Anybody know about RATS?

[diamond lil]

Do rats have a smell? I mean is there a smell around their haunts? There's a corner of my garden that smells unpleasant but its hard to describe. It's not a catty/dogshitty type of smell, It's just odd and not nice.
We did have a prob with rats last year as the neighbour was overfeeding birds and the whole terrace of 4 houses ended up infested with the bloody things. We clubbed together and got a ratman in who got rid of them. Anybody advise?

[redskies]

They're pretty clean as a rule. I guess it could be a sort of musty scent, but nothing terribly offensive or even noticeable.

Could it be you've had a visit from a fox? That's a scent that tends to linger and is very noticeable.

[Nurseandy]

I'd agree with redskies, unless they're in a confined space and there's a lot of urine they generally don't smell. Fox urine stinks.

[diamond lil]

Ok might well be ratties then, it's not a fox, we dont have any here. Got a big shooting estate up the road with a lot of young gun-happy keepers. It's not too in-yer-face it's just not nice. Off to google rat poison lol- that will worry the husband

[redskies]

Ok might well be ratties then, it's not a fox, we dont have any here. Got a big shooting estate up the road with a lot of young gun-happy keepers. It's not too in-yer-face it's just not nice. Off to google rat poison lol- that will worry the husband

Ratties are neophobic, and if one of em has died of a poison, the others won't touch it - just so you know!

Don't underestimate how intelligent they are either - amongst the brightest mammals I've ever come across.

[diamond lil]

Yea I know. I had some when we kept chickens but back then we had a lovely big ginger tom stray who helped get rid of them, he's sadly gone now. Will tell neighbour to stop feeding birds and remove the water from the birdbath.

[jansman]

Yea I know. I had some when we kept chickens but back then we had a lovely big ginger tom stray who helped get rid of them, he's sadly gone now. Will tell neighbour to stop feeding birds and remove the water from the birdbath.

Bird feeding is definitely a cause of rats. Good housekeeping is key to minimising rat visits.

[Arzosah]

My attic definitely smelt when I had a lot of rats - they'd been in for a while before I got the pest control guy in.

[diamond lil]

It's not a full-on hellish awful smell, but when I bend down or kneel to do hand weeding it's very definitely there.

[ForgeCorvus]

We have two bird feeding stations in the garden, both of these have a ratbox nearby.

I check the bait once a week and if it starts to go, I check daily.
There are two poisons available to the public in this country and I switch between them.

I have noticed a musty smell near some suspected ratholes during the last campaign...... I just thought it was something nextdoor was growing.