Have you ever seen a rat in your garden?

I have seen them when I lived on a property down south.
They were river rats which are bigger than ordinary rats as we had the river as a backyard and quite a big lake on the other side of the house!
However the photo above is taken at my little place here in suburbia.....one of my dogs came in panting like mad - well obviously not my blind dog! I went outside to do something and this photo above is what greeted me.
I screamed and ran inside even though it was dead. had to go next door and get the 90 year old to scoop it up - I think I have already told this story?

by Finy

No. Never seen one. I think my husband found rat poo in our big shed once, so we put out some rat bait. Haven't seen any droppings or rats since. We have lots of cats in our neighbourhood, so not a good place to be a rat. Do you think our own cat likes chasing rats and mice? No. We locked him in the shed when we found the droppings, but we didn't find any dead rats the next day. Rat bait worked better.

by Lluxi

No not in mine.

I have a trick that keeps them away, and I have used it for many many years.

My family have always liked clean driveways, and we use heavy thick bleach twice a year, to keep outside clean on concrete...In summer in just go's into the concrete on a hot day makes it come back near new.

What it also does, is that mice and rats can smell, as they walk along they always have their noses close to the ground.

It really is not something they like, and hence we never get them.They also remember areas that are a no-go.

You won't find them in very clean areas.

by jonaja

my back yard is clean Jonaj - I find in Perth, rats are everywhere, clean or not - they are scavengers looking, looking, looking!

I use the bleach because they hate the smell, and it stays in the concrete for some reason.

Alive, no. Dead, yes. Whether they died naturally or one of the local cats got them, I don't usually know. Just this week I saw a little mouse face peeping through a hole in the bottom of a fence too.

by amanda

My neighbour is a shift worker and she texted me a photo of a lovely big dead rat last week . . . . which she found on her carpet at two a.m. . . . with her very pleased cat! LOL (Lucky it was almost bin day)

by Rice

No, thankfully

by AJ

I am glad to say I haven't seen either a live or a dead rat in my garden, shed etc. I don't like rats, not keen on mice either.

by Marie Vonow

Yes, there was this time when my dog killed one. Btw, this photo looks creepy.

by annep

Yes, but I divorced him! Lol. Seriously though I had a pest controller to rid my place of a family of rats a couple of years ago & haven't had any since, touch wood. They smell awful & that's how I first knew they were around.

by helya

by Diana Nairn

Yes I have, I used to have one scampering along the fence, then he would come out from under the trees to get the bird food, he was cute in a way.

by Diana Nairn

Yes I have, I used to have one scampering along the fence, then he would come out from under the trees to get the bird food, he was cute in a way.

by Diana Nairn

No we haven't ever seen 1 in the garden, (& nor in the house,) but we have seen them on our verandah.

by Miro

Unfortunately yes... when we had chickens. Horrible things!

by BritishStorm