Fight rat infestation

I used to work in a wood carving shop. Wood carving shops contain numerous wood carvings, lumber, dust, and electrical machinery, and ideal set-up that attracts rats. My friend, Javier, always spread rat poison in the coffee break room. He was often successful at killing rodents.

I had never experienced conflicts with rats. During my boyhood, I was more attracted to bees. I carelessly played around with them and was strung from time-to-time, but they fascinated me, nevertheless. I liked to collect lizards and put them in shoe boxes until they died. I learned quickly they didn't adapt to a foolish boy's notion; they weren't about to be tamed as a domestic pet. I never bought mice or rats from pet stores, but I remember many of my friends did.

Suddenly, my hometown area is flooded with animal critters I never eye-witnessed as a young lad. Late at night, my family home receives visits from raccoons and possums. I had to lift a dead possum out of my pool one evening. Our pit-bull aggressively charged after a raccoon, the size of a bear cub, according to my brother-in-law. The poor dog's face was all scratched up; luckily he survived.

Squirrels populate our neighborhood yards and streets like I have never seen in my life. And yes, we also get numerous rats. I'm okay with squirrels. They're cute and cuddly looking creatures, they always stay outdoors. Rats always seek refuge from the outdoors and I'm sure tired of killing them.

I own a few pet doves and they don't help keep rats away, but I sincerely believe without my birds, rats would attempt to enter our home. They visit areas of the house my doves don't occupy. Like I said, our backyard has turned into a wildlife haven. There is one bright spot to this scenario; numerous rats attract cats. Domestic cats eagerly prowl for big juicy rats. Sometimes a lucky cat gets a rat for free, on days, I throw a dead rodent out to the backyard from a Victor trap.

I hate to kill animals, even rats, but it's a necessity, because rats grow into large numbers and attempt to inhabit the inner walls of our house.

Big rats, roaches, and mice, can cause damage inside houses if they’re not monitored effectively. They bite electrical cord appliances, eat wood of panel surfacing and dig holes under cupboards and other areas of the home. Large rats endanger house birds inadequately secured in their cages.

Bird lovers should apply extra caution to make certain sliding shutters are not left open. Large parrots are in jeopardy if they perch on a wooden stand, a litter box below them, and not contained in a protective cage. Unsecured house birds are in grave danger during night time hours, occasionally, rodents are active during early mornings and afternoon daytime hours.

Rats are known to carry diseases into a home, but people living in common homes don't report as many severe cases that develop from wildlife areas:

• Rabies (considered low-risk carriers in common home)
• Hantavirus(certain types of rodents carry it more than others)
  • Deer mouse
  • Cotton rat
  • White-footed mouse
• Poisoned rats cause mange

Exposure to “rodent droppings, urine, saliva, or nesting materials” are potential sources of infection. Hantavirus originates from rodent' air-born particles. Raising dust particles in the atmosphere is caused by a simple clean-up activity such as sweeping the floor with a broom, a potential cause of hantavirus infection.

Home owners that call up exterminators to clear their house of rats often pay an expensive amount of money. Home Advisor estimates rat inspection costs and removal range from an average price from $90-$250. Continued inspection price rates vary from $200.00 -$2000.00.

An inexpensive procedure to control rats is to set up traps:

1. Rat poison
2. Glue traps
3. Wooden board attached to a snapping metal bar

Rat poison allures rats into a perfect trap because they don't realize a portion of cheese or peanut butter is laced with harmful chemicals that poison them. However, rat poison isn’t the wisest choice. Domesticated dogs or cats are attracted to rats and love munching on them; they think of rats as an extra tasty meal. The house pet or innocent cat of the neighborhood is jeopardized by a sick animal once its consumed. Rat poison also endangers mountain lions with mange in mountainous territories where cougars are monitored and protected. Cougars consume many rodents, too. Many rangers have reported rehabilitating cougars back to health if they survived ingested poison from a secondhand source.

Many glue traps are sold in hardware departments. Glue traps are considered a less cruel choice than metal traps. But most glue traps are only strong enough to contain small rodents. Bigger rats easily drag a glue trap into another room and can break free from them. I discovered this in my own home. The scenario gave me a headache. The glue substance surface of the trap faced our wood panel floor of the kitchen and the hard glue was very difficult to remove. I realized If the sticky glue substance faced down on our living room carpet it would have caused damage; an irritating bare spot would have appeared once I lifted the trap up from the carpet. A small rat or mouse that is struck to a glue trap may still survive but suffers more.

Some people are leery of using metal traps because they don’t want to crush their fingers, a reasonable fear. The springing mechanism contains a metal bar that must always be pulled back by the fingers. If it accidentally goes off while setting it in lock position, the bar snaps away from your fingers. The cracking sound caused from the bar hitting the wooden base is so loud a user could feel it’s almost like handling a firearm. Putting fear aside, a Victor-style trap is a better choice to control rats. Extra caution is necessary in using them to protect your hand, fingers, and domestic pets, but most of the time, a rat is killed quickly, doesn’t suffer, and it eliminates the danger of killing innocent animals from secondhand poison. You won’t mess up your carpet and hardwood floors with sticky glue.

Rats are a major problem in our neighborhood. I wish I could purchase a Tomcat or two and set them loose in our house for guard control, unfortunately, I can't do it; family members living in our home are allergic to them.

I hate killing rats, but I feel better after reading reports about poisoned rats that endanger the health of cougars and domestic animals. I think its' good to spread public awareness; rat poison is harmful to innocent animals. Killing rats with old fashioned traps constructed with metal bars and wooden blocks or plastic versions of the device is actually a good method of getting rid of rodents.