What is rodent?
Rodent is characterized by single pair of inscisor teeth on each jaw and by absence canine teeth. A rodent usually have tail with fine scales and few hairs.
Problems
-Spreading diseases
A rodent usually spreading serious disease such as leptospirosis, rickettsialpox and many more
-Carry fleas
Usually a rodent always carry fleas inside its fur and potentially spread disease such as plague
Consume
-Consume and contaminate
Rodents consume or contaminate about 20% of worlds food supply
-Gnaw
Rodents usually gnaw expensive structural damage, start fires if they gnaw on electrical wires
-Great deal of anxiety for occupants (people and pets) of infested buildings.
-Pose serious risks for food facilities.
Single rodent can cause fines, poor inspection scores, disgruntled employees and lost business
Rodents is members of Rodentia, family Muridae
Rodents live in close proximity to humans and eat the same food as we do (commensal)
Rodents also destroy property, frighten people & compete with human for food
Rats plague many store owners and farmers
Undesirable in feed and seed stores because destroy the seed, corn etc
Undesirable in poultry houses and bird farms
Destroy & contaminate structure as well as harm young birds and chicks.
They destroy 1/3 of entire harvest in some areas of the world
Rats
- Sensory organs
- Long mustache and other fine hairs on their body is sensitive.
- Smelling organs
- They have very sharp smelling organs
- They leave special odour such as urine and genital fluid as movement guide
- Hearing
- Detect sound up to 100kHz
- House rats - 90kHz
- Rats are afraid of loud noise
- Vision
- Night vision
- High sensivity and can see as far as 15m
- Taste
- Very good tasting organ
- Have the ability to differentiate a plain bate and a poisonous bate
- Physical abilities
- Good swimmer and diver
- Can swim up to 1.4km/h
- Can climb anywhere
- Can fall from 15 feet without injury
- Can balance really good
Types of rats
- Norway Rats (Rattus Norvegicus)
- Brown or sewer rats
- Live in the burrows in building foundations, beneath rubbish or woodpiles, moist areas in and around gardens or fields.
- Nest may be lined with shredded paper, cloth or other fibrous material
- When they invade buildings, they usually remain in the basement or ground floor
- Roof Rats (Rattus Rattus)
- Black rats
- Smaller than Norway Rats
- Very agile climbers and usually live and nest above ground in shrubs, trees and dense vegetation such as ivy
- In buildings can be found in enclosed or elevated spaces in attics, walls, false ceilings and cabinets and prefer ocean-influenced, warmer climates
- House Mice (Mus Musculus)
- A domestic house moce
- Live in variety conditions in and around homes/farms
- Their feces which contain bacterium that causes food poisoning (salmonellosis) contaminate food preparation surfaces.
- Damage to structures and property because of constant gnawing.
Signs of Rats Presence
- Feces
- Footprints
- Runway
- Smears
- Bitemarks
- Burrows
- Smell
- Urine
- Live rats
- Carcass
- Nest
Rats play an important role as host for certain infectious diseases (directly or indirectly)
- Directly
- Carry germs inside body such as bacilli, spirochaetes, rickettsia, viruses or nematodes
- Indirectly
- Host for fleas, mice etc
Dangerous disease that can be related to rodents such as Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, Haemorrahagic Fever, Leptospirosis, Human Lymphocytic Choriomeningtis, Plague, Rat-Bite Fever, Salmonellosis and Murine Typhus
Rodent Control Measures
- Eliminating sources of food
- Eliminating breeding and nesting places
- Rat-proofing buildings and other structures
- Killing them
