How do you get rid of rats on your yard?

Look everywhere around to see why they may be there in the area. An exterminator may be worth the money.
There are all kinds of traps. even throw away ones that poison the rat inside and you then dispose of the whole thing. that is good if you have pets. I think that may not really fix the whole problem becasue the rats will keep coming if a neighbor is harboring the varmits somehow.
One thing that does work if they are available for rats ( they work for gophers) electric sound wave emitters. It just chases them away.
Hope this is some help.

A good old fashion feline never let me down. And they work onther small pest as well.

Maybe some moth balls in a container with holes. They don’t like the smell and it is poison to them. However be to put them out there only when the sky is clear. You don’t want water to leak in and leak out of the container and poison your blackberries. Make sure the container can’t be accidentally open by children or small animals.

Make sure garbage is contained, pet food is not outside, things that could attract them. One person I know, got rid of their birdfeeders. They thought the birdseed on the ground attracted them. Can you get rid of the berry bushes? Know anyone with a cat that is a good hunter? Someone with farm cats that could spare one?

Are they attracted to something in your yard…or, running through your yard to get to something else?

Large outside cats would be my best solution. Wouldn’t hurt a thing. Good luck.

I just contact my pest control service and they take care of it.

A friend lived in a neighborhood infested with rats because the sewer lines needed replacing.

A Jack Russell is better than a cat for rat problems.

$30 worth of warfarin in these rat bait stations
You can get them for $6–8 at your local Ag store.
It is cheaper than a cat and it does the job rather than pushing the problem onto someone else.
If you know the neighbors well, you can suggest that everyone buy a few and put them out at the same time. The goal is to wipe out the colony fast and hard so they don’t keep breeding..

I am just so grateful for this question and the answers. Over the past 5 years, my dogs have caught and killed two rats. I am realizing that I connected a lot of shame with the rats being there (like it was my fault) and just hearing that someone else has the problem and that so many others calmly know what to do about it, is helpful to me. Another bit of baggage that, perhaps, I can drop now! Thanks for the therapy!

Personally I think rats are one of the coolest animals ever. Incredibly intelligent, adaptive and tenacious. But, if you are over run you may need to consider some sort of extermination process.

I would NOT, without calling in a professional, put our poison on my own. You risk secondary poisoning of neighborhood animals that may find and consume the dead rats.

The odds of them running into your home are minimal, they are after the blackberries and once this food source is depleted for the season they will move on to other food sources.

If they are not causing damage to your home in any way I say live and let live.

I live in rattlesnake country, just this morning my neighbor who was out walking her dog ran up to my car at the the corner of my road and pointed out a dead young rattler on the side of the road, most likely run over.

She was all panicky and hyped up over this dead snake in the road….jeez, calm down! lol

I have encountered 4 rattlesnakes in 18 years…no big whoop.

I guess I am just not prone to demonizing nature unless it is seriously invading my space.