OH RATS!
Excluding the ones you work with or are married to, experts reckon that, when you are outside, you are never more than eight feet from a rat! But, how do you control these bringers of disease?
There are two species of rats found in the UK: The Brown Rat and the Black Rat. The difference in the two species is not the colour, as they are both the grey-brown colour of the rats often seen mooching around waste bins. The brown rat is the common rat, the ones that plague us in our homes and work places; the black rat is very rare (thank heavens!) now in the UK - the odd few can be found in dock areas and around wharfs close to the sea or river ports.
The Black Rat (Rattus rattus) was the host species of the fleas that caused the Bubonic plague in the middle ages. Black rats thrived in the thatching used in roofs in the bygone days. They are excellent climbers that feed on fruit and vegetables by choice, although they will take grains and cereals if there is a shortage of their preferred food source. This species is very sleek in its body, the tail is longer than the head and body combined, the face is long and pointed and the ears are large in proportion to the head. Should you see one, send me a photo, I have never been lucky enough to have even caught a glimpse of one in the wild! The rat which we all see, the species that gnaws cables, infests
homes, gardens, factories, sewers and just about everywhere else in the UK will be the Brown Rat (Rattus Norvegicus).
This species has six to ten babies per
litter, the female is pregnant for twenty one days and, believe it or not, she can be pregnant again just ten hours after giving birth!
An adult female brown rat will have six to eight litters per year, her kits will be weaned at twenty-one days old, just in time for the second litter to be born. In three to four months, the young females will be in breeding condition and capable of bearing six or more babies every twenty one days, this explains why one rat appearing at a site can become a huge infestation in a few months. Brown rats are capable of squeezing
through a gap of twelve millimetres; if you can get your thumb into a hole, a rat will be able to crawl through it. Their teeth continually grow throughout their life and have to be kept to the optimum length and sharpness by gnawing. They are slightly harder than
mild steel, allowing brown rats to chew their way through most of our building fabrics, including concrete, to get to a food source. Brown Rats are omnivores, eating just about anything. We have controlled rats that had been living on organic soap bars in a warehouse, through to rats that had gnawed their way through a floor into a restaurant kitchen. There are various methods of control used, anticoagulants are the most common. These fall into two categories - first and second generation - first being Warfarin, Coumatetralyl and Chlorophacinone. Resistance to Warfarin is now widespread in the UK, whilst Coumatetralyl still works very well and is not as toxic as the second generation active ingredients to birds of prey, should they eat a dead or dying rat. Second generation baits include
Bromadiolone and Difenacoum. These are the only second generation baits that can be legally used outside. Always read the label on the bait tub if you choose to control rats yourself. Many are professional use only; you can buy them, you just can’t use them unless you have been suitably trained. When baiting, you must make sure the baits are covered to ensure non- target species, such as dogs, cats etc., cannot get access to it. Unless you are totally confident in your skills using baits, I would recommend calling in a professional pest control company to do the work for you. You may be able to find an
independent pest controller that offers competitive prices in your area by
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