One concern many people have about feeding birds is the potential to attract vermin, particularly rats. While it’s often said that you’re never more than six feet away from a rat, with an estimated 80 to 120 million rats in the UK, roughly 13 rats for every 10 people, it’s not uncommon for them to make their way into your garden.
If you’ve designed your garden to attract wildlife, it’s important to recognise that you can’t always be selective about the types of creatures it draws in. Rats, like many animals, need food, water, and shelter – referred to as harbourage in the pest control world – to set up home. A well-designed wildlife garden often provides at least one, if not all three of these essential elements.
Rats can cause significant damage in gardens. They can undermine the structural integrity of buildings by burrowing and gnawing, weakening foundations, paving in patios and paths, and damaging earth banks. Rats may also chew on electrical wires and water pipes, both above and below ground.
If you grow vegetables, rats will likely eat them, including root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, beetroot, and potatoes. They also target fruits in storage, such as apples, as well as seeds and newly planted spring bulbs. Once they settle in your garden, they may seek new places to live, feed, and breed, potentially invading your house. You may spot one or two, but there are likely many more lurking unseen. Rats can further damage buildings by gnawing through doors, windowsills, walls, ceilings, and floors to gain access.
Rats are known carriers of a wide range of diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and worms, including Salmonella, Leptospirosis, Weil’s disease, Cryptosporidium, and rat-bite fever. These diseases can be transmitted to both humans and pets. Rats can also carry ectoparasites such as ticks, mites, fleas, and lice, which may carry and spread other diseases.
While contamination in the garden may not be as obvious as inside the home, there are several ways disease can be transmitted. This includes direct contact with rat excreta, inhaling dust particles, handling infected rodents, both alive and dead, bites or scratches, and even pets catching or eating rats, which increases the risk of cross-contamination with humans.
Food is the primary factor in supporting a rat population, but rats are not typically drawn directly to the bird feeder itself. Instead, they are attracted by food on the ground nearby, whether it’s food you’ve provided, or seeds, husks, or shells dropped by birds as they feed.
To prevent rats from finding food this way, there are several precautions you can take. Since rats are most active at night, if you put food on the ground for birds such as blackbirds, thrushes, and wrens, only offer enough for them to eat during the day and make sure to clear up any leftovers before dusk.
Birds will often discard husks and other filler materials found in bird food, so choosing a no-mess, high-quality bird food can help reduce waste on the ground. No-mess food has been hulled, flaked, or kibbled, and it won’t sprout, so you won’t end up with unwanted weeds growing beneath your feeders.
Another way food ends up on the ground is through using the wrong type of bird feeders. If the feeding ports are too large for the seeds, they can easily spill out if the feeder is knocked or tipped. Birds are adapted to accessing seeds through small openings, so choose feeders with smaller feeding ports to minimize spillage. Adding a seed-catching tray to your bird-feeding pole can also help prevent seeds from falling to the ground.
At the end of each day, check the area beneath your feeders and sweep up any fallen seeds or husks that could attract rats. Wipe down the ports to remove any accumulated seed and clear debris from seed trays.
If a rat does discover your bird feeders despite these precautions, you’ll need to step up your defences. Since rats, like squirrels, can climb, they may eventually figure out that the food in your feeders is more tempting than what’s on the ground. To deter them, position your feeders far from branches or structures that a rat could jump from.
You can also use baffles – plastic domes or cones attached to the feeding poles – to prevent rats from climbing up or jumping down to access the feeders.
If your garden doesn’t provide an easy food source, water alone is unlikely to be a major issue. However, unlike mice, rats cannot survive without water. During dry spells, they may enter gardens in search of water from ponds, bird baths, leaking taps, water butts, or drainpipes.
While it can be difficult to eliminate all water sources, you can reduce the risk of attracting rats by emptying bird baths at night and fixing any leaks around your garden.
Completely eliminating all shelter for rats in your garden can be challenging, but there are some simple steps you can take to reduce the risk.
Start by sealing any gaps around buildings and sheds, as rats only need a gap of around 15mm to gain access. Keep your garden clean and tidy to remove potential nesting spots, such as piles of wood, garden clippings, and overgrown areas. Trim back vegetation and maintain short lawns. Ensure that household food waste, such as compost and rubbish, is securely covered. Bin lids should fit tightly, and food waste bags should not be left outside for extended periods. If you store bird food outdoors, make sure it’s kept in tightly sealed containers, in a cool, dry place, to prevent spoilage.
If you find rats in your garden, it’s important to take immediate steps to reduce their attraction to your space and address the issue.
Stop feeding birds temporarily. Remove any seeds, food scraps, or birdseed husks from the ground, and give all your bird tables, feeders, bird baths a thorough clean.
Rats like to hide in dense vegetation, so if you have a left a patch of garden to grow wild give it a trim, and remove any piles of wood used for insect houses.
Consider setting up traps to catch any rats already in your garden. There are also natural deterrents, like peppermint oil or ultrasonic repellents, that may discourage rats from staying.
If you continue to experience problems or the infestation seems extensive, it’s wise to consult a professional pest control service to help address the issue safely and effectively.
