Rat on my balcony.

[MyLittlePony25]

Oh man, this dude is going to be the death of me.
There is a rat climbing up a tree and reaching my second floor flat. I feed the birds and a squirrel and although I take the feed in at night now, he is obviously finding scraps and even my 2 cats going nuts at the balcony door are not deterring him.
Thing is, the anxiety is honestly starting to affect me, not because of the rat but because of my downstairs neighbour who will go beserk and I’m not great with confrontation. She already doesn’t like me feeding the birds.
I cut the branches back on the tree as far as i could without falling over the balcony myself. I have 2 snap traps and I have resorted to paste poison also because he is evading the traps. I don’t like using poison as I would rather it was a quick death and I don’t want to then cause secondary poisoning to other animals. But I’m at my wits end.

I’m not sure what to do. It’s nesting season and I have 11 species of birds feeding from my balcony, I don’t want to stop feeding them as I know it helps them and I really enjoy seeing them but it’s looking like I’m going to have to if I can’t catch this bloody rat.

I absolutely refuse to use the glue traps as they are extremely cruel and the risk of trapping the squirrel or birds is high.

What else can I do? It’s not like anyone can sit with a rifle on the balcony, or a terrier, just waiting to see if it turns up.

Any tips or is it really a case of just waiting and hoping that he doesn’t end up on my neighbours balcony?

 

[Former_Antelopee]

Oh man, this dude is going to be the death of me.
There is a rat climbing up a tree and reaching my second floor flat. I feed the birds and a squirrel and although I take the feed in at night now, he is obviously finding scraps and even my 2 cats going nuts at the balcony door are not deterring him.
Thing is, the anxiety is honestly starting to affect me, not because of the rat but because of my downstairs neighbour who will go beserk and I’m not great with confrontation. She already doesn’t like me feeding the birds.
I cut the branches back on the tree as far as i could without falling over the balcony myself. I have 2 snap traps and I have resorted to paste poison also because he is evading the traps. I don’t like using poison as I would rather it was a quick death and I don’t want to then cause secondary poisoning to other animals. But I’m at my wits end.

I’m not sure what to do. It’s nesting season and I have 11 species of birds feeding from my balcony, I don’t want to stop feeding them as I know it helps them and I really enjoy seeing them but it’s looking like I’m going to have to if I can’t catch this bloody rat.

I absolutely refuse to use the glue traps as they are extremely cruel and the risk of trapping the squirrel or birds is high.

What else can I do? It’s not like anyone can sit with a rifle on the balcony, or a terrier, just waiting to see if it turns up.

Any tips or is it really a case of just waiting and hoping that he doesn’t end up on my neighbours balcony?

I had some plastic spikes on my garden fence to stop my cats getting out, they did eventually learn to get over it but can probably jump better than a rat. May be a good solution? I also wrapped it around my tree to stop the cats getting up. I did two layers of wrap (and ziptied it on). You may need to double layer it with a rat so the gaps in-between are smaller?
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[saltandvinegarcrisps]

Stop feeding the birds. The rat isn't in your house... you're leaving food out for it. It will keep coming back until there is no food source. No wonder your neighbor is pissed off her balcony / window is probably covered in bird tit. Birds also carry disease just like the rat so just as likely to get something from a bird as a rat.

 

[Former_Antelopee]

Brush or even hoover the balcony when you bring the food in?

 

[MyLittlePony25]

I had some plastic spikes on my garden fence to stop my cats getting out, they did eventually learn to get over it but can probably jump better than a rat. May be a good solution? I also wrapped it around my tree to stop the cats getting up. I did two layers of wrap (and ziptied it on). You may need to double layer it with a rat so the gaps in-between are smaller?
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Thank you, I will give this a try, as well as leaving bait boxes out.
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Brush or even hoover the balcony when you bring the food in?

Oh and I do sweep the balcony up also and when I get a day off, im going to sit and clean out all of the grooves and spray some peppermint oil as they apparently don’t like it. Never tried it but worth a shot.

 

[Former_Antelopee]

Thank you, I will give this a try, as well as leaving bait boxes out.
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Oh and I do sweep the balcony up also and when I get a day off, im going to sit and clean out all of the grooves and spray some peppermint oil as they apparently don’t like it. Never tried it but worth a shot.

Could you put some kind of plastic or smooth mat under where the birds feed so it will be easier to clean?

 

[MyLittlePony25]

Could you put some kind of plastic or smooth mat under where the birds feed so it will be easier to clean?

Funnily enough, I was just looking at mats for this. I am thinking of getting something to cover the entire balcony as the grooves make it hard to clean.

 

[Snippysnips]

They don't like peppermint oil or eucalyptus I believe but it needs to be in their pure form, you might be able to get it online pure as these can be used for candle making

 

[MyLittlePony25]

They don't like peppermint oil or eucalyptus I believe but it needs to be in their pure form, you might be able to get it online pure as these can be used for candle making

I will be getting both then! Thank you!
Rat did take the bait last night, I found the packet with about 75% gone this morning when it was just getting light so but I will be making all of these changes too, along with aiming to change the birds from seed, to bird suet coconuts that even blackbirds can stand on. I can still put worms out on the window feeder. As for the squirrel. I’m going to find a feed (or make one up) which has no shells in to limit the debris too.

 

[Jojoanne1]

We had a rat visiting our garden when I used to have bird feeders. My husband shot it with an air rifle. But I no longer feed the birds as I can’t take the risk of any more rats appearing. A few years ago a person living in our road dismantled a garden shed and there were rats living underneath, so I know they are around and feeding the birds would only encourage them into our garden. We havent seen any rats since and this happened a few years ago.

 

[Rodneytrotter]

We had a rat recently which i have put down to the kids being messy when feeding our pets and dropping rabbit food etc. I’ve blocked the entrances and exits that the rats were using and made sure the kids clean up after the pets. Haven't seen one since but I'm always on the lookout now.

 

[Lizzie Mintdrop]

You need to stop feeding the birds, that's the only sure way to get rid of the rats. We have a communal garden and our downstairs neighbour had a bird table but hit rid of it as soon as the rats started to use it.

 

[Piff paff puff]

I recently posted a comment on another rat thread.
If you insist on still feeding the birds (nut feeders seem to make the least mess)
attach a bowl to the underneath of your feeder to catch excess.
Attach a large plastic plant pot or one of those cheap plastic mixing bowls to the top of the feeder umbrella style so vermin can't climb onto the feeder or if hanging feeder on a pole you could also place one halfway up as well for double protection. What you're trying to achieve here is a slippy dome with nothing to cling onto.
Secure all rubbish bins and make sure they haven't chewed through bins and tidy any mess as rats will use bits and pieces to furnish their nests.
Their nests are easy to find. They make large holes in the ground. When you find them, stick a hose pipe down it and leave it running for 15 minutes or so. Their tunnels are lengthy. Once that's done find some rocks and block the entrance to all holes
Your unlikely to kill them doing this, it's just to unsettle them and move them on as they don't like being disturbed.
I'm nuts about birds too and it's hard to stop feeding the birds, especially in spring and winter when they all want extra food.
If none of the above works then stop feeding the birds over summer when the birds don't need extra food and hopefully by autumn the rats Will be gone.

 

[MyLittlePony25]

I recently posted a comment on another rat thread.
If you insist on still feeding the birds (nut feeders seem to make the least mess)
attach a bowl to the underneath of your feeder to catch excess.
Attach a large plastic plant pot or one of those cheap plastic mixing bowls to the top of the feeder umbrella style so vermin can't climb onto the feeder or if hanging feeder on a pole you could also place one halfway up as well for double protection. What you're trying to achieve here is a slippy dome with nothing to cling onto.
Secure all rubbish bins and make sure they haven't chewed through bins and tidy any mess as rats will use bits and pieces to furnish their nests.
Their nests are easy to find. They make large holes in the ground. When you find them, stick a hose pipe down it and leave it running for 15 minutes or so. Their tunnels are lengthy. Once that's done find some rocks and block the entrance to all holes
Your unlikely to kill them doing this, it's just to unsettle them and move them on as they don't like being disturbed.
I'm nuts about birds too and it's hard to stop feeding the birds, especially in spring and winter when they all want extra food.
If none of the above works then stop feeding the birds over summer when the birds don't need extra food and hopefully by autumn the rats Will be gone.

Thank you, yes, I love the birds and they have a lot of young at the moment. I live quite close to a town centre and yet I have 12 different species feeding here (not pigeons because they get chased off). Yesterday a Jay landed on my balcony for the first time and a few weeks ago, a sparrow hawk, who was obviously hoping for an easy meal and was unsuccessful.

I’ve been really careful to go out and sweep up any mess, I bought the food in early last night as I am back to working in the evening. No rubbish bags are left on the balcony at all. The bait wasn’t touched last night but a trap has been triggered so once I’ve had my coffee I’ll go and see what is in it and reset it and

Obviously if these things don’t work in the next couple of weeks then I will stop feeding them altogether, which will be a real shame.

I also want to get hold of the people who manage the trees around the car park and down the side of our building to see if they will get the trees back after nesting season as they do seriously encroach on our balconies now that they have grown up and although we cut them back, some we can’t reach ourselves but rodents can easily use them.

 

[Piff paff puff]

Thank you, yes, I love the birds and they have a lot of young at the moment. I live quite close to a town centre and yet I have 12 different species feeding here (not pigeons because they get chased off). Yesterday a Jay landed on my balcony for the first time and a few weeks ago, a sparrow hawk, who was obviously hoping for an easy meal and was unsuccessful.

I’ve been really careful to go out and sweep up any mess, I bought the food in early last night as I am back to working in the evening. No rubbish bags are left on the balcony at all. The bait wasn’t touched last night but a trap has been triggered so once I’ve had my coffee I’ll go and see what is in it and reset it and

Obviously if these things don’t work in the next couple of weeks then I will stop feeding them altogether, which will be a real shame.

I also want to get hold of the people who manage the trees around the car park and down the side of our building to see if they will get the trees back after nesting season as they do seriously encroach on our balconies now that they have grown up and although we cut them back, some we can’t reach ourselves but rodents can easily use them.

Sounds like you're doing your best and bringing the food in certainly helps.
I get you with all of the different birds that visit, it's amazing seeing new ones arrive at different times of the year. Good luck with it.
I can't bring myself to stop feeding them completely either, though I'll try not refill the feeders in mid summer
My resident rat is very brazen, and I do love them but obvs don't want them here as they could damage the house, vehicles, etc.

 

[MyLittlePony25]

Sounds like you're doing your best and bringing the food in certainly helps.
I get you with all of the different birds that visit, it's amazing seeing new ones arrive at different times of the year. Good luck with it.
I can't bring myself to stop feeding them completely either, though I'll try not refill the feeders in mid summer
My resident rat is very brazen, and I do love them but obvs don't want them here as they could damage the house, vehicles, etc.

That’s the thing, I used to have pet rats and really didn’t want to harm this one as I know how clever and cool they are, but I’m thinking of the other residents too. I tried to dissuade it but it knows that food is here and it became very brazen, didn’t give a damn about my 2 cats at the balcony door either.

It’s frustrating but we live by a river and there are plenty of overflowing bin stores from blocks of flats around here so it’s prime area for them. First time in 7 years I’ve had a rat make its way all the way up here though!

I am so reluctant to stop feeding the birds right now but I will reduce over summer, I have a lot of fledglings right now so want to give them the best start possible. They are also great entertainment for my 2 cats (keeps my 1 year old quiet for a bit since my downstairs neighbour also moans about him running around).