Rats Nest
Posted : admin On 04.01.2020RatHow to Manage PestsPests of Homes, Structures, People, and PetsRatsRevised9/11In this Guideline:.Rats are some of the most troublesome and damaging rodents in the United States. They eat and contaminate food, damage structures and property, and transmit parasites and diseases to other animals and humans. Rats live and thrive in a wide variety of climates and conditions and are often found in and around homes and other buildings, on farms, and in gardens and open fields. Identifying Characteristics of Adult Rats.CharacteristicRoof ratNorway ratgeneral appearancesleek, agilelarge, robustcolor of bellygray to whitemostly graybody weight5 to 10 ounces7 to 18 ouncestailextends at least to snout, uniformly dark with fine scalesshorter than body, dark above and pale below, scalyheadpointed muzzleblunt muzzleearslong enough to reach eyes if folded overdon’t reach eyesIDENTIFICATIONPeople don’t often see rats, but signs of their presence are easy to detect. In California, the most troublesome rats are two introduced species, the roof rat and the Norway rat.
It’s important to know which species of rat is present in order to choose effective control strategies.Norway rats, Rattus norvegicus, sometimes called brown or sewer rats, are stocky burrowing rodents that are larger than roof rats. Their are found along building foundations, beneath rubbish or woodpiles, and in moist areas in and around gardens and fields.
Nests can be lined with shredded paper, cloth, or other fibrous material. When Norway rats invade buildings, they usually remain in the basement or ground floor. Norway rats live throughout the 48 contiguous United States. While generally found at lower elevations, this species can occur wherever people live.Roof rats, R. Rattus, sometimes called black rats, are slightly smaller than Norway rats. Unlike Norway rats, their tails are longer than their heads and bodies combined.
Roof rats are agile climbers and usually live and nest above ground in shrubs, trees, and dense vegetation such as ivy. In buildings, they are most often found in enclosed or elevated spaces such as attics, walls, false ceilings, and cabinets. The roof rat has a more limited than the Norway rat, preferring ocean-influenced, warmer climates. In areas where the roof rat occurs, the Norway rat might also be present. If you are unsure of the species, look for rats at night with a bright flashlight, or trap a few. The illustrations above show some of the key physical differences between the two species of rats, while summarizes identifying characteristics.While rats are much larger than the common house mouse or meadow vole, a young rat is occasionally confused with a mouse.
In general, very young rats have large heads and feet in proportion to their bodies, whereas those of are proportionately much smaller. While both rats and mice, rats leave much larger tooth marks than mice do. For additional information on mice, see Pest Notes: and Pest Notes:. How to Spot a Rat InfestationBecause rats are active throughout the year, periodicallycheck for signs of their presence. Once rats have invaded yourgarden or landscaping, unless your house is truly rodent proof,it is only a matter of time before you find evidence of them indoors.Experience has shown it is less time consuming to control rodentsbefore their numbers get too high, and fewer traps and less baitwill be required if control is started early.Inspect your yard and home thoroughly. Pets and rat controlMany of the methods and materials used to control rats can affect pets as well. All rodent baits are toxic to dogs and cats, so be cautious when using these products.
Because anticoagulants are cumulative and slow acting to various degrees, depending on whether it is multiple or single feeding, dead rats can contain several lethal doses of toxicant, and secondary poisoning of pets and wildlife is possible if they eat several rat carcasses over a few days. While this secondary poisoning is possible, it isn’t common with the first-generation anticoagulants. Most fatalities in pets involve dogs and are due to the animal eating the bait directly (primary poisoning) or a combination of direct bait consumption and secondary poisoning. Concerns about both primary and second hazards of second-generation anticoagulant baits led the EPA to restrict their retail sale in mid-2011, making them available only to agricultural users and professional pest control personnel. When such baits are in use, extra caution is needed, as exposure to even a single dead rodent might be enough to poison a pet.The best precaution is to keep pets away from bait and dead or dying rodents. Dispose of dead rodents by burying them or by placing them in a sealed plastic bag and putting them in the trash.
Do not handle them with bare hands. Read all label directions on the bait and place it only in areas that are specified on the label. Put bait in locations out of the reach of children, pets, domestic animals, and nontarget wildlife or in tamper-resistant bait stations as required by the product label.
In many cases, bait stations must be resistant to destruction by dogs and by children younger than 6 years old and must be constructed in a manner that prevents a child from reaching into the bait compartments and getting the bait. If bait can be shaken from stations when lifted or tipped, stations must be secured or otherwise immobilized.
As you would with any poison, take care to ensure safety to children and pets by limiting their access to the bait. Clearly label all bait stations with appropriate warnings, and store unused bait in a locked cabinet or another area inaccessible to children and domestic animals.Use as many traps as are practical so trapping time will be short and decisive.
A dozen or more traps for a heavily infested home might be necessary. Place rat traps about 10 to 20 feet apart. If a rat sets off a trap without getting caught, it will be very difficult to catch the rat with a trap again. To reduce the likelihood of “trap shyness,” one strategy is to leave traps baited but unset until the bait has been taken overnight.
To avoid using too few traps, if bait it taken from all traps, double the number of baited traps exposed, and keep doing so until some traps remain with bait untaken; then bait and set all traps. Electrocution TrapsTraps that kill rats by electrocution (e.g., Rat Zapper or Victor Electronic traps) are considerably more expensive than other traps, but some homeowners, managers of commercial buildings, and pest control companies have found them to provide good results. As with snap traps, for existing rodent populations it’s important to use enough traps to achieve control in a timely manner. These traps need to be checked frequently, and dead rodents should be removed for disposal.Don’t touch rodents with your bare hands, and wash thoroughly after handling traps. Use disposable gloves to handle dead rodents. Dispose of dead rats by burying them or by placing them in a sealed plastic bag and putting them in the trash.
Glue BoardsGlue traps, which work on the same principle as flypaper, aren’t recommended for controlling rats, as they are much less effective for rats than for mice. A major drawback with glue boards and other live-catch traps is the trapped rat might not die quickly, and you will need to kill it by delivering a sharp blow to the base of the skull using a sturdy rod or stick. Rats caught in glue traps can struggle for quite some time, often dragging the trap as they try to escape. When used indoors, cats and dogs can get into the glue and track it around the house; outdoors, glue traps can capture lizards, birds, and other nontarget wildlife. Live TrapsLive traps aren’t preferred, because trapped rats must be either humanely killed or released elsewhere. Releasing rats outdoors isn’t recommended, as they can cause health concerns to people, pets, and other domestic animals. Because neither the roof rat nor the Norway rat is native to the United States, their presence in the wild is very detrimental to native ecosystems.
They have been known to decimate some bird populations. Rodenticides (Toxic Baits)While trapping is generally recommended for controlling rats indoors, when the number of rats around a building is high, you might need to use toxic baits to achieve adequate control, especially if there is a continuous reinfestation from surrounding areas. If this is the case, consider hiring a licensed pest control applicator who is trained to use rodenticides safely.Baits to control rodents are formulated with an attractant (generally food) and a rodenticide (toxin). Changes in rodenticide regulations went into effect in mid-2011 in an effort to prevent rodenticide hazards to wildlife and pets and to reduce accidental exposure to children. These federal EPA restrictions now permit manufacturers to produce, for sale to the general public, only wax block, gel, or paste rat and mouse baits that are packaged in ready-to-use, disposable bait stations. Agricultural producers and professional pest control personnel are able to obtain more types of rodenticides in various formulations, some of which are restricted use pesticides.
Anticoagulant RodenticidesAnticoagulants are blood-thinning drugs that cause an animal’s blood to lose the ability to clot, damaging capillaries and resulting in internal bleeding that is fatal. These active ingredients are used at very low levels and the onset of symptoms is delayed for several days, so the rodent doesn’t avoid the bait because of its taste or the onset of illness.
When prepared with good-quality cereals and other ingredients, anticoagulant baits provide good to excellent control when baits are fresh and when placed in suitable locations so as to attract rats.The various anticoagulant active ingredients currently registered for use against rats in California are listed in. Anticoagulants fall into two groups—the older “first-generation” compounds such as warfarin, chlorophacinone, and diphacinone, which require a rodent to consume multiple doses over a period of several days; and the newer “second-generation” compounds such as brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum, and difethialone, which can be fatal after a single feeding. Since not all rats will consume bait when it first becomes available, bait application directions typically recommend providing an uninterrupted supply of bait for at least 10 or 15 days or until evidence of rodent activity ceases. A rodent feeding on anticoagulant bait usually won’t die until 2 to 6 days following ingestion of a lethal dose. This slow action is a safety advantage, allowing accidental poisoning to be treated before serious illness occurs.The recommended strategy of bait application, which is often needed for optimum rodent control, can result in a rodent ingesting an overdose of the second-generation anticoagulants, which are more effective in part because they persist longer in the rodent’s body than do the first-generation anticoagulants. Thus, they also have the potential to be hazardous to predators and scavengers, which may consume poisoned rodents. This secondary hazard from anticoagulants, as well as the primary hazard of nontarget animals directly ingesting rodent baits, is substantially reduced when baits are applied and used properly, according to label directions.
Anticoagulant rodenticides for rat control registered for use in California. First-generation anticoagulantsCommon nameExample products (trade names).chlorophacinoneJ.T. Eaton AC, RozoldiphacinoneRamik, SierrawarfarinKaput, RodexSecond-generation anticoagulantsCommon nameExample products (trade names).brodifacoumFinal, Havoc, Jaguar, TalonbromadioloneBootHill, Contrac, Hawk, MakidifenacoumDi-KilldifethialoneGeneration, Hombre.Always check the label for the active ingredient. The same or similar trade names may be used for products with different active ingredients.Table 3.
Other rodenticides for house mouse control registered for use in California. Common nameExample products (trade names).bromethalinAssault, Gunslinger, RampagecholecalciferolAgrid3, Quintox, Terad3zinc phosphideEraze, Prozap, ZP.Always check the label for the active ingredient. The same or similar trade names may be used for products with different active ingredients.Because of the potentially greater hazard of second-generation anticoagulants to children and household pets, these active ingredients are no longer allowed to be manufactured for sale to the general public. Homeowners will be able to purchase only prepackaged, ready-to-use bait stations containing the first-generation anticoagulants (i.e., warfarin, chlorophacinone, or diphacinone) or the nonanticoagulants bromethalin or cholecalciferol. The second-generation anticoagulants (i.e., brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum, and difethialone) have never been approved for use in field situations or for use against ground squirrels, meadow mice ( Microtus), pocket gophers, or any other rodents except house mice, Norway rats, and roof rats. Some of the second-generation rodenticides now labeled for use by only by agricultural producers may be restricted to applications in and around agricultural buildings.Anticoagulants have the same effect on nearly all warm-blooded animals, but the sensitivity to these toxicants varies among species with larger animals generally requiring a larger dose of toxicant than smaller animals.
Dogs are more susceptible to anticoagulant poisoning than are many other mammals, and small to medium-sized dogs that seek out and consume rodents or rodent carcasses could be at greatest risk. Symptoms of anticoagulant poisoning in mammals include lethargy, loss of color in soft tissues such as the lips and gums, and bleeding from the mouth, nose, or intestinal tract. Vitamin K1 is the antidote for anticoagulant rodenticides, although in cases of severe poisoning, whole blood transfusion is also used. (See.) Other RodenticidesThree other active ingredients are registered and used as rodenticides to control rats and house mice in California: bromethalin, cholecalciferol, and zinc phosphide. (See.) Although not anticoagulants, application directions for bromethalin and cholecalciferol are somewhat similar to those for anticoagulant rodenticides. These two materials are formulated to serve as chronic rodenticides so that rats will have the opportunity to feed on exposed baits one or more times over a period of one to several days. Bait acceptance is generally good when fresh, well-formulated products are used.Zinc phosphide differs in that it is an acute toxicant that causes death of a rodent within several hours after a lethal dose is ingested.
Because zinc phosphide baits often require prebaiting to get adequate bait acceptance (offering rats similar but nontoxic bait before applying the zinc phosphide bait), it’s not commonly used against rats and is infrequently available to consumers. An advantage of zinc phosphide bait is its ability to achieve a comparatively quick reduction of a rat population, and for this reason pest control personnel and agricultural producers sometimes favor it.While risk of secondary poisoning to predators and scavengers is low because of the mode of action of these three rodenticides, a primary hazard to nontarget animals (i.e., pets, domestic animals, and wildlife) that may consume rodent baits can occur when required precautions regarding bait placement aren’t followed. Bait Placement and Bait StationsAll rodenticide baits must be used carefully according to the label directions, which have become more specific and more restrictive.
Some baits must be contained within for all outdoor, above-ground applications. In addition to increasing the safety of the bait, bait stations also help the rats feel secure while feeding. Place all bait stations in rat travel ways or near their burrows and harborage.
Don’t expect rats to go out of their way to find the bait. For Norway rats, place bait stations near rodent burrows or suspected nest sites, against walls, or along travel routes.
For roof rats, place baits in elevated locations, such as in the crotch of a tree, on top of a fence, or high in a vine. If you place bait stations above ground level, take care that they are securely fastened and won’t fall to the ground where children or pets could find them. Because rats often are suspicious of new or unfamiliar objects, it might take several days for them to enter and feed in bait stations.Where it is impossible to exclude rodents from structures, rat control can be accomplished by establishing permanent bait stations in buildings and around the perimeters of buildings. Place fresh bait in these stations to control invading rats before populations become established. For best results, make sure there is a continuous supply of bait until feeding stops. With the first-generation anticoagulant baits, it usually takes 5 or more days, once the rats start feeding, for them to die. Check bait stations regularly and replace bait if it gets old or moldy, because rats won’t eat stale bait.Baits and bait stations now have more restrictive regulations regarding locations for use.
Different designs of commercially manufactured bait stations may be required, depending on the particular situation and the bait formulation used. For example, some labels state “tamper-resistant bait stations must be used if children, pets, nontarget mammals, or birds may access the bait.” Certain prepackaged bait stations intended for sale to homeowners can be used only inside structures and are prohibited for use in any area accessible to pets or outdoors. Other baits or bait stations may also be used around the periphery of structures or within 50 feet of a structure.
Because rats may not travel far from their shelter to find food, many product labels suggest making bait placements at 10- to 30-foot intervals. Place bait boxes next to walls (with the openings close to the wall) or in other places where rats are active. In all cases, the user must follow label directions.Remove and properly dispose of all uneaten bait at the end of a control program. In addition, it’s wise to collect and properly dispose of any dead rodents found during the course of a rodenticide application. You can pick them up using a sturdy plastic bag inverted on your hand, seal them in the bag for disposal with household garbage, or bury them in a location where pets or scavengers won’t easily dig them up.
Other Control MethodsRats are wary animals, easily frightened by unfamiliar or strange noises. However, they quickly become accustomed to repeated sounds, making the use of frightening devices—including high frequency and ultrasonic sounds—ineffective for controlling rats in homes and gardens.Rats have an initial aversion to some odors and tastes, but no repellents have been found to solve a rat problem for more than a very short time.
There are no truly effective rat repellents registered for use in California.Smoke or gas cartridges are registered and sold for controlling burrowing rodents. When placed into the burrows and ignited, these cartridges produce toxic and suffocating smoke and gases. Because Norway rat burrows can extend beneath a residence and have several open entrances, toxic gases can permeate the dwelling. For this reason and because some fire hazard is associated with their use, smoke and gas cartridges aren’t recommended for rat control around homes.Norway rats can be drowned or flushed from their burrows by flooding them with water from a garden hose and then closing the holes with soil.Predators, especially cats and owls, eat rats and mice. Some house cats don’t have the ability or inclination to prey on adult Norway rats.
Often, predators aren’t able to keep rodent numbers below levels that are acceptable to most people. Further, pet food can serve as an attractant and provide a continuous food supply to rats and mice in suburban environments.REFERENCESCorrigan, R. Rats and mice. Moreland, and S.
The Mallis Handbook of Pest Control, 10th ed. Cleveland: GIE Publications pp. 11–119.Marsh, R.
Hygnstrom, R. Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage, Vol. Lincoln: Univ. B.125–132.Salmon, T.
Oakland: Univ. 7439.Salmon, T. Whisson, and R. 2006., 2nd ed. Oakland: Univ.
21385.Timm, R. Hygnstrom, R. Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage, Vol. Lincoln: Univ. B.105–120.Timm, R.
Rats Nest Campground
Oakland: Univ. PUBLICATION INFORMATION.
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