Unfortunately, in most urban areas it is pretty much inevitable that there will be some nasty little rodents of some kind lurking about. In my case, there seem to be plenty of squirrels and a few rats around, which I’m hoping won’t be too much of a problem once growing season comes around this year. Just in case, I’ve looked into many possible solutions, and here is what I have found:

Baits/Traps

The use of baits and traps will probably be somewhat pointless, and possibly detrimental in the city. In a dense urban area there’s likely to be a somewhat unlimited supply of the critters, and setting out baits may only encourage them to congregate in my yard instead of my neighbors. There’s a thought…maybe I should put some baits in my neighbors’ yards when they aren’t looking!

Repellents

There are a number of sonic noise generating devices and scent-based (think garlic and fox urine) repellents on the market that claim to work wonders for getting rid of rodents. However, I can’t seem to find any evidence that these are really working for anyone. In fact, the UC Davis website has the following to say about these methods:

Rats are wary animals, easily frightened by unfamiliar or strange noises. However, they quickly become accustomed to repeated sounds, making the use of frightening sounds, including high frequency and ultrasonic sounds, ineffective for controlling rats in home and garden situations.

and:

Rats have an initial aversion to some odors and tastes, but no repellents have been found to solve a rat problem for more than a very short time. There are no truly effective rat repellents registered for use in California.

If I get desperate I might try some “Shake Away” rodent repellent powder anyway, but I won’t have high hopes for it based on the reviews that I’ve managed to track down. Do any of you readers have any good or bad experiences to report with these types of products?

Sealing Cracks/Holes

This is going to be my first line of defense. In order to be effective against ground-based rats, any crack through walls, fences, etc. that is more than 1/4″ needs to be sealed in order to keep them out. I plan on using some chicken wire or a sturdy screen buried 8 inches into the ground and extending up to the underside of the solid fence that surrounds my yard. Unfortunately this won’t do much to guard against roof rats or squirrels, but if nothing else it should give me some piece of mind until the first day that I walk out back and find some tomatoes that have been munched on.

Pepper Spray

Conventional wisdom (Where does that come from anyway? And why do we trust it?) seems to say that mixing some habanero with some water and spraying it onto fruits will keep the critters from eating them. I think I’ll give it a shot if my fence and some Shake Away don’t seem to do the trick.

Anything Else

If there’s any other tips and tricks that people out there know of I’d love to hear it…please post a comment with your favorite rodent remedies!