Harris County, Houston Rat Control Situation:
Dear Pest Control Agency, My name is Juan and I am working on my doctoral dissertation in Biology at Rice University, Houston, Texas. I have an undergraduate researcher who helps me with my research, and we both work in the laboratory of Prof. Michael. We have studied rats and mice in Europe, and we use the information to study a number of questions, including how rodent populations are connected between continents or within countries. One part of our work deals with the question of whether rats and mice in the US have developed resistance to rodent poisons, about which little is known. Our hope is that during pest control you will be able to obtain the tail tips (about 1 inch) of rats and mice that can be found at rodent infested sites. These could be collected from dead animals, and of course, we would send you everything you would need (scissors, tubes, gloves, prepaid shipping, etc.). If you decide to help us in our research, we would like to offer you a Domino's giftcard as a thank you for your efforts! We have received a large amount of support from a few pest control agencies so far. It would be wonderful if you would also consider helping us! Attached is a simple spreadsheet where a few details on the sampling are described. We do not need any specific information regarding locations where sampling was done, and no names of owners or of employees, etc. are needed. However, if you would like we would be more than happy to promote your company name in our research paper! Please feel free to contact us by email or phone if you have any other questions or concerns. Thank you so much for your consideration, and I hope to hear from you soon! Sincerely, Juan
Houston Rat Control Tip of The Week
Humane Ways To Kill A Rat
You might be thinking of the best way to get rid of the rats in your home without making them go through prolonged and excruciating pain. There are several ways to get this done, but first, you need to make sure all the possible entry points of rats into your house are sealed. Failure to do this will only make you continue to repeat the whole process of rat removal without getting the desired result.
To humanely kill the rats in your home, you need special rat removal devices like live traps and snap traps. These traps are designed to capture rats without making them suffer or go through pain before dying.
The best part about the use of these traps is that you won't even watch the rat die. All you just have to do is set and bait the trap properly. When you are back to check it, the trap will have caught and killed the rat.
Snap Traps
The use of a snap trap is one of the oldest yet most effective ways of removing rats from homes. This trap is designed in a way that captures the rat by the head and kills it instantly. Apart from being an effective way of trapping rats, setting it up is very easy. All you have to do is bait it using good bait. While the rat is trying to take the bait, the trap will be triggered and the rat will be caught. But this trap will only work when the whole head of the rat is inside the trap.
Live Traps
If you are looking for an alternative to trapping rats humanely without actually killing them, the use of live traps is a good idea. This type of trap is designed to help capture rats without causing them any pain or stress. However, for you to make sure this trapping process is humane, you need to check the trap frequently to avoid starving the rat before actually relocating them.
