips to keep rodents away from outbuildings.
Pests such as mice and rats will find their way into dry places looking for food and warmth and with garages and outhouses seeing less use throughout the winter months, outbuildings can make the perfect new home for unwanted visitors.
The garage expert advises homeowners to avoid storing anything edible in their garage or outbuilding (Image: Getty) Pests can cause damage to the contents of your garage or outhouse, including cars with rats, foxes and squirrels in the UK known to chew through expensive cabling.
Lidget Compton’s Richard Berry says rats and mice will often come inside foraging for food so it’s important to make sure you don’t store anything edible in your garage or outbuilding.
This includes pet food, seeds for birds and grass seeds. Additionally, make sure you don’t have any food or food residue left in your car because rats have an excellent sense of smell and might make their way into the car to investigate and cause damage along the way.
Homeowners with log burners will often keep firewood in the garage on the floor but this isn’t wise if you want rodents to stay away.
A natural material, firewood is a good shelter for rodents and once within the garage, they may hide here before coming out at night to cause further damage.
To deter them from doing this, keep firewood on shelves high up or alternatively look for somewhere away from the garage to store your firewood.
Rodents and other pests love clutter. They will hide and scavenge in anything left on the floor of your garage or outhouse, chewing through things to both help them look for food and to keep their teeth filed down as they grow continuously.
To prevent attracting unwanted visitors, keep items in the garage as tidy as possible, investing in storage solutions such as shelving and boxes.
If you have to store things on the floor, ensure the items are as far away from your car as possible to avoid any crossover.
In addition, rodents are also attracted to bins so keep your bins far away from your garage or garden room to prevent them easily moving from the bins to the garage.
Rats and mice can squeeze through very small gaps so any small gaps or spaces available could allow them to get in.
This includes under doors so if your garage door has a rubber sealant it's important to check this regularly and if it has perished or shows signs of damage, you should get it replaced.
Fill any holes in brickwork or doors temporarily with copper mesh as rodents will struggle to chew through this.
However, they can still get through it so make sure you plan for a more permanent solution to keep your valuables inside the garage or garden room safe.
The Secret To Keeping Rats Out Of Your Garden Is Garlic
A GARDENING expert has shared a super simple trick that will banish rats from your garden for good.
So if the pesky creatures send shivers down your spine and you’re looking for a quick and easy solution that will deter them from entering, then you’ve come to the right place.
It appears that rats tend to become a big problem in autumn in the UK as they enter gardens looking for somewhere warm to burrow, such as sheds or compost heaps.
But don’t worry, there is a simple way to deter them - and you may already have the secret at home.
Rodents are likely to stay in a garden where they have access to food, which means they often steal fallen fruit from trees, feast on plants or even eat away at your crops.
But according to a gardening pro, the best way to stop rats entering your garden is all down to garlic - yes, you heard that correctly.
Juanita Schulze, a gardening expert from David’s Garden Seeds, claimed that Rats absolutely hate the smell of garlic, making it a naturally effective method.
According to Juanita, you can either plant garlic or turn it into a homemade repellent spray to say goodbye to rats for good.
She explained: “Rodents hate the strong smell of garlic.
“Garlic does not come from seeds, but get some garlic bulbs and plant those in your garden to keep rodents away.”
Rats rely on their sense of smell for survival as it helps them to search for food and sniff out predators.
And garlic, which is loved by many Brits and is an essential ingredient for many of our favourite home-cooked dinners, has an overpowering scent that marks other smells in the garden, which rats will find disorienting.
Not only this, but garlic is a great repellant as it also contains sulfur compounds which rats will naturally avoid as they associate the smell with toxic substances that they believe could be harmful.
If you fancy using garlic to keep rats at bay, all you need to do is simply plant garlic near the borders in your garden or by openings in fences, which will create a natural barrier that rats will not want to cross.
Common pests in the garden don’t need to be a cause for alarm. If you can identify them, you can work on getting rid of them and preventing them from returning.
Common Garden Pests To Look Out For
- Aphids (Greenfly, Blackfly)
- Whitefly
- Slugs
- Cabbage Moth Caterpillar
- Mealy Bug
As well as this, it’s also a good idea to plant plenty of garlic alongside any root crops growing in your garden such as carrots or potatoes as it can stop rats from trying to dig them up.
Not only this, but you can also turn garlic into a spray that will also keep rats away.
Juanita advised: “Another garlic tip is to chop garlic finely and boil in water. Then strain the garlic pieces out and put the garlic water in a spray bottle.
“Spray the bottoms of your plants to keep the rodents away. Spread chopped garlic around the outside of your garden.”
If you follow this method, you will need to reapply the garlic homemade repellent every few days or after it has rained to keep the scent around your garden.
This is an easy, quick and natural way to prevent rats from causing havoc this autumn without having to use any harsh chemicals.
And if you've run out of garlic, don't worry, you won't need to splash the cash on the stuff, as you can pick it up for just 24p from Sainsbury's.
©News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. “The Sun”, “Sun”, “Sun Online” are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. View our online Press Pack. For other inquiries Contact Us. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO)
