Berks County, Reading Rat Control Situation:
David, Thanks for having such an informative website. We've recently gotten over our second round of rats in the basement. We have had a pest control group helping us, pretty much with bait throughout the basement. It's certainly worked, but boy is it not fun to follow the smell to the dead guy. It seems we have been free from seeing any droppings for a few weeks or any signs of activity. The strange thing is that in the past week we have had hundreds of house flies that we are dealing with in the basement. I'm assuming the problems are related. We've been going down to vacuum all visible flies (every 4-6 hours). Each time we easily find another 20 to suck down. We aren't smelling the familiar smell of a dead rat, is it possible it's there but beyond the stench phase? Any suggestions? The flies aren't congregating in one spott, they tend to hover around the windows. Any chance you service Reading PA? Could really use someone as yourself to complete the inspection of the basement for possible other entry points and removal of any additional insulation that may be harboring feces. Ok, I appreciate any input you could provide.
We have 5 cats, three are usually indoors all the time. Sometimes they bring in a mouse or rat and it gets away. And then the rodents can live in the house for a long time and the cats don't care one little bit unless the rodent just happens to make a dash across the room in broad daylight - and gets spotted. Otherwise, it's home sweet home for the rodents until I snap-trap them into oblivion. I would add that if you know you have mice or rats, deal with it as soon as you can. We had a mouse get up inside our washer and chew through 7 of the little control wires to the control panel, killing the washer and necessitating a $50.00 replacement part, and later causing a flood from a leaky hose that cost me $200.00 to fix. Had we taken care of him earlier this could have all been avoided. I agree with you about glue boards. Seems needlessly inhumane. Just put yourself in the position of the rat: you want to go out quickly or be stuck on a glue board until you starve to death?
Reading Rat Control Tip of The Week
Do Rats Feel Pain?
Rats are one of the few animals with a developed brain and a sense of empathy. When handled with care, they can be playful and tickled. But when handled without compassion or roughly, they showcase a high level of anxiety and express their pain in a special kind of way. This clearly shows that just like every other animal, rats also feel pain.
When it comes to expression, rats express their pain in a special kind of way. They do this by slightly changing their facial appearance and making a grin that clearly shows that they are in discomfort. Apart from this, rats also show that they are in pain by narrowing their eyes, puffing out their cheeks, flattening their ears, and rhythmically increasing the size of their nose.
If you want to know if a rat is in pain or not, you will have to pay attention to its facial expressions. Since they are inaudible animals, waiting to hear them make excruciating sounds is a no-brainer. But with visual clues shared above, you will be able to know when a rat is in pain and when it is not.
Rats are sensible animals with a high level of empathy. Another way you can know when a rat is in pain without actually studying its facial expressions is when you see another rat showing concern for the isolated rat. This behavior in rats is also exhibited when one rat is wounded or ill. In situations like this, other rats will come around the indisposed rat to show their concern.
Having shared this, you can be certain that rats also feel pain. Therefore, if you notice any rat around exhibiting any of the signs above, the rat may be hurt or ill. Also, you need to understand the fact that rats are major carriers of diseases, hence you should avoid having direct contact with them.
