Palm Beach County, Boca Raton Rat Control Situation:
Hello: I just read the information from your email. I recently moved into an actually nice home in the Boca Raton area; however the backyard is a woody area and cross from it is the swamp. The owners of the home told me they had a cat so they never saw a rat except what the cat bought in after killing it. When I moved in which was 3 weeks ago, I started to experience rats in the kitchen, saw droppings all over my stove area. I became overwhelmed and my two children (girls) are now petrified. The owner reluctantly paid for an exterminator because they swore they never had a problem. When the exterminator came out they did a walk through. In the attic rat droppings everywhere, in the downstairs closet rat droppings and in the garage. The exterminator sealed up two openings from the attic, and I was told a tree need to cut down because that was how they were getting in, but in the closet downstairs they seem to have inhabit that area. The exterminator wanted me to remove the poison that was put down and they set traps in all 3 areas mentioned. Do you think this will rid the problem or do I need to relocate?
Hi David - I'm in Boca Raton FL and you don't have anyone here!!! I've had mice in my attic since we built our house - 10 yrs ago. I've snap trapped probably over 100 over the years, and again, now that its getting cold here, we hear the scratching at night. I've also used poison blocks that I scatter throughout the attic. I find them scrivelled up sometimes, but with blown in insulation it is hard to find their paths etc. I've got a stone veneer which results in lots of gaps where the top of the wall meets the metal soffit, so I'm wondering how to proceed on sealing that up? Any help you can suggest would be much appreciated. Thanks Bob
Boca Raton Rat Control Tip of The Week
What Are Some Symptoms Of Rat Diseases In Humans?
Although rat-transmitted infections can have different causes, they usually have common symptoms. The difference in each infected person will depend on the type of condition, mode of transmission, and the urgency with which treatment has been sought.
From the moment we confirm the presence of rats in our home, it is essential to get rid of these rodents before they start filling the house with unpleasant smells and dangerous secretions full of bacteria and infections that are harmful to our health.
Common Symptoms
Some of these common symptoms can be general malaise, fever, dizziness, nausea, headache, chills, and muscle pain, among others. However, depending on the type of infection or disease, bacteria, or virus, the symptoms can be even more severe and need more drastic treatment.
Among the most common diseases caused by rats, we have:- Tularemia: an infection that can cause excessive sweating, eye irritation, joint stiffness, skin rash, and weight loss.
- Leptospirosis: an illness whose symptoms include nausea, fever, body pain, and irritation. This infection can become complicated, causing Weil's disease, meningitis, and pulmonary hemorrhage.
- Hantavirus: an infection whose most common symptoms vary from fever, chills, dizziness, pain throughout the body, and digestive problems.
- Bubonic Plague: known as the Black Death, it is a high-risk bacterial disease that can cause death. It has symptoms such as coughing up blood, diarrhea, vomiting, and delirium.
- Salmonellosis: an infectious disease whose symptoms include vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, dehydration, and blood in the stool.
- Typhus: a high-risk infectious disease that includes body pain, rash, cough, and vomiting amongst its symptoms.
Each of these infectious diseases can be contracted in different ways, either through direct contact with some contaminated element, through an open cut that has come into contact with rat secretions, or through a rodent bite. The latter could be one of the most worrisome, since this way it is much easier for the infection to enter the body.
