What to Do If You See a Rat in Your Garden - Cambridgeshire Homeowner Guide

Rats are common in gardens across Cambridgeshire, from city back gardens to village plots backing onto fields and ditches. Seeing one does not automatically mean you have a problem. It does mean something in or near your garden is interesting to rats, and it is worth finding out what.

First: Do Not Panic, and Do Not Chase It

A rat will almost always run from a person. Do not try to corner it, catch it or pick it up, and keep dogs from cornering it as well. Make a note of where you saw it, which direction it came from and where it went. That is more useful than anything else you can do in the first minute.

Passing Through or Living Here?

The question that decides what happens next is whether the rat is visiting or resident. Over the next few days, walk the garden and look for:

• Burrows under the shed, decking, patio slabs or compost bin, or in a bank. An active one has a smooth entrance and loose soil outside.
• Runs worn through grass or along the base of a fence.
• Droppings near the compost, the bird table, the bins or the shed.
• Gnawing on the compost bin, shed door, bin lids or garden furniture.
• Holes in bags of feed, seed or potting compost in the shed or garage.

If you find none of these and do not see it again, it was probably passing through. If you find several, a rat is living on or next to your property. Our post on the signs of rats covers what each one means.

Changes to Make This Week

Whatever you find, these steps make the garden less appealing and cost very little.

• Stop feeding birds for a few weeks and clear up any seed on the ground.
• Check what is going into the compost and keep cooked food out of it.
• Put pet food, poultry feed and seed into sealed metal or hard plastic containers.
• Make sure bins close properly and nothing is left on the ground.
• Clear clutter and rubbish from against the shed, fence and house walls.

For a fuller list, see our post on what attracts rats and how to prevent it.

What Not to Do

• Do not scatter poison loose on the ground. It can be reached by pets, children, birds and hedgehogs, and it is unlikely to deal with the rats.
• Do not block a burrow and walk away. An active burrow will be dug out again, or a new one made nearby.
• Do not rely on a cat. Some catch rats, many do not, and it is not a way of clearing a population.

Talk to Your Neighbours

Rats range across several gardens. If the rat came from next door, a neighbour may have a compost heap, chickens, or an outbuilding that is the real attraction. A friendly word often solves more than any treatment. There is no obligation on a householder to report rats. If the source looks like a public sewer or council land, the council may be the right people to involve.

When to Call Us

Call if you find an active burrow, especially near the house, if you see rats more than once, if there are signs in a shed, garage or under decking, or if you have any evidence indoors. A garden problem left alone can become a house problem, particularly if there is a gap at ground level or a fault in the drains. Our post on how rats get into a home explains why.

Our rat control service covers gardens and outbuildings as well as the house. Rat control is £260 with no call-out fee, and the price is confirmed before anything is booked. The rat control cost guide explains what is included. If you are in the Huntingdon area, see rat control in Huntingdon.

One rat is a question. A burrow is an answer.