Thread: How to stop rats entering shed

Good Morning Jill

We had this problem at a previous house. Shed was prefab steel frame with corregated iron overlapping concrete slab. Our experience:

• expanding foam lasted a few days; rodents tunneled through it.
• black corregated foam draft stoppers lasted a few weeks; then they tunneled.
• steel wool lasted a few months then rusted away.

I eventually put some 100mm boxing inside the shed 100mm from iron walls and poured runny concrete to form a rat dam. This worked in this area. But they found other entrances - doors not fully shut - mice got through door cracks - windows left open - up fruit trees and through the eves - etc.


Best solution was relentless removal of hidy holes in shed and relentless trapping and baiting.


Never had rodents in my current shed, and do not know why?


Fair Winds


Graeme

EDIT : PS You also have to remove all sources of rat food - pet food remains, fruit left on/under trees, blood&bone/fertiliser on garden, flower pods,.... the list is endless. At old house the rat attractant was a very large wallnut tree next door.

I know where the key to the shed is kept and I don't tell them

The cold weather will bring them in too, main thing is to try and not give them nice little nesting areas...With the way slabs are laid now ive noticed an increase in rats nesting under the slab, the good old days a 2 foot deep rat wall ment they couldnt get under. Rats have the ability to get through very small openings , so a shed thats built without taking this into account at the time of construction can provide an ongoing drama. In the pest work ive even had jobs where the best option was to provide an ongoing baiting deal because "proofing "was not really a option.

On the topic of modern slabs...talking to a concreter this arvo I asked about the sytrofoam blocks I've seen being used in house slabs in the area. They're called waffle pods and apparently the critters have been having a field day chewing through them in some areas. He refuses to work with them.