Rats
Rats Along Friern Barnet's Southern Edge
A retail park produces a steady flow of food waste and packaging, and the bins behind the units are emptied on a timetable rather than the moment they fill. The verges and planting beside a major road give cover that nobody disturbs. Neither is a problem on its own, but together they give rats a base with food close by, and the houses and gardens nearest that edge are the next stop when they forage further or their numbers grow.
Why the nearest gardens notice first
A rat foraging out from roadside cover does not stop at a fence. Gardens with a compost heap, a bird table, fruit trees or a dry space under a shed offer the next meal and somewhere to dig. Once a burrow is established in your garden, the rats in it are yours to deal with, wherever they first came from. The guide on rats in the garden explains when a sighting outside means more than an animal passing through.
Apartments and their bin stores
Further north, the apartments on the former hospital site and in the newer housing around it share bin stores, and a store with split bags or a door wedged open draws rats in from the grounds. Rats in a communal area are for the managing agent to arrange; rats inside your own apartment are what you book for. Can rats get into flats and apartments? covers how they reach the floors above.
Signs Worth Checking Near the Road and Retail Park
- Holes about the width of a fist in a bank, at the edge of a flowerbed or under the shed at the far end of the garden
- A worn run through the grass along the back fence
- Droppings in the garage, a garden store or beside the wheelie bins
- Gnawed lids or torn bags in a communal bin store
- Scratching under a ground floor or behind the kitchen units after dark
The first signs of rats sets out what droppings, smears and noise tell you. Much smaller droppings indoors may point to mice rather than rats.
What to Do While You Wait
- Stop putting out bird food and pick up fallen fruit until the rats have been dealt with
- Keep bin lids shut, and do not leave bagged rubbish on the ground beside them before collection day
- In an apartment building, report a bin store problem to the managing agent the day you spot it
- Leave burrows alone rather than filling them with soil or pouring anything into them
- Keep shop-bought poison out of the garden, where pets, foxes and birds can reach it
Booking Rat Control in N11
What we ask
When you book rat control, tell us whether you are in a house, a flat or an apartment in a converted building, and where the activity is: the end of the garden, a garage, the bin store, under the floor or in the loft. Say whether the garden backs towards the road or the retail park, because it helps show where the rats may be coming from.
On the day and after
Give clear access to the garden, the garage and the space under the kitchen sink, and keep pets indoors. Before leaving, the technician will talk you through what the garden and house showed and what comes next. How long it takes depends on the property and how settled the rats are, and how long rat control takes explains what affects it. Get back in touch if new burrows or fresh droppings appear.
Keeping Rats Away From an Edge Garden
You cannot change what lies beyond the back fence, so the work happens on your side of it. Keep the ground under sheds and decking open or meshed, stand compost bins on a wire base, and keep the far end of the garden clear so there is nowhere sheltered to dig. Gaps into the house, such as a broken air brick or a hole where a pipe goes through the wall, can be closed with rodent proofing in Friern Barnet, and rat proofing goes into the detail. If activity keeps returning, why rats come back after treatment is worth reading.
For the wider picture, including the brook corridors that matter more in Whetstone, see Rat Control Barnet.
