| RAT |
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PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Rats will live for 6 to 12 months and are sexually
mature at 2-3 months.
Female rats produce an average of 4-7 litters per year and 8-12 young per
litter.
Rats are nocturnal as a mode of self defense, and usually become active after a
premises have become quiet, or about one 1/2 hour after dusk. When left alone
they will roam around day or night.
The roof rat is also a house rat and may live in trees, shrubs and in vines on
the outside walls of houses.
The Norway rat is the most common rat and occurs practically everywhere.
Because of individual variations, rats often can't be separated by color.
Rats are color blind and have poor vision, but highly developed senses of smell,
taste, hearing and touch.
FEEDING HABITS
Rats are omnivorous but do have preferences. They
prefer seeds, fresh vegetables or fruits.
Norway rats prefer food high in fat content.
Rats will eat anything when they need to including clothing, leather, bone,
lead, and plastic pipes, cement and wood.
Rats will eat their own injured or weak.
NESTING HABITS
Rats prefer nesting areas out of sight and reach of
enemies
Nests can be made up of any kinds of materials but they prefer bits of paper,
rags, burlap, straw, chips or even currency.
AMAZING ABILITIES
Roof rats are agile climbers and can shinny the outside
of 3 inch diameter pipes or any size pipe within three inches of a wall.
Rats are capable of climbing inside of vertical pipes that are 1 1/2 to 4 inches
in diameter.
Norway rats can swim as far as 1/2 mile in open water, dive through water
plumbing traps and travel in sewer lines, even against strong water currents.
Roof rats are capable swimmers, but only swim if necessary.
Rats have excellent balance and can easily scale brick or other rough walls, as
well as travel along power lines and ropes.
Rats are excellent jumpers and are capable of jumping vertically 36 inches and
horizontally 48 inches; they can drop from a height of 50 feet without serious
injury
Since rats can fit through openings that are as small as 1/2 inch in diameter it
is very difficult to rat proof a building.
Norway rats can burrow to a depth of 4 feet.
DISEASE CARRIERS
The roof rat was the common house rat in Europe during
medieval times when outbreaks of the Plague, known as the Black Death, killed
over 25,000,000 people.
They are known to be vectors of the following diseases:
- Murine Typhus Fever
- Weil's Disease
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- Food Poisoning
- Antiviral Infections
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- Rat Bite Fever
- Trichinosis
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ECONOMIC IMPACT
Presence of rodents reduces the rental value of
apartments and stores.
The noises they make as they climb, gnaw, and fight between the walls and floors
of buildings often keep inhabitants from sleeping.
Rats can damage food and property estimated at one billion dollars per year.
Rats can damage electrical wiring, causing short circuits and fires.
TREATMENT
The control of rodents can be widely varied, depending
on the individual situation. Covering holes, filling cracks, baiting or trapping
may be necessary. One of our trained Technicians
will determine the best means of control for each customer.
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