Pima County, Tucson Rat Control Situation:
David, Can you please help me with some advise and maybe a referral for a local professional in Tucson AZ? I live in a mobile home and hear rats in the walls and ceiling at different time including during the night. I had a professional general contractor put very fine metal chicken wire called "hardware cloth" all around the bottom of my mobile from the edge to the ground attached to the stackered white bricks with screw drilled into them. There might be some very small gaps in different places, but no sign of rats getting in like black marks from their fur, rat droppings or urine stains any where outside. I even put screening around the the very small roof vents. I also previously had a friend come by who is in the pest control business and he looked all around the outside and just could not find where the rats are coming in at. I was using Decon for about 7 or 8 months, but now switched to a very strong blocks of rat poison from a local Do-it-Yourself Pest Control store. I always put the poison out under a small hole under the very fine metal hardware cloth in two different places and then block the hole off with a brick. I bought a 9 pound bucket for $39 and they already ate about 2 1/2 to nearly 3 pounds of it and I am still hearing them. *** Why is the strong blocks of poison not working, do they get amunity to it? Last year I even brought Rid-Ex Plus that turns your whole house wiring into a sound they do not like. It worked for a while, but not does not seem to affect them at all. It comes on for 3 minutes and then shuts of for 3 minutes (so they do not get use to the sound waves) and keeps repeating the cycle 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
How in the rats world are they still getting in my walls and ceilings voids? Can the rats be possibly tunneling or travleing through the underground the sewer pipes? *** Why is the strong poison not working? Do the rats get amunity to it after eating it for awhile? *** If there are dozens of them, would I not at least see one outside once in awhile or some signs of them? Where is there food supply? A few doors down are a few fruit trees, but would they not move closer to them? A tree right next to my place has these really small berries, could that be what they are eating? Should I move out for a while and not use any air conditioning, so the walls will get to hot for them to live in? I am at wits end and really need your advise and/or a professional to probably come out and help me get rid of these rats.
Tucson Rat Control Tip of The Week
Can A Rat Hurt A Human?
Rodents are animals that do not represent a direct threat to people. Although they are intelligent, they do not harm for pleasure. Most of the time, they are just bacteria carriers, but they do not spread them with the intention of starting a pandemic. The cases in which rats have harmed children, might have been because at that moment their instinct was activated to survive. Most houses that are invaded by this urban plague is because they do not take necessary preventive measures and rats have easy access to any corner of the house.
Rats vs. people
Man is surrounded by animals that are predators, so over the years, he decided to protect himself and shelter in homes. Some animals are attracted to find refuge in these homes due to the same necessity of protection and food that humans have. Rodents and people in the same house are a bad combination because of the structural and health damage that rodents can cause.
Can a rat make me sick?
Rats are animals whose excrement, urine, and saliva can contain a great number of bacteria damaging for people's health. Among the most well-known diseases are salmonellosis, leptospirosis, and hepatitis. The most common wounds caused by rodents are bites and scratches. An open and deep wound caused by rodents that come in contact with fluid from a rat will be an open door for microorganisms to spread into the bloodstream causing systemic infections that can be severe and even cause death.
In summary, it can be said that rats can hurt humans through infections by having contact with their fluids or can accidently cause scratches and bites through measures of self-defense. On the other hand, people that have a phobia of these little animals may have psychological damage when coming in contact with them.