Rats Eating Our Tomatos

Have you got a dog. Rat Terriers are perfect for this job. I had one years ago. We lived in the country. I never saw a rat or a mouse.

I would call a pest control company to get them out there and get the family/litter taken care of....do you actually see the rats hanging around or what?

In the mean time? "police" your area...ensure that your garbage is in a solid can. Since rats will chew through just about anything (some actually chewed through a neighbors siding!! YIKES!!) you need to make sure the area is CLEAN..i know it's outdoors - but if they can't feast - they won't come!

If you have a composite pile? that's a WELCOMING dinner for rats...so find a better way to store it...sorry!!

Anything that can be construed as food to the rats will keep them coming back for more....

GOOD LUCK!!

Rat Terriers (sp?) were bread for this purpose.. they look just like York Shier (SP?) Terriers only w/ smaller faces. (so sorry about my spelling.... spell check isn't working !!!).

I agree w/ the poster who said get sommeone out ASAP... if it is rats - they'll move into your home come fall... good luck.

Get a topsy turvy and hang up your tomatoes so that they can't reach them. I use it for both grape tomatoes and larger tomatoes & it works great.

Call a pest control company.
Rats... will infest anything.
AND... come into your home too.

They are eating the tomatoes, because they are desperate.
They will also forage for other food.
Their droppings and urine, are very filthy and full of disease.
I would not want to work in the garden dirt, knowing rats are there, consistently.

Rats can also climb... even trees. Or use trees that are close to the home, to then get into the home. They can knaw holes in screens and squeeze into small holes, to get into a home, too.
That happened, to a friend of ours. The rats were then, invading their home.
They called a pest control company

Rats and their feces... are full of diseases.

And you have a dog... I am SURE... they can also smell the dog food... and will try to get to it.
Rats eat dog food. They eat anything.
And can attack other animals.

You have to call a PROFESSIONAL... pest control company.

Anyone who has lived on a property infested with rats knows cats and dogs will not be enough to get rid of them.

This is serious stuff as some have mentioned, and if you let it go too long you're going to have real problems on your hands.

Did the previous owners tell you anything about them before you moved in? If so, did they say how bad it was and what they did to manage them?

A good friend of mine has a hobby farm that had become infested. Just about every square inch of his land was riddled with rat tunnels. He had cats but it wasn't much of a help. He even got an exterminator, but that just slowed down their reproduction and he wound up accidentally killing some cats who ate the poisoned rats who managed to survive despite the poison. Some rats apparently build up tolerance to the stuff.

He eventually had to go "deliverance" on the situation and take a radical approach, which I was pretty surprised about. I never dreamed this guy would ever do something so dangerous or crazy, but it worked.

He found a tunnel opening in the ground where he saw the most rats going in and out of, and poured a tank of gasoline inside and followed up with a match. As the gas rolled into the hole, thousands of rats, came spilling out of every opening in the ground before the whole underground was on fire and eventually burned itself out from lack of oxygen.

I thought he was going to blow his property up, but he didn't. He definitely got rid of a ton of rats. It was much better. But he only had a small window of time to fill the holes and get rid of garbage etc. before a new wave started from any survivors.

Radical I know. I share to show you how out of control a rodent problem can get. Not as a suggestion as a way to get rid of them. All I can say is, my friend, who is really rational in general, must have been really overwhelmed by his circumstances to even go there and risk destroying his property or accidentally killing someone.

I say get an exterminator before it gets that bad.

My husband built a cage or sorts around ours just because of this. We have a very small garden, can't imagine what we would do if it were much bigger. We tried trapping them and you don't get them all and overall trapping can be a horrid experience! We don't use poisin for the same reasons you sited. Hope someone has some good ideas for you!

Rat terriers are wire haired terriers and do good at catching rats. But all cats are not mousers. All terriers are not mousers or ratters either. Those that don't come by it naturally have to be taught. My dog is part poodle and part terrier and is a great gopher dog. He is also a mouser. He started doing it on his own and I always praised and rewarded him when he caught something when I was around.

You can get poisoned grain and put it in plastic milk jugs and hang it in trees. That will help control the rat population.

Good luck to you and yours.

Many dogs are great at getting rid of rats.
They either scare them off of something a little worse that includes disposing of the carcasses. Some of the best mousers I've known are dogs.
I would go to a farm supply store and ask them what they have.
I live in an area with many gardens and dairy farms. Rats can be a problem in open wooded areas and barns.
They do make things to get rid of rats that don't harm other things.
Are you sure they are rats and not moles or gophers?
Can you put solar detection lights out? My mom uses them to keep cats from pooping in her flowers.
I hope you get some great responses.

I have heard that rats are afraid of mice, funny I know. I am not recomending you go get a mouse but if you go to a pet store and ask for the soiled mulch/lining the urine from the mice and line your yard with it I heard this will keep them out.

We have had a critter that has decimated our tomato crop for the last two years. The only thing that has seemed to work is HOT RED PEPPER! Seriously. I went to the wholesale store (Smart and Final) and bought large bags of cayenne powder. Using a sifter or a fine strainer, liberally dust the tomatoes with the pepper. I also put pepper on the fence above the garden, where I know the racoons like to walk. You don't have to put it on the dirt or the leaves, just the fruits. When you water, water the ground and not the plants. This has to be repeated every couple of days because of the elements. So far, this has reduced my loss by 90%! I think as homes are continually encroaching on the animals' territories the animals are getting really smart about finding food. We had tried netting, but the critters would just work their way through the nets! Smart buggers. Let me know if this works for you. Happy Gardening! L.

Hey K.,
You have a few suggestions. One is to get the bottled coyote urine from a local nursery and spray it all around your plants. Also you can spray your plants with garlic oil (which repels both insects and vermin).
There are also rat traps that you can place near your plants (which you can get from any rodent company) that are safe to have near your children and pets.