How to control rats in your garden

Having rats in your garden can be quite a problem. It can be frustrating to see your vegetables getting eaten up by rats overnight. Rats dig tunnels throughout your garden and kill your baby saplings. One of the main problems of having rats in your gardens is that they leave droppings in your garden. These droppings contain several pathogens and when they mix with water they end up infecting your plants. They can also infect humans and cause diseases. One of the other reasons to control rat infestations in your garden is that if rats find your garden too comfortable to live in, then they will start to come into your homes too. So it’s best to control rats before they end up colonizing your garden.

One of the main reasons why rats tend to come into gardens is if they find the food and water that they need. For instance, if you have other animals like chickens or ducks, you might provide food for them every day. When there are lots of food scraps in the ground then rats come into your garden to eat them. When you have a clean garden, rats will not come there.

Signs of rat infestation:

• You will find them roaming in your garden in the early mornings or late evenings
• Your small saplings end up getting buried or getting bitten off
• You might find mounds of soil dug out. Rats and mice end up digging tunnels so that they can move around your garden.
• You might find rat droppings in your garden. They look like black grains of rice.

Ways to control rats in your garden:

1.Get rid of food sources

If you have pets in your garden, make sure that you clean up the leftover food scraps regularly.When you keep your backyard clean you don’t have to worry about rodents coming into your garden.

2. Get a cat

We all know that cats prey on mice. When you have a cat in your home, rats get threatened and they do not come into your garden. When rats smell cat pee, they avoid taking that path.

3. Having herbs

Planting mint, chives, and basil is a good way to repel rats. Rats hate the strong scent that these herbs produce. Other than herbs you can also grow onions and garlic to repel rats.

4. Sprinkle instant potatoes

Instant potato flakes can kill mice. When mice eat these flakes they become thirsty and start to drink water. The flakes start to expand and eventually kill them. Put two to three tablespoons of these potato flakes on a paper plate and add sweeteners to it. Keep this in a place where there is a rat infestation. This can help to control rodents.

 5. Using thorn stems

Surrounding your saplings with thorn stems helps to prevent rats from biting off your saplings. When this thorn stems poke the rats they avoid digging the saplings.