Earth Guard's Blog

Rat and mice infestations continue to be a huge problem here in Northern California and throughout our Sacramento pest control region, due in large part to our recent mild winters and all the rainy, cold weather we’ve been having. In fact, there was an article in today’s Sacramento Bee about mice infestations plaguing our region. But rodent problems are not limited to our neighborhood. Here’s an article about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s seizure of 1,500 cases of food stored in a Wisconsin warehouse due to rodent infestation—include gnawing of human and animal food packages. http://www.pctonline.com/FDA-seize-warehouse.aspx

Check out this new video from the EPA Pesticide Program. It’s disgusting but sort of funny at the same time!

New Public Service Announcement on Rodent Management

Calls have been pouring into our Sacramento pest control office, with homeowners and business owners reporting that, suddenly, rats have moved into their attics and garages.

 Now rat problems always grow worse during our chilly, rainy Sacramento winters, because, like us, the rats are looking for a cozy, dry place indoors where they can build nests and have babies… lots and lots of babies—three to five litters per year, and as many as eight rat pups per litter!

 But this year we’re seeing something a little different: The rats our expert pest control technicians are pulling out of the traps they place are huge… some of them nearly a foot-and-a-half long, measuring both body and tail.

What could be creating this bumper crop of plus-size rats? People pouring multi-vitamins down the kitchen sink? Radiation from so many people constantly using their cell phones?

 No, far from being a plot line from an upcoming sci-fi movie, the fat and happy rats we’re seeing are simply the products of a series of fairly mild winters in the Sacramento region. Whereas in a normal winter, a large proportion of rats naturally succumb to cold, exposure and scarcity of food, in a mild winter, more rats live to see the spring. A rat whose normal life span might be two years may live to be three, growing correspondingly larger with age. Foods that rats like, such as seeds and grains, are more abundant during mild years, so the surviving rats get plenty to eat.

There are numerous examples of mild winters leading to a boom in rat populations. In 2002, the city of Boston was overrun with rats; thanks to a series of mild New England winters, instead of some 30 percent of rats dying off in frigid cold, only about 5 percent succumbed, according to the Boston Phoenix newspaper (http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/02194425.htm).

A 2009 article in the UK Guardian newspaper reports the worst rat infestation in 30 years, due to a run of mild winters, and warns consumers that the overpopulation of rats, combined with a bumper wheat crop could increase the danger of rodent droppings in whole-grain breads. Foods made with whole grain flour were more susceptible to rat droppings, the article stated, because they are less processed than goods made with white flour.

 Perhaps the most amusing—if alarming—example of rats gone wild was the 2002 Los Angeles Times article reporting that rats seemed drawn to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. One well-to-do Beverly Hills doctor and his party guests were horrified to discover three rats helping themselves to his outdoor buffet. Just a few days later, on a warm Saturday afternoon, the physician found five rats swimming in his marble pool. The culprit: several mild Southern California winters in a row, coupled with near-drought conditions (similar to recent climate conditions in our Sacramento region) that drove the rats from fields and vacant lots into the lush, well-watered gardens and patios of upscale L.A. (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/17/us/up-down-in-and-out-in-beverly-hills-rats.html?pagewanted=1)

While such tales may make us laugh, the fact is that rats pose a danger to our homes, families and businesses and to the public health. In addition to carrying diseases and contaminating foodstuffs, rats pose a fire hazard due to their constant gnawing.

Because their four long incisor teeth grow very rapidly and continually throughout the rats’ lifespan, they must constantly gnaw to keep the teeth worn down (http://www.ratbehavior.org/Teeth.htm). If they were to stop, their long, sharp front teeth would grow in spirals and impale them. Among rats’ favorite teething toys appear to be electrical wires, telephone wires, satellite and cable TV wiring and alarm-system wires—at best a nuisance or a repair bill, at worst a fire that destroys a home or place of business.

Rat infestations are a stubborn pest control problem best left to licensed and trained pest control professionals. To learn more about rats and other rodents and how to prevent infestations, read our earlier blog post at http://earthguardpest.com/blog/?p=21 or give us a call at 916-457-7605!

From PCT Online, November 2009:

“In May, a small group of professionals from around the country met the “locals” from one of the toughest rodent environments — New York City. Here’s a bit of what they learned…

“New York City was established in 1625 as New Amsterdam. No one knows for certain when the rat arrived thereafter, but estimates place it at perhaps 150 years later. Now, the problems associated with keeping rat populations low in New York City are directly related to New York’s human population….

“So, how will New Yorkers manage this formidable pest within the constraints of this complex city? The cold, hard truth is, in spite of the best efforts of NYC pest professionals, the Norway rat is likely to persist there in the shadows and underfoot, out of sight and mind to most except those that seek it out. They’ve had more than two centuries and hundreds of generations surviving and adapting to life in the Big Apple. In fact, it’s fair to say that most rats in New York City are not killed by man. Most die from stress caused by competition for food and territory among their own kind….”  Read more at: http://www.pctonline.com/Article.aspx?article_id=42946

As the cool weather approaches, so does the likelihood that rodents will be seeking warm nesting sites in the attics, garages and foundations of our homes and commercial buildings. In fact, some of our customers who live near wildfire areas have experienced an unseasonably early influx of these critters, driven from woods and fields by the smoke and flames.

The two most common rodent invaders are mice and rats.

In our region of Central-Northern California, the two most common species of pest rats are the roof rat (Rattus rattus) and the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus), neither of which are native to California but originated in the Far East and spread across the globe centuries ago. The roof rat is the smaller of the two, averaging 5 to 10 ounces in weight, gray to white in color, with a pointed snout, long ears and a black tail as long as its body. The Norway rat is stockier, weighing 7 to 18 ounces, grayish in color, and with shorter ears and tail than the roof rat.

The roof rat is a good climber, nests in trees and dense shrubs, and may take up housekeeping in your attic, the space above dropped ceilings or even in high cabinets. The Norway rat is a burrower and indoors usually sticks to basements or ground floor spaces. You may spot its nest lined with shredded paper, fabric or other fibrous materials.

Although both these types of rat are common in our region, and highly adapted to residential neighborhoods and urban environs, our Earth Guard customers complain most frequently of the roof rat.

Sometimes depicted as funny and cute in popular media such as the Disney-Pixar movie “Ratatouille,” in fact Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus pose serious health and safety problems for home- and business owners. Rats eat and contaminate human and animal food and whatever container or packaging it is stored in; they gnaw on and ruin wooden doors and cabinets, chew through electrical wires and shred insulation to use for their nests. One of our customers recently had to place a service call to her security alarm company when a sensor stopped working; the mystified technician finally found a place in the attic where a rat had chewed through the alarm system wiring.

Rats also carry diseases such as murine typhus, leptospirosis, trichinosis, salmonellosis (food poisoning), ratbite fever and even plague that can be transmitted to humans and other animals.

The first signs of a rat infestation may appear in your yard or garden before the critters have moved indoors. Once they move into your yard, they will eventually move inside, so it’s preferable to catch them early. Common signs of rat activity outdoors include:

• Droppings near pet food containers or dishes or recycling bins;
• Nest materials in wood piles or brush piles;
• Burrows near compost heaps or garbage containers;
• Signs of digging under fences, sheds or doghouses;
• The sight of a rat traveling utility lines or fence tops at dusk;
• Rat carcasses in your outdoor pool or hot tub or dragged to the door by your family dog or cat.

Indoors, you may hear noises coming from your attic, especially at dusk or dawn, or discover a nest inside drawers or behind boxes in your garage, or you may see smudges along walls, pipes or rafters.

Homeowners and business owners can take some common-sense measures to prevent rat infestations, including keeping pet food containers and garbage containers tightly sealed and the areas around them picked up and clean.

Bird feeders also are attractive to rats. Another of our customers, who had multiple bird feeders in her backyard, noticed that the seed-covered bird bell she hung in one corner of her yard would repeatedly disappear almost overnight. She would replace it, and by the next morning, it would be eaten down almost to the plastic hanger. Hungry birds, she thought. The one evening, she happened to be looking out the back door just as dark was settling in and heard a rustling in the leaves above the bird bell. Grabbing a flashlight, she quietly walked over to investigate. The beam of the flashlight revealed an acrobatic roof rat, hanging upside down from the branch, nibbling away.

Storing wood off the ground and eliminating clutter and debris from around building foundations also will discourage rat activity. Roof rats, such as the acrobat caught eating our customer’s bird bell, may use overhanging tree branches, pergolas or dense shrubbery such as star jasmine or ivy as a highway to your roof, where they may find entry to your attic around eaves, pipes or chimney flashing. Trimming trees to leave 2 feet or more between plants and between branches and roof helps discourage these travels. Sealing, screening or plugging openings around wiring conduit or pipes with steel wool or sheet metal, both around your roofline and at foundation level, also are effective at keeping rats out.

Once rats have moved in to your home or place of business, the best way to eliminate them is with the traditional snap traps. A major infestation may require the use of poison bait, which should only be administered by a trained pest control professional. Although customers sometimes request it, the use of live traps is not a good idea. Because the rats are not native to our environment, they cannot be released outdoors, where they pose a danger to humans, pets and property and—because they are an invasive species—to the native ecosystem. In some areas, rats have been known to decimate wild bird populations. Live traps also accumulate bodily waste from the rodents, creating a health hazard for our pest control technicians.

For more information about rats and how you can prevent or eliminate infestations, visit www.earthguardpestcontrol.com or contact our trained Sacramento pest control professionals at 916-457-7605 (877-328-4468 toll-free).