Middlesex County, Lowell Rat Control Situation:
I've been dealing with rats for about 2 years now. We have a crawl Space and it seems as though no matter what we do we just don't have any luck. The rats are burrowing in under the house and no matter what we close off or seal they just dig. I now have an empty house next door to me (with a crawl space and it's gotten really bad) they are now commuting to my house. We've had poison and every other lame attempt to kill the rodents but with a crawl space it's hard to catch and seal off everything. As of 2 days ago I started hearing scratching along the floor in one particular area and it's driving me insane. I feel dirty and scared all at the same time. Can you please recommend someone in my area? Everyone is scared to crawl under my house including my husband. We're very clean people, we do have a house cat but no dogs. I'm in Lowell MA and I am getting so desperate.
Hello my names Vanessa I think I have a rat living under my tub we've heard it chewing on everything in the sub floor we put a wooden trap in my vents where I seen it and it carried the trap off I called a pest control place today that told me to try glue traps and bar bait I really don't know what to do so any insight would be greatly appreciated Can you advise which is the best way to get rid of rats (well we think hey are rats in our attic) the environmental health people just keep coming out and putting poison down, but it doesn't seem to make any difference and infact makes the noise even worse.
Lowell Rat Control Tip of The Week
Can A Rat Have Rabies?
Rats have powerful bites:
Rats can have very powerful bites and are capable of damaging the skin quickly. A rat can bite through cinderblocks to get into an area if it needs to. Rats could bite through clothing or manage to break the skin even unintentionally with a very quick bite. Handling rats with care or using heavy gloves is recommended if you have to remove one or relocate it. It is ultimately best if you avoid handling rats whenever possible.
Many people are bitten each year with low rates of infection:
Rats bite over 50,000 people in the USA each year. Rabies vaccine shots are very rarely delivered in these cases and the risk for other types of diseases that rats carry can be far greater. Going to see a doctor about a rat bite can be wise if you are starting to feel some of the secondary symptoms or it looks infected.
Rats do spread disease:
Rats do spread a series of diseases including rat-bite fever. It can be transmitted through a bite or through pets. Rabies can be a deadly disease but most of the diseases that rats pass on are only able to cause the chance for fever and infection which carry lower rates of mortality.
Other animals can be much riskier to receive bites from:
If you are bitten by other animals like raccoons, coyotes, woodchucks, or skunks, this will give you a much riskier chance of receiving something like rabies. When bitten by a rat, you should be concerned but you may not have to run to get the bite checked out with the same urgency.
The main theory of low rabies cases:
A rat would have to survive a bite from a predator in order to become a carrier of rabies. As coyotes and larger animals will be likely to kill a rat in an attack, this leads to the chance of rats not being able to spread rabies at all.
