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Foam sealant?

Buckman

Buckman

We have a drain pipe from the roof that goes into the ground to feed the main drainage. Around the bottom of the drain pipe is the hole for it to pass through. The flagstones have been cut for the hole, but there is a gap al round of at leats two inches on two sides and about 5 inches on the other. The one side is flush against the wall.

Due to our fault of having bird feeders up, we have a rat living down there and all else has failed to capture this rat. We do try and clean up after the birds, but this is not always possible and the birds tend to spill a lot of seed onto the ground. besides OH wants bird feeders up so who am I to argue.?

As we have dogs & the cat, we do not want to use poison or snap traps plus we would hate to poison and snap trap a bird. The cat who is normally very quick has not had any success as the rat dives down the hole. Next door cat has also had a go, but no success.

I was wondering if there is a type of foam that we could use to block up the hole. I was thinking of stuffing some wire mesh down the hole and then squirting some foam that expands and hardens on top of the mesh if there is such a foam? Any ideas thanks?
 
Buckman said:
We have a drain pipe from the roof that goes into the ground to feed the main drainage. Around the bottom of the drain pipe is the hole for it to pass through. The flagstones have been cut for the hole, but there is a gap al round of at leats two inches on two sides and about 5 inches on the other. The one side is flush against the wall.

Due to our fault of having bird feeders up, we have a rat living down there and all else has failed to capture this rat. We do try and clean up after the birds, but this is not always possible and the birds tend to spill a lot of seed onto the ground. besides OH wants bird feeders up so who am I to argue.?

As we have dogs & the cat, we do not want to use poison or snap traps plus we would hate to poison and snap trap a bird. The cat who is normally very quick has not had any success as the rat dives down the hole. Next door cat has also had a go, but no success.

I was wondering if there is a type of foam that we could use to block up the hole. I was thinking of stuffing some wire mesh down the hole and then squirting some foam that expands and hardens on top of the mesh if there is such a foam? Any ideas thanks?
Click to expand...
I have used standard high expansion foam the insulate the body of an outdoor tap. Once set you can profile it with a sharp knife or chisel. Good idea to use wire mesh otherwise the rat will chew its way out. Another option would be rapid drying cement... goes hard in 10-20 minutes. Again with wire mesh.

 
Use a Fen trap, but make a wooden tunnel to put it in to ensure pets etc can't get at it.
Alternatively use one of these Poison stations which are totally safe.
If you just block the hole Roland will only find another nearby exit. You need to eradicate the problem.
 
Mr Plodd said:
Use a Fen trap, but make a wooden tunnel to put it in to ensure pets etc can't get at it.
Alternatively use one of these Poison stations which are totally safe.
If you just block the hole Roland will only find another nearby exit. You need to eradicate the problem.
Click to expand...
We have one of those "poison stations" and have had it for over a month with no luck. There is only one other exit and that is already blocked.

The problem is the bird feeders and I am having difficulty getting OH to move them away from the present location to the middle of the garden. OH wants to be able to see the birds feeding. I am not sure how to get around this issue without upsetting the apple cart too much. Not sure if there is anyway to prevent the seed from dropping on the ground.

I do not want it near where the cars are parked otherwise ratty will be using the car engines as a nesting pl,ace.
 
Buckman said:
Replace dog with cat and you have Shaka our cat. We no longer get squirrels visiting as at one time they became a right pest.
Click to expand...
Can’t abide cats; being a keen gardener. Our garden is a cat free zone thanks to the pooch.
 
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otherclive said:
Can’t abide cats being a keen gardener. Our garden is a cat free zone thanks to the pooch.
Click to expand...
Our cat has the Bulmers orchard next door so we have never had a complaint about him defecating in the gardens of neighbours, but we do understand your issue as it can be a real pain.
 
.....modern building regulations now require down pipes to be sealed where they connect to the underground drainage pipework.
Off the shelf fittings are available to seal your downpipe and block your rat run.
Bear in mind rats can climb downpipes emerging at gutter level!
 
Gafferbill said:
.....modern building regulations now require down pipes to be sealed where they connect to the underground drainage pipework.
Off the shelf fittings are available to seal your downpipe and block your rat run.
Bear in mind rats can climb downpipes emerging at gutter level!
Click to expand...
And have even appeared in upstairs toilet bowls too.
 
Moving the feeder to the middle of the garden will make no difference whatsoever, rats have legs !
As for having "no luck" with the poison stations don't forget that rats are very rarely solitary animals, plus the fact that they ingest the poison and die elsewhere. They also need to be placed alongside a wall or similar, out in them open they are pretty useless.
 
Rats are by nature cautious and so will take time before they investigate a new object in their domain. We had a number running around in daylight one year. It was due to two adjacent neighbours at the bottom of our garden having rear extensions that disturbed rats under decking and sheds.

We all placed poison stations down and after a couple of weeks we did not see any more rats.

We place hedgehog food down at night and for over a year haven’t seen a rat venturing to eat it. A small mouse was caught on camera but only a couple of times. We use a trail camera not only to video the hedgehogs but to make sure we don’t attract rats. Although our elderly neighbours are convinced they see rats in the feeding area despite my telling them what they are actually seeing can be up to 7 hedgehogs at a time. 🦔
 
Mr Plodd said:
Moving the feeder to the middle of the garden will make no difference whatsoever, rats have legs !
As for having "no luck" with the poison stations don't forget that rats are very rarely solitary animals, plus the fact that they ingest the poison and die elsewhere. They also need to be placed alongside a wall or similar, out in them open they are pretty useless.
Click to expand...
Actually makes a big difference to the cat as he can now catch them as they have to travel over open ground. He nailed two of them between Friday and Saturday morning. In addition, our front garden is open plan and next door's moggy is also on the lookout for rats. We also use the no mess bird seed.
The poison trap is placed alongside a wall near the hole from which they emerge. As you say we will never know how many have died from eating the poison.
 
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Both us and our immediate neighbours like to feed the birds - from time to time one of us notices rats so we both stop feeding for a week or two and the rats go somewhere else - in recent months a flock of feral pigeons has discovered us so they quickly hoover up the seeds which drop on the ground.
 
Not quite the answer but some time ago we had a rat which went down a pipe which wqs part of the drainage for the garden, so having seen it enter the pipe my wife used the hose to flush the rat out in which I was at the other end of the pipe and hey presto it came out into a bucket ,one less rat.
 
Do remember squirrels are only rats with good PR!

If you can catch and/or kill a squirrel a rat will likely follow the same route.
 
Woodentop said:
Do remember squirrels are only rats with good PR!

If you can catch and/or kill a squirrel a rat will likely follow the same route.
Click to expand...
Over the past several years Mr Cat has caught one or two tree rats in addition to the odd bunny. He does eat them.
 
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