The hedgehog who adopted my garden last year was a keen eater. About an hour after sunset, there was the regular journey from the house to the feed hut for breakfast, and then off on the nightly wandering. Some hibernation in January and then a move out in February meant that there was uneaten food in the feed hut – so the rats turned up. By the start of March it was clear something had to be done!
Plan A. Rats are reported to be neophobic so I moved the feed hut from its usual spot in a shrub border to the middle of the open grass (about 5 m). After the relocation, the rats were baffled on the first night, had explored to half way on the second night, and, by the third night, were around, in, and all over the feed hut (even though it contained no food). I then moved the feed hut 2 m west, still in the open, but the rats found it that night.
And so to Plan B. Rats are reported to dislike certain smells. Internet searches and chats with garden centre staff suggested various scented substances which might deter rats. Do check the safety data sheet for products before using them! I decided to use Flash liquid floor cleaner which has a strong citronella scent. Each evening I spray a diluted solution (15% cleaner, 85% water) along the section of chain-link fence the rats used as their entrance. I don’t use much (maybe 50 ml of the dilute solution) because the scent is quite strong!
I check the footage from the garden infrared camera each morning and since I started spraying a week ago I’ve only seen one rat for a few seconds. So far, so good.
Thankfully, the hedgehog highway is on the south side of the garden so spraying the chain-link fence on the north side does not seem to have caused an issue – at least one hedgehog is now roaming the garden and visiting the feed hut every night.
