Starts see the sun every day. I move them to the CFL's at night. A couple of months back a stray cat adopted us, and he has been keeping the rats off the deck. Cat also knows where the dogs can get to and stays out of range.

Any rat on the ground in the yard is toast. Dogs will find them, turn them inside out, and bring them to me for a reward.

I also keep the starts under a wire mesh when they are small, because the cardinals like to eat them. You can also put your trays on buckets, rats can't climb them.

Anyway, these starts go inside every night, so the rats don't even get to see them. At this size, the rats will only attack them if there is no water. We had rain, so this size is immune...for now.