Why are rats dangerous in the house and how to get rid of them?

Autumn is coming - and along with the cold weather, mice and rats are heading into our homes. With their arrival, not only unpleasant night noises appear in the house, interfering with sleep, but these animals pose a real danger to humans. How to get rid of unwanted neighbors?

Two of the 70 species of rats live in Russia: the gray rat (Norwegian) and the black rat. Both species belong to synanthropic species - this is the name given to animals whose life is connected with humans and their homes. Most often we see the gray rat - it is also called the barn rat, or the common rat.

What harm does a rat cause?

Most people suffer from rat phobia and experience panic at the sight of these animals with a long, bare tail. However, the fear would become even greater if people knew about the harm that rodents can cause them.

Why are rats dangerous to humans?

1. Economic harm

Rats are omnivores, so they easily find food. Where this rodent lives, your food supply is at risk. During the year, one individual eats 7-10 kg of food. Vegetables and fruits, bread, cereals, pasta - everything that comes along the way is eaten.

In addition to food, rats also damage things that are not at all edible. Furniture, paper, leather, wood, soap and even plastic - rodents do not disdain anything, living by the principle “If I don’t eat it, then at least I’ll bite it.” Often a rat causes a short circuit and a resulting fire because it chews through the insulation on the wires.

The most famous case is the accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima-1, which occurred in 2013. The culprit of the incident was a rat that de-energized the nuclear power plant and died, by the way, at the scene of the “crime.”

In a word, the economic damage caused by rats is great not only by the standards of an individual family, but even on a national scale.

2. Diseases

However, rats destroy not only material assets. Rodents pose a great danger to human health because they are carriers of about 30 different diseases, including very dangerous ones. So that you understand the seriousness of the problem, we list some of them:

Plague is a terrible disease that affects the lymph nodes, lungs and other internal organs, can cause sepsis and result in the death of the patient. One of the pandemics in the Middle Ages led to the death of a third of the entire population of Europe. The source of plague is often rats: their fleas, infected with plague bacteria, bite a person and thus infect him. Currently, at least 2.5 thousand cases of plague infection are recorded annually in the world.
Tetanus is a disease with a very high mortality rate. Its development is often caused by bites of various animals, including rats.
Q fever is a disease that is transmitted through airborne dust, food or contact, as well as through dirty hands. Sources of infection are various animals, including rats. The disease is caused by inhaling dust with their excrement or eating foods that have been bitten by infected rodents.
Endemic (flea) typhus - transmitted from sick rodents to humans after a flea bite, as well as through food contaminated with rat excrement. Another source of infection is dust, which contains the “fecal virus” of rats, getting into the respiratory tract or onto the membranes of the eyes.
Rabies is an incredibly dangerous fatal disease that, like tetanus, affects humans through the bites of infected animals. The source of infection can be, among other animals, rats.
Sodoku is also transmitted to humans by a rat bite from the saliva of an infected rodent. If untreated, the mortality rate for sodoku reaches 10%.

House mouse

In autumn, “country” mice en masse look for warm and rich places.
Moreover, to do this, they are ready to cover a distance of up to 3–5 km (which is approximately equivalent to a people walking 70–90 km). Question and Answer Which animal is closest to humans?

Although in nature the house mouse prefers to eat plant seeds, in human company it becomes omnivorous - it may not disdain candles, soap or glue.

Nasty rodents can cause serious damage to the supply of vegetables and fruits in the basement, spoil cereals and pasta, damage wires and turn beds or shelves with clothes into unpleasant places. Moreover, mice carry infections that are dangerous to humans. Some of them are transmitted through their contaminants, others are carried by fleas.

These rodents are extremely fertile - they bear their first offspring at the age of only 8 weeks after birth, and then additions to the mouse family occur 5-10 times a year. Mice have not yet filled the whole world only because of their high mortality and low life expectancy (in the wild they live about one year).

The cat is out of the house - the mice are dancing? How to get rid of rodents in the countryside

More details

Why are rats difficult to get rid of?

Rats are not tigers or bears, but they are incredibly difficult to defeat. What is the reason for such amazing indestructibility?

Fertility - one female gives from 1 to 3 litters during the year, each of which can contain up to 22 pups. Moreover, after just 3-4 months, these grown rodents themselves begin to reproduce, further increasing the population.
Physical endurance - rats run at a speed of 10 km/h, easily jump on obstacles up to 1 m high. If necessary, these animals can stay in water for three days.
Omnivorous - a rat cannot live more than a few days without food. However, she rarely dies of hunger, because... eats everything it comes across on its way.
The ability to survive in various conditions - unlike most animals, rats thrive (and even reproduce) in a wide range of temperatures: from –11°C to 45°C. They are not even afraid of radiation: these rodents easily tolerate a dose of 300 roentgens/hour (for comparison: a level of 100 roentgens/hour for humans threatens the emergence of many dangerous diseases).
Intelligence - the rat, according to some scientists, has abstract thinking and is considered one of the smartest animals. She is able to recognize poisons and warn her relatives of danger. If the rat dies immediately after eating the bait, other rodents will not even touch the deadly treat.

Ferrets

Ferrets and foxes eat mice Ferrets also eat mice. During the day, the predator is able to catch and devour at least a dozen rodents. Stocky with a flexible, elongated body, the animal has disproportionately muscular short legs, which allows them to move by jumping and swim perfectly. Long, strong claws on the fingers make it possible to dig deep holes and deftly climb trees. They are used to catch ferrets and mice.

The ferret's body length is about 50 cm, the animal has a flexible neck, an oval head and a slightly blunt muzzle towards the nose. The fluffy tail is a source of pride for the animal (in adults it can reach up to 20 cm). Near it there are special glands that secrete a specific secretion with a pungent odor.

The thick fur covering the animal's body is lighter at the base and darker in color at the tip. It is especially beautiful after the autumn molt, becoming more silky and shiny. The animal's color range can vary from light sand to almost black tones.

How to get rid of rats in the house

There are many chemicals that are designed to control rodents. However, the problem is that rats adapt to poisons very quickly and they cease to act on rodents. For this reason, scientists are constantly inventing new substances that can destroy these dangerous animals.

At the moment, some of the most effective are drugs based on anticoagulants. These substances prevent the formation of platelets in the body of rats and thus reduce blood clotting. A few days after eating the bait, the rats experience internal bleeding, which causes the death of the rodent. Due to the fact that the rat does not die immediately, the bait does not cause wariness in the rodents - the whole flock will try it without fear.

has created a whole line of Ratobor drugs, which contain the most modern active ingredients currently available - second-generation anticoagulants bromadiolone and brodifactum. Unlike their predecessors - first generation anticoagulants, they are effective after a single dose and cause the death of rats faster - on the 5-8th day.

Advantages of Ratobor baits

Rats are very sensitive to toxic substances, so they will not eat anything that makes them wary. However, in Ratobor baits the concentration of poison is so low that rats practically do not feel it, calmly eat it and do not signal their relatives about the danger.

To make the poison even more effective, some of the baits contain grain, flour and vegetable oil, which have a taste and smell that is attractive to rats.

To prevent the bait from attracting pets, it contains bitrex - a bitter substance that your four-legged pets do not like.

In addition, Ratobor baits not only effectively destroy rats and mice, but also have a mummifying effect: after death, the rats do not emit a smell. However, it usually doesn’t come to this: most rodents leave the room before they die, because after the action of the poison, they experience severe suffocation and strive to quickly get into fresh air.

Diet features

However, despite being omnivorous, different species of rats have specific eating preferences.

For example, gray rats (or pasyuki) differ from their counterparts in that they love meat - their diet must include animal protein.

In natural conditions, these are: fish, amphibians (frogs, toads, newts), mollusks, small rodents, insectivores. In addition, rodents destroy bird nests by eating eggs and chicks.

But the food of a black rat usually consists of plant foods: seeds, nuts, fruits, vegetables. Animal protein plays a minor role in her diet.

Rodents prefer grain crops, apples, sweet potatoes, melons, plums, pineapples, and tomatoes. In addition, they do not disdain donuts, chocolates, and peanut butter.

Living near human buildings, wild rats consume all available food products, waste, and livestock feed. They often attack chickens in the chicken coop, steal and eat eggs, and kill chickens.

There is even a misconception that chickens stop laying eggs if there are rats in the barn. However, the absence of eggs can be explained by the fact that the animals simply steal them. It is not uncommon for rats to eat feces. But they don’t like to stock up on food.

Ratobor bait options

Ratobor baits are presented in several forms:

dough briquette – made in the form of compressed tiles;
grain bait - made in two versions: in the first - packaged in bags, and in the second - directly in containers;
gel concentrate – a concentrated preparation that needs to be mixed with a self-prepared edible base (bread, grain, mixed feed, etc.), then add vegetable oil and flour and spread in places where rodents move;
wax tablets are an ideal option for damp rooms (cellar, garage, garden, etc.), where conventional preparations get wet very quickly and lose their effectiveness. The tablets are treated with wax, so they are not afraid of dampness: they remain effective even in such conditions;
granules are another option for wet areas. Solid granules do not break and are resistant to soaking.

Treatment of the wound

For any injury, it is important to thoroughly rinse the wound to remove as many pathogenic microbes as possible with running water. Before the procedure, you should squeeze out a little blood from the wound; along with it, part of the infected rodent saliva will flow out

Washing the wound is most effective when using laundry soap. The alkali in the product neutralizes the effects of many viruses and bacteria. It is recommended to clean the wound for 15-20 minutes. Deep punctures should be washed with a stream of soapy water using a syringe or syringe.

Superficial scratches and wound edges should be disinfected with 3% hydrogen peroxide or any alcohol solution. After treatment, all that remains is to stick a patch on the damaged area or bandage the wounded area with a sterile bandage with an antiseptic (furacilin).

There is a misconception about the destruction of viruses by cauterizing the bite site. This procedure is painful and does not remove the infection from the wound. The victim receives additional injury in the form of a burn.

A foreign protein that enters the body can cause severe symptoms of irritation:

swelling of the injury site;
severe redness of the bite;
skin rash.

Taking an antihistamine will prevent the body’s protest reaction and improve the victim’s well-being.

How to use Ratobor baits correctly

All preparations are laid out along baseboards, near pipes, near rat and mouse holes - in a word, in those places where rodents most often appear. You need to lay out the bait on some kind of substrate. This could be a sheet of cardboard, tin or plastic lids, small jars or trays with low walls. The distance between the “treats” depends on the room: in a free room, baits can be placed at a distance of 4 m from each other, in a crowded room there should be no more than 2 m between them. The more baits you place, the higher the likelihood that rats will find and try them.

The danger posed by rats is very great, so you need to fight them in the most merciless and effective ways.

Rodents that bite

It is also important to take into account the plot of the dream, since the final interpretation will depend on it:

If the sleeper manages to catch a rodent, the vision promises him great luck, which will help in solving minor difficulties and problems. When the dreamer is just chasing an animal, but cannot catch it, the dream speaks of the danger that awaits him if he does not deal with his enemies.
A dream where a person killed and poisoned rats is considered a favorable sign, because in this way the dream promises him victory over his worst enemies and confidence in his abilities. Such night dreams promise good luck and victory in any situation.

Repellers

How can you scare away mice forever and drive rats out of your home quickly and painlessly? The simplest, most effective way is to buy an ultrasonic repeller. The operating principle of the device is based on the generation of supersonic frequencies, inaudible to the human ear, but painful for rodents. A powerful wave flow irritates the nervous system of creatures. The devices literally drive the animals crazy; they run away from them, freeing up the territory.

Advantages of Ultrasonic Devices

Animals will not die in the house, and your room will not have the sickening stench of decaying corpses.
You will not be afraid that a poisoned individual will become prey for a pet, which could end in tragedy.
The devices are inexpensive and consume no more than 10 W of electricity. They do not need to be checked regularly, the bait changed, or adjusted. The service life of devices, depending on the manufacturer, is about 8-10 years.
The range of repellers is huge. There are models that expel other pests in addition to rodents: insects, snakes, moles, etc.

What do you need to know when buying a repeller? The devices must work constantly, otherwise the rodents may return to their favorable habitat. Supersonic waves are reflected from solid surfaces. When installing the device, there should be no carpets, furniture, partitions, or anything that blocks the sound flow in the path. Household models are designed to work indoors, affecting a distance of up to 20 m. For outdoors and large-scale objects, powerful devices for industrial use are chosen.

Preventive measures

You should take care of the safety of the harvest even before the harvested vegetables are stored:

To block access to the storage unit, cover all ventilation openings and existing windows with fine-mesh metal mesh.
Entrance doors should be covered with sheet iron, preferably on both sides.
In the summer, thoroughly clean the basement, take out the trash, and remove all unnecessary trash.
It is good to seal the cracks in the walls and floors. Ideally, the floor should be concreted.

But these measures are effective only if the walls and floor in the basement are concrete or made of stone and cement mortar. Then rodents will not get into the basement.

Physical and biological methods

How to scare away mice and other rodents from an apartment or country estate?
Of the physical methods, the use of traps and traps is considered effective. Provided that the population of individuals is small. First, a thorough analysis is carried out to help identify habitats, nesting sites, and routes of movement of pests. That's where the fishing gear is placed. Baits are prepared from various products, mainly those that are on hand. These are cereals, grains, sausages. Chicken offal, fried lard, fish, etc. are suitable. The cubs are caught with sticky strips, on which bait is always placed.

How else can you get rid of mice and rats in a private house or apartment? A cat, one or more, will help. Pets are capable of destroying animals in residential premises and in the yard. With their help, it is possible to get rid of the annoying neighborhood forever. But, unfortunately, this method, like other methods of struggle, has its disadvantages:

Not all cats catch rodents. Usually females are willing to catch prey; cats are often lazy and prefer not to hunt.
Cat hair is a strong allergen. In a private estate, the problem is solved simply - the animal is not allowed into the house. This is more difficult to do in an apartment. If there is an allergy, cats are not adopted or the pet is given to other people.

What improvised means do she use in the house? This can be laying out baits with water, to which gypsum with flour has been added, scattering wild rosemary branches on the floor, shelves, repelling the smell. The placement of traps, mechanical, in the old fashioned way, or more advanced ones - electric, is also popular.

Rodenticides

What is the best way to poison pests? Rodenticides will help get rid of pests quickly. Poisonous specialized mixtures can be of organic or synthetic origin, and they have an odor that attracts animals. According to the method of influence there are two types:

a) Fast
. Poisonous repellents for rats and mice, helping to quickly clean up the house. Once in the body, they cause actively developing pathologies, leading to death within 24 hours.

b) Slow (anticoagulants).

They kill slowly, over 3-15 days, even a highly concentrated single dose rarely results in the death of the creature. The active components of the drugs cause blood pathologies and animals slowly die.

When choosing a rodenticide, pay attention to mummifying compounds. After the death of the animal, the body will not decompose, emitting a stench. Over time, it will gradually turn into a mummy.

Important! Before using poisonous drugs, carefully read the instructions, follow safety precautions, and use personal protective equipment.

The best pest control products are sold in our online store

Fighting mice and rats in the house will bring a minimum of hassle if you use repellers and rodenticides from our online store. The site's catalog contains the best products that have been tested and really work. Each unit of production is certified, instructions are attached to it, and a guarantee is given. You no longer need to visit hundreds of stores in search of security devices. Buy insect and animal repellents from us, choose a lot of other products: exterminators, insecticides, auto diagnostic devices.

People often come to us with the request: “Help! Tell me a good remedy for insects, fleas, bedbugs.” Call the toll free number. Our consultants will be happy to tell you about the products and help you make the right choice. We deliver orders throughout Moscow, Moscow Region, and other regions of Russia. When ordering from 4000 rub. free delivery.

Source