Dealing With Household Pets – Rats And Mice?

There are lots of people who shiver at the thought of ever having a problem related to a mouse or rat, and yet if only they knew how prolific these pests really are.

The most common rodents that are found today tend to be the common house mouse and the brown rat. The rat that is known to spread the most disease (the black or ships rat) is now not widespread as in previous generations.

Fortunately as with most things in life research has led to better and products to help rodent control so they are in most places not so much of a severe problem any more.

Many people use pest control products off the shelf but some like to try their own DIY pest control, this is often done by placing traps to catch the rat or mouse, or even poisons.

Rats have been identified as carriers for a number of diseases and are most commonly known as being the source of the bubonic plague which caused so much disease and death over the centuries. Today this is not an issue and some people even keep pet rats.

Thankfully the disease is now eradicated but there are some parts of the world where it is still present. It is believed to have come from fleas on the black rat that carried it thankfully today there is a reduced risk of the plague around the world, but none the less these visitors are definitely not welcomed in most houses or food establishments.

The biggest risk of disease in reality is to people that work or spend a lot of time in water i.e. sewer workers, water sport enthusiasts and even trainee army and sea cadets, who go on training weekends running through still water or ponds. They will be more prone to the risk of Weil’s disease which is carried in around 70% of rats.

The risk to the home is not restricted to disease however, as damage to the home can be considerable as these rodents have incisor teeth that do not stop growing, so to wear them down they will chew on anything.

Mice can also produce huge numbers of offspring and produce even more if the conditions are ideal, one pair could produce 2,000 young per year so take action early as these pests are a lot harder to eradicate once established so sorting the problem as soon as possible is highly advised.