People Hate Rats

People hate and fear rats. In a recent questionnaire, rats were the most disliked of 14 common animals listed, and for good reason. Rodents or their parasites carry many diseases, including plague, slmonellosis, leptospirosis, typhus, and others. A plague outbreak occurred in the United States in 1924, and plague carrying rodents are still found in Western States. New construction techniques may exclude the common Norway rat. but may favor population increases of the roof, or plague, rat, which is the more effective carrier of the disease than other pest rat species.

As many as half of the rats sampled in some areas have been able to transmit leptospirosis, a disease affecting pets, livestock, and man. Pest rat and mice help keep the disease present in dogs, cats and livestock, and people can become infected from contact with contaminated pets, water, or surfaces.

Rodents Destroy Our Food

Rodents contaminate far more food than they actually consume. For example, in six months, one pair of mice can produce some 18,000 fecal droppings. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration destroy about 400,0000 tons of food yearly that is contaminated by rodent droppings.

Reproductive Potential

Consider the enormous reproductive potential of rats and mice, as frequently as every three weeks rats can bear 8 to 12 young, and mice 4 to 6. During their average lifespan of one year or less, rats may wean about 20 litters and mice 30 to 40. Since rodents reach sexual maturity 2 to 3 months after birth, mating from a single pair could reach 15,000 in a year's time.

Vision

Rats and mice are said to have poor eyesight. In fact, they have poor vision beyond 3 or 4 feet, but are very sensitive to motion up to 30 to 50 feet. Rats and mice appear to be color blind, but very light-colored or reflective objects may stand out in their environment and cause initial avoidance.

......