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From https://www.pestendinc.com/blog/the-dangers-of-mice-and-rats-in-your-home

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The Dangers of Mice and Rats in your Home

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Professor Steven Belmain, Linden Kemkaran

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When you picture a rat, what do you see? Fear, disease and destruction? Or maybe, intelligence, cunning and guile? Rats provoke many different responses, but…

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Video | "Diseases Transmitted by Rats to Humans"

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Video | "Diseases Transmitted by Rats to Humans"

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Diseases Transmitted by RATS to HUMANS 🐀🦠 5 Rat-Borne Illnesses

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Fun Rat Facts — Lambert Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory

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Found on Google from kellylambertlab.com

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Rats make wonderful pets, but need proper care. Learn about rat behaviour and get expert tips on how to keep rats healthy, happy and safe.

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Related Topic Page | National Geographic

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Year of the Rat!
The rat is the first of a 12-year cycle of animals that appears in the Chinese Zodiac, so if you were born in 2008, you were born in a rat year, too. Chinese astrologers say that means you're funny, smart, successful, are a quick thinker and welcome challenges. Read more about Chinese New Year in our 30 cool facts about China.

1) Rats are medium-sized rodents with a long tail. A group of rats is called a 'mischief'!

2) Rats are mainly nocturnal and live underground. Although they vastly outnumber humans, we rarely see them. They are experts at staying out of sight!

3) Throughout human history, rats have travelled with us around the planet, stowing away on boats and settling wherever humans live. They feed on the food we throw away and can spread diseases among humans, like the medieval Black Death, which was spread by fleas that lived on rats.

4) Rats' super-strong teeth never stop growing! They have to keep nibbling to wear them down - or eating would become impossible!

5) Their whiskers are more sensitive than human fingertips! Rats brush the long hairs against objects or the floor, helping them build up a detailed picture of their environment.

6) With eyes on either side of their head that can move in opposite directions, rats are even able to see what's happening . Very handy for spotting any rat-eating birds!

7) Rats can hear well, including sounds that are too high-pitched for humans to hear. They may also ' smile' with their ears! When they're happy their ears relax, become droopy and slightly pinker. Aww!

8) They wash by constantly licking their fur - sometimes they'll even ' comb' it into place with their teeth. Yes, rats are squeak-y clean!

9) Rats' long tails are used for balance and to keep themselves cool - they can direct some of their body heat out through them! They're also great swimmers, able to hold their breath for several minutes.

What did you think of our fab facts about rats? Let us know by leaving a comment, below!

Images ⓒ Getty Images: rat (141167926), rat on girl's shoulder (929956456).

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10 facts about rats - Animals | National Geographic Kids

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Year of the Rat! The rat is the first of a 12-year cycle of animals that appears in the Chinese Zodiac, so if you were born in 2008, you were born in a rat year, too. Chinese astrologers say that means you're funny, smart, successful, are a quick thinker and welcome challenges.

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APOPO: Hero Rats Save Lives - Adopt a Hero Rat

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APOPO: Hero Rats Save Lives - Adopt a Hero Rat

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APOPO - Training Animals to rid the world of landmines and tuberculosis

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Discover how APOPO's HeroRATs save lives by detecting landmines and tuberculosis more efficiently than traditional methods.

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Worldwide, rats and mice spread over 35 diseases. These diseases can be spread to humans directly, through handling of rodents, through contact with rodent feces, urine, or saliva, or through rodent bites. Diseases carried by rodents can also be spread to humans indirectly, through ticks, mites or f…

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11 Reasons Pet Rats Shouldn't Get A Bad Rap

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Don't let common misconceptions keep you from having one of the best pets.

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City Using Dry Ice to Control Rat Population

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City Using Dry Ice to Control Rat Population

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Exterminators from the pest control division of the Health Department stuff rat burrows with dry " Rat Ice" in Columbus Park on Monday. Photo Credit: Marisol Diaz-Gordon

It's the final lullabye for some members of the city's bustling rat population.

The city is ramping up its use of dry ice to plug rat burrows in parks. The ice fills their underground homes with carbon dioxide, suffocating the rats which often sleep during the day.

It's quicker, more humane and environmentally friendly than traditional rodenticide, which has felled hawks who sometimes snack on the poisoned critters.

"This is one weapon in what we do to fight rats in New York City," said Rick Simeone, director of pest control for the city's Health Department, during a demonstration at Columbus Park in lower Manhattan. "And it completely eliminates any chance of secondary poisoning for hawks and birds of prey."

Simeone said the city is increasing its use of dry ice because just last year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registered the product "Rat Ice" from Bell Laboratories, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation also registered it for use as a pesticide.

Before that, several cities - including New York - conducted smaller pilot projects to control the rat population with dry ice. But the EPA wanted the dry ice registered as a product before it was widely used.

It's all part of Mayor de Blasio's $32 million plan to reduce the city's rat population, with a focus on the city's high-infestation areas: Grand Concourse in the Bronx, Chinatown/East Village/Lower East Side in Manhattan and Bushwick/Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn.

Health Department officials said during the 2016 pilot project, dry ice helped slash the number of rat burrows at Columbus Park from 60 to just two. Tompkins Square Park saw a reduction of 368 burrows down to 20.

"I've been here 20 years and I've not seen a method, if it's applied this way, that is this effective," Simeone said.

Pest control workers must clearly define and mark rat burrow openings in order for the dry ice to be effective.

"You have to have a burrow system and an area where you identify the colony," said Simeone. "If you apply the product correctly, you will eliminate those rats."

Rats can have four to six litters of offspring a year, he said, especially in the warmer months.

"If you get in early like we are doing now before the winter ends, you will have less reproducing adults which should amount to less rats," he said.

Simeone was quick to note the dry ice will not work in every scenario. The city's efforts to use more closed trash containers in parks, and increase garbage pick ups is key to taming the rat population.

Traditional rodenticide takes longer to work, he said. And rats might pass it by if they spot a tasty scrap of pizza or some leftover lunch.

Still, the city will continue to use rat poison in some cases. But Parks Department officials said dry ice will be used in parks with rat activity that are also home to nesting raptors.

That's good news for wildlife rehabilitators Cathy and Bobby Horvath who have treated hawks, owls and other birds after they ingested rat poison. Bobby also serves as a city firefighter.

"This is a win for wildlife in the city," Bobby said. "Any predator that preys on rodents is a potential victim for secondary poisoning. Even domestic pets if they catch mice or rats."

On Tuesday, the City Council's Sanitation Committee held a hearing on a package of rat mitigation bills. Some of the proposed legislation would require some buildings to take out garbage between 4 a.m. and 6 p.m. and require businesses to clean grease from their sidewalks.

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City using dry ice to control rat population | amNewYork

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It's the final lullabye for some members of the city's bustling rat population. The city is ramping up its use of dry ice to plug rat burrows in parks. The ice fills their underground homes with carbon dioxide, suffocating the rats which often sleep during the day.

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fun domestic interesting cool baby water big house brown sand

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Rat Horror Stories the New N.Y:C Rat Czar Needs to Hear

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Rat Horror Stories the New N.Y:C Rat Czar Needs to Hear

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Before going to sleep, you ought to make sure no food is left forgotten somewhere on the floor or table. Otherwise, you may end up with some familiar and unwelcome guests: rats. Just a glimpse of a furry rodent is enough to inspire revulsion and complaints to authorities - for example, New York has recently renewed efforts to solve a 'rat crisis' in the city. But such guests are not despised everywhere. In fact, in some places around the world, rats are considered a delicious delicacy.

On 7 March every year, in a remote village in the hills of north-east India, the Adi tribe celebrates Unying-Aran, an unusual festival with rats as the culinary centrepiece. One of the Adi's favourite dishes is a stew called bule-bulak oying, made with the rat's stomach, intestines, liver, testes, foetuses, all boiled together with tails and legs plus some salt, chili and ginger.

Rodents of all kind are welcomed in this community, from the household rats often seen around the house to the wild species that dwell in the forest. The rat's tail and feet are particularly appreciated for their taste, says Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow, at Oulu University, Finland, who interviewed several members of the Adi tribe for a recent study into rats as a food resource.

The rats are so beloved they are more than just a menu item. "Gifts of rats, dead of course, are also an important item in making sure the bride's relatives are happy to see their daughter leave her old family and join that of her husband," he says. In the first morning of the Unying-Aran festival, called Aman Ro, children receive two dead rats as presents, much like the toys you got as a kid on Christmas morning.

Little is known about when or how the Adi people developed their taste for rats, but Meyer-Rochow is certain it is a long-held tradition, and not formed due to a lack of other choices of game. Plenty of animals such as deer, goat and buffalo still roam the forests surrounding the village. These tribes simply prefer the taste of rodents. "[They] assured me that 'nothing beats the rat'," he says.

Even Meyer-Rochow, despite being vegetarian, ended up trying the famous meat, which he found similar to other meats he had eaten, except for the smell. "It brings up memories of zoology students' first lab courses in which they dissect and cut up rats to study vertebrate anatomy," he says.

It's not just in this small corner of India that rat is on the menu. British TV presenter Stefan Gates has travelled around the world meeting people with very unusual sources of food. Outside the city of Yaounde, in Cameroon, he found a small farm of cane rats, a species he describes as "like a small dog, angry, vicious little fellows". Vicious, perhaps, but also tasty. Gates says these rats are a special treat, since they are more expensive than chicken or vegetables.

According to Gates, these small rats were very tender and tasted much like a small chicken or quail. The only unpleasant aspect was the smell of burning hair - to avoid wasting any bit of skin or meat from the tiny animal it is grilled whole, to burn off its hair. And this produced a "horrible, horrible smell", says Gates, and "a bitter sensation on the outside of the skin". But it was all good inside. "The meat and skin inside the rat was absolutely delicious," he said.
Tasty rats around the world
Our taste for rodents goes back many centuries. According to a scholarly review by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, rats were eaten in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) and called "household deer". One speciality eaten during the Tang dynasty was new-born rats stuffed with honey, "conveniently snatching them with chopsticks", the authors say.

Until about 200 years ago the kiore - or Rattus exulans, a close relative of the common house rat - was eaten by many Polynesians, including the Maori of New Zealand. "In pre-European times [New Zealand's] South Island was a major source of kiore, which were preserved and eaten in vast quantities, normally in early winter," says Jim Williams, a researcher from New Zealand's University of Otago.

In Africa, some communities have a long tradition of eating rats. In Nigeria, for instance, the African giant rat is a favourite among all ethnic groups, says Mojisola Oyarekua, from the University of Science and Technology Ifaki-Ekiti (Usti) Nigeria. "It is regarded as a special delicacy and it is more expensive than equivalent weight of cow meat or fish. It is delicious and can be eaten as roasted, dried or boiled," he says.

So why do people eat rats? Sheer necessity? After tasting rats in different countries, Gates says people do so more from choice than being forced to out of scarcity.

Rats may not be currently on the menu of your favourite neighbourhood restaurant, but as we move into a more globalised world with more adventurous diners, it is not unreasonable to think that rodents could one day feature on Western menus more frequently. Just give it a try. You might like it. After all, for some, it is the most delicious meat they have ever tasted.

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The countries where rats are on the menu

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Before going to sleep, you ought to make sure no food is left forgotten somewhere on the floor or table. Otherwise, you may end up with some familiar and unwelcome guests: rats. Just a glimpse of a furry rodent is enough to inspire revulsion and complaints to authorities - for example, New York has recently renewed efforts to solve a 'rat crisis' in the city.

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Video | Scientists Learn from Tickling Rats

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Video | Scientists Learn from Tickling Rats

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See What Happens When You Tickle a Rat | National Geographic

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Father Reports Daughter Attacked by Rats

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Father Reports Daughter Attacked by Rats

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French girl mutilated by rats in night attack at home

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A disabled French teenager is critically ill after rats attacked her at night in Roubaix.

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We are fortunate to live in a diverse world and are luckier to be sharing it with various species of animals and plants, many of which are beneficial to our survival. There are, however, some species that interfere with human activities and property. Still, the number of pests that negatively affect human lives makes up less than one percent of animal and insect species' total population.

More than Just a Nuisance

Among all the pests, human beings have to contend with, rodents, rats specifically, top the list. Not only do these stinky, vile, and filthy varmints damage your property and invade your space, they also threaten your health because of the various diseases they bring.

Every year, rats and other rodent species consume about ten percent of the entire world's food supply. Aside from eating through your food supply, these pesky critters also contaminate the world's food source with their urine and fecal waste. Fortunately, pest control has been invented, allowing people to ward off some of the damage rats and their relatives bring. Without pest control, the world would be losing half of its food reserves to these four-legged pillagers year in and year out.

Rats are burrowers by nature and can be found in places that conceal them from sight. That said, they can be found in many homes, farm fields, livestock pens, stables, grain mills, corncribs, warehouses, and even supermarkets and restaurants. Largely nocturnal, rats, and their rodent relatives come out mostly at night to look for food. They do not have to look far, though, as these despicable pests will happily partake of anything that you and your pets eat.

Food Poisoning and Contamination

In 2010, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that food poisoning causes about 3,000 deaths, 128,000 hospitalization cases, and 48 million annually in the United States alone.

While food contamination can occur at any time during its production, substandard, unsanitary conditions and the proliferation of rats, rodents, and other pests in facilities that handle food have a significant contribution to food spoilage. This is why pest management is of utmost importance, no matter how challenging it can be. It does not matter whether the warehouse or the food facility is big or small; a lack of proper pest control can result in disastrous outcomes.

Everyone involved in the food manufacturing industry, as well as consumers themselves, are not at all unfamiliar with food contamination scenarios that have caused various illnesses and even deaths, forcing food manufacturers to recall their products from grocery, supermarket and store shelves.

The Outcome of Neglect

If you still remember, one of the biggest and costliest food recalls in the United States happened in January of 2009, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration discovered and confirmed the contamination of the peanut-based products of the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). The products were found to be contaminated with Salmonella in 2007 and 2008, which is clearly a violation of the food processing standards set by the USFDA. This act of negligence caused an outbreak, with 700 reported cases of food poisoning and nine deaths - all across 46 states in the country. Of course, the only outcome of this is bankruptcy for the company, plus multiple lawsuits.

Like the PCA, facilities must be conscientious and meticulous in managing pest control since food processing environments present ideal conditions for pest infestation.

How Rats Contaminate Food

Rodents, especially roof rats and brown rats, find a haven in food facilities. There is plenty of food, a continuous water supply, and many hiding spaces where they can nest and breed. As the family of rats grows in size, they become more aggressive in scavenging for more food.

While rats like cleaning their coat, they do not bathe; therefore, they become moving carriers of germs and bacteria like E-coli and Salmonella. Rats eat with their paws, so they leave behind morsels and crumbs of their food, therefore, contaminating the rest of the food - even if they ate only a piece of a loaf of bread, you could expect the rest of the loaf to be full of their germs.

Rats urinate and defecate wherever and whenever they want, and that can include the slice of cheesecake you were reserving for dessert. Rats and other rodents are also highly territorial, marking their food with urine. So, if you are tempted just to cut off the piece of carrot with a nibble on it, don't, unless you want to get sick.

That piece of cheese gets contaminated as soon as the rat sinks its teeth into it, leaving the germs it carries in its mouth in that yummy piece of cheddar. Tempting, yes, but not safe.

Managing Rats and other Pests

There is only one solution to the rat problem in food facilities: effective pest management. However, some food companies tend to be lax in their commitment to controlling pests effectively. In the hustle and bustle of everyday operations, pest management can take the backseat. However, it is critical for all food facilities to plan and implement regular inspections, pest-proofing measures, and a concrete and immediate pest eradication plan as soon as an infestation is discovered.

Food facility owners and managers must work together to ensure that their facility is free of pests, ensuring that the food stored and prepared in their facility is safe and free from contamination.

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The Impact of Rats on Food Supplies | More Than Just Pests

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We are fortunate to live in a diverse world and are luckier to be sharing it with various species of animals and plants, many of which are beneficial to our survival. There are, however, some species that interfere with human activities and property.

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Video | "Rats Save Humans from Landmines"

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Video | "Rats Save Humans from Landmines"