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
What Are Possible Diseases Rats Can Carry?
Apart from causing severe damage to the structure of houses, rats are major carriers of life-threatening diseases. This simply shows how important it is for you to remove them from your home and make sure they don't find their way back.
Disease transmission from rats to humans can occur through several routes. These include;- Human exposure to wastes of rats such as feces, saliva, nesting materials, and urine while handling or removing them from homes.
- Bites from rats that are infected.
- Unsafe handling of rats (touching of rats without wearing gloves) and eating food that is contaminated with rat feces, urine, or saliva.
Diseases can be transmitted from rats through any of the above means. This clearly shows that if you have rats running around your home, you are at a high risk of getting infected. The following are some of the possible diseases rats can carry.
1. Hantavirus
This particular disease is one of the most life-threatening diseases that rats carry. Currently, Hantavirus is yet to have a known cure, vaccine, or treatment. Some of the symptoms of this particular disease include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea.
2. Salmonella
This particular disease is a bacterial infection carried in the digestive tracts of rats. When they pass feces, it usually contains a large proportion of this bacteria. If by mistake you consume any food substances that are contaminated with this bacteria, you might contract Salmonella. Some of the symptoms of this disease include diarrhea, vomiting, fever, chills, nausea, and abdominal cramps.
3. Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus
This disease is another life-threatening disease that rats transmit to humans when there is contact. LCMV is capable of causing encephalitis and meningitis if not quickly managed at its early phase.
4. Rat-bite Fever
Unlike other types of diseases, rat-bite fever is only transmitted when a rat bites you. The bacteria of this disease is found in the saliva of rats. The symptoms of this infection include high fever, muscle pain, headaches, and skin rash.