Rats in the Garden: Seven Ways to Repel Them Without Poison
Created: 04/08/2022, 16:00
By: Ines Alms
Rats are not harmless, they can become a nuisance and transmit diseases.
There are animal-friendly measures to combat them in the garden.
Rats in the garden are really unpleasant.
And that's an understatement.
Since they transmit diseases, they also pose a danger to humans and must therefore be reported to the health department.
Anyone who discovers them in the garden should therefore act quickly.
There are also preventive methods to drive the animals away without poison.
Rats in the Garden: Seven Ways to Repel Them Without Poison
Rats sometimes look quite cute, but they can transmit many diseases.
© ZUMA Wire/Imago
Rats transmit diseases such as rabies, salmonella or rat tapeworm via urine and faeces and are therefore notifiable in Germany.
So watch out for their shiny black droppings about an inch long or a strong smell of ammonia in the garden.
Chewed plastic objects, paper and wooden furniture or holes in the lawn about five centimeters wide can also be indications of rats.
According to the German Nature Conservation Union (NABU)
, if you spot the animals even during the day, the infestation is
severe.
Now you are obliged to inform the health or public order office.
Because the pests multiply very quickly.
The next step should be to hire a professional pest controller to remove the animals from the garden or household.
To prevent things from happening in the first place, there are a few measures you can try without killing the animals:
Mint, clove or lavender oil smell very unpleasant for rats.
Also used cat litter.
Soak a rag in turpentine or vinegar essence and place it on faeces or urine.
NABU
recommends grilles on basement windows and drains
.
You should also not compost food leftovers and never dispose of them in the toilet.
A tighter mesh around the compost helps.
Pick up fallen fruit as quickly as possible.
Close garbage cans tightly.
Do not feed domestic or wild animals in the garden.
You can find even more exciting garden topics in the free 24garten.de newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.
Live or snap traps are not very promising in the long run, since rats are very intelligent and can avoid them quickly.
However, they are still better than rat poison, which endangers other animals — including cats — and children.
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