Allotments 4 All

First year on our allotment and the shed went up at the end of August. For a few weeks now we have noticed a pile of earth at the front of the shed but no other clues. This week there were signs of activity at the front door of the compost bin which is at the side of the shed. Please tell me it isn't a rat.

Thanks for that Jim. It's what I suspected. I'll ask some of the other plot holders how to go about baiting a trap.

It could be a hedgehog? Mice/rats are more likly to be living in the shed rather than under it?

You might want to try one of the following tricks

1) get some flour and scatter liberaly around the entry/exit point to get foot tracks.

2) put some newspaper down and look at the droppings.

3) you could get a camra setup to take shots of anything that moved ( bit drastic i know )

I would be vary careful about putting poison down.

Ok old fashioned way and cheap.
Collect family urine, morning one is stronger and poor it all over the compost and get some around the hole.
tread the area down to check if any further digging.
They wont like that even if you have to do it a couple of times they will move on.
Safe for wildlife and great for the compost a activator.

Give your compost a soak. Rats like somewhere dry and warm which is why they love compost bins and heaps. I did that with mine when the little gits were making a nice tidy nest in there and also put eradirat down under my shed. They had conveniently chewed a hole through the floor for me to pop it down  ::)  >:(
Had no trouble with ratty since Spring.

Like the urine tip teresa.

A  tip I picked up is that rats can smell new plastic etc. So if you are going to get a rat box or rat traps try to bury them in the compost heap for a few days to get the new smell off them.

We had a rat underneath our garden shed :o :o so they do get underneath, the council saw them off pretty quick though.

Quote from: teresa on November 20, 2006, 13:54:39
Ok old fashioned way and cheap.
Collect family urine, morning one is stronger and poor it all over the compost and get some around the hole.
tread the area down to check if any further digging.
They wont like that even if you have to do it a couple of times they will move on.
Safe for wildlife and great for the compost a activator.

Hang on......on I'm a Celebrity....yep, I'm hooked....oooooh, that Jan Leeming ::)....anyway, the peeps that peed in the campsite at night were told to not because the urine would attract rats which would attract snakes..?

Aussie rats....always on the lookout for a good p*ss up?

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Oh Alishka I wonder how many people will believe that so sad just like years ago the old wives tale of if you cornered a rat it would jump for your throat and kill.
This time of year they just want somewhere warm and dry to overwinter and if happy they will raise young there as well. Unfortuanly they will come back to breed every year and so will their young.
If there is fresh water and food all the better this is what attracts them.
Rats are highly intelegent animals and very clean with it.
I learnt a lot of a rat man years ago.

Fresh eggshells, they attract them :( so rather than putting them in your compost, dry them out through the year & use the crumbled shells around and under your new plantings. Helps deter snails 8)

I had RATS few years back and got the Council in which cost me £35.  The Man put down boxes with the poison contained and eventually the rats were gone.... hopefully forever.  >:( >:(  I seemed to have deterred them since after having a 4ft wall built round the garden, but they can climb walls so maybe they are lazy rats hereabouts.

This morning,  Something has moved from under the Garage.  I spent quite a while watching a wee field mouse running back and forward from the garage to a pile of leaves.  Not sure what its up to, no good likely but it will be gorging itself on bird food housed in the garage likely. Now if that had been a rat    yuk..... ::) ::) ::)

We had them under the greenhouse when they were clearing some ground down the road they moved in. I didn't know they were there until one day one came walking past me and went all around the pool straight past me without even looking. I don't like to interfere with wildlife but rats spread deseases. When the pest control had gotten rid we lifted the slabs in the greenhouse and there was a tunnel right under the pool filter (which is 5ftx2ft ). We were lucky it hadnt collapsed with the weight of the water and filter medium. The rats had collected dead frogs down tehre. Talk about a whiff.

please check what the creature is before putting down poison.

check the droppings if there are any, hedgehogs are getting quite rare now, I know you would hate to make a mistake, it might not be a rat.

BTW ,had a rat in my compost bin(wooden bin) it gnawed a perfect circle through the front wooden panel to get in and out, half way up the bin,they have very strong teeth ::)/shades x

I once had one gnaw its way into an empty beehive and destroy all the comb inside. I've never had one in an occupied hive yet, but I have heard of them wiping out whole apiaries in winter when the bees are inactive and vulnerable.

Something has moved in under my shed too - and I think its a Bank Vole as we have lots of these small rodents on our allotment site.  Recently a lottie neighbour gave up his plot and dismantled his shed and there were lots of nibbled plum stones under it, which someone from our wildlife trust identified as being nibbled by Bank Voles.  There's a large plum tree near my plot which is far too tall to harvest the plums from and so they fall into the hedge area and rot leaving the stones, so the Bank Voles are going to have a lovely nearby food source and a warm home under my shed.

I have been plagued by field (?) Mice in my outside toilet where I store my spuds... wouldn't dream of using poison but the old fashioned trap has seen off 13 so far....
:(

I tried traps initially, got loads, but they kept catching rats, and gradually disappeared while attached to them.

Does anyone know if the poison put down for rats can kills foxes? There's been a big hoo-haah @ our allotments about people allegedly poisoning foxes, but I think it might be rat poison?? If a fox catches a rat that's been poisoned, can it be poisoned by proxy? :(

The knockon effect of poison ?
Our council ratman years ago use to mix poison with meal/oats to get the rats to eat it.
But say a mouse eat it birds of pray would be affected.
Or a rabbit someone might pick up a sick rabbit not knowing and cook it for dinner does not bear thinking about.
A fox would eat a dead or half dead rat it is possible or the fox has found the poison.
A trap is far safer a gun or pee.