Rodents

Just because you haven't seen them doesn't mean they are not there, rats are literally everywhere - and in numbers.

Running across a road in daylight is a tad unusual but perhaps it was disturbed by a dog or maybe human activity and was running away.

You may be scrupulous about discarding food but others may not be and your terrace could be a known route to such sources.

Depending on the surrounding environment, farms for instance are the sort of places you tend to find large concentrations of rats, to one extent or another I'm afraid they are something you are going to learn to live with, an aggressive dog might deter them from being so bold.

Thank you very much for the background   I will see how things go and call a pest control company if it happens again. 

Rather like other responses I think rats are a fact of live. Building work in Sabatera has probably disturbed them and brought them out. There are so many feral cats around this keeps them under control but they do breed quickly. There are professional pest control companies but I think generally they are for internal use.

We have then in our ga4den but they are tree rats NOT rats l8ke you think of in the UK......rodent killer always works from supermarket......don't stress about rats cause the snakes keep them under control......yes seriously!

Hi, try using the pest control company Control Natural de Plagas, they guarantee their service. I've used them for rodents and had no issues afterwards. They are extremely professional and speak English. The number I have for them is 692863608.

Hi,

I think your concerns are completely warranted, and I personally dont think its a case of ‘theyre everywhere live with it’; they are everwhere for sure but theres a couple of specific things to bear in mind.

1. Generally speaking rats are nocturnal, for obvious reasons, and they  are everywhere, but whenever and wherever rats are seen out and about in the day, its because there are too many of them for a specific local environment and so theyre having to compete more to find food. They are then forced to come out during the day looking for food. So quite simply, when you see them during the day its because theres an unusually high volume of them somewhere locally.

2. Rats basically pee regularly (almost constantly while they move) to mark territory, and to communicate, and in relatively large amounts. You absolutely do not want rat pee anywhere but definitely not near water (pool). Rat pee can carry ‘Weils Disease’ (Leptospirosis), which humans can catch if in contact with the pee thru eyes, mouth etc (i.e swimming in pool?). Worst case scenario is that it can be deadly.

Take any rat infestation seriously; get professional de-infestation help. The local source of the infestation needs dealing with not just the odd individual rat here and there.

Tim

Thank you Tim totally agree ! Very good advice. 

You’re very welcome. 

Tim