Photo. http://www.rodentstrobe.com/iStock_000004675142XSmall.jpgSQUIRRELS, MICE, AND ROOF RATS, AKA. ATTIC RATS IN YOUR ATTIC MEANS WIRE DAMAGE:
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Did you know that 25% of house fires of "unknown cause" are attributed to Attic Squirrels, Roof Rats, Norway Rats and Mice chewing on wires?
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The term “rodent” comes from the Latin verb rodere (to gnaw). Rodents, such as Squirrels and Roof Rats, are constantly gnawing on wood and wiring because their teeth are continually growing. For instance, the grey squirrel’s teeth grow a half a foot in length each year. Rodents, such as Norway Rats, Roof Rats, Mice and Squirrels, have to chew and gnaw constantly to keep their teeth’s length in check otherwise their teeth would grow too long - rendering the Norway Rat, Roof Rat or Squirrel unable to eat and thus starve to death.
As a result of this constant need to gnaw twenty-five percent of fires of “unknown cause” are attributed to rodents, such as Roof Rats, Attic Squirrels and Mice, chewing on electrical wires. A lack of Squirrel Control or Rat Control could lead to your house catching fire in the middle of the night.
SQUIRREL AND ROOF RAT ATTIC WIRE DAMAGE AND HOUSE FIRES
According to the US Fire Administration, a house fire occurs every 79 seconds. There are usually about 50,000 – 60,000 residential fires of “unknown cause” each year in the US. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security estimate that they receive reports from fire departments on only half of the actual number of fires that occur each year. This means that the number of fires of “unknown cause” each year could be double the 50 to 60 thousand average. That’s possibly up to 120,000 fires of “unknown cause” each year in the US as a result of inadequate Squirrel Control or Rat Control. And remember that 25% of these fires are attributed to Squirrels in the attic, Roof Rats and Mice chewing on attic wiring. Therefore, based on government statistics and statements made by government authorities, the number of residential fires cause by the failure to get rid of Attic Squirrels, Roof Rats, Norway Rats and Mice are approximately 15,000 fires annually and could be as high as 30,000 fires. If you have rodents, such as squirrels or mice, in your attic – you probably have wire damage too.
Rodents make up more than one-third of the known kinds of mammals - they are the most abundant mammal in many parts of the world. Most rodents are nocturnal or crepuscular; tree squirrels and ground squirrels are strictly diurnal; others may be active either by night or by day.
In the United States it is estimated that there is one rat for every two people. A typical large city in the United States annually receives more than 10,000 complaints about rodent problems. Rodents, in the consumption of food, also contaminate food with their fur, urine and feces. Rats cause an estimated one billion dollars each year in terms of direct economic loss. A rat’s home range is generally within a 50-foot to 150-foot radius of the nest. A mouse usually lives within a 10-foot to 30-foot radius of is nest.
ROOF RAT BEHAVIOR TOWARDS RAT POISON AND RAT TRAPS
Mice tend to investigate new objects in their home range. Rats, especially Roof Rats, are suspicious of objects that suddenly appear in their midst. Roof Rats are Neo-Phobic (afraid of new things). Norway Rats and Roof Rats typically ignore Rat Poison and Rat Traps for 3-5 days or even weeks, especially if other food continues to be routinely available to them. Many Roof Rats will not consume a food source even when placed in its regularly traveled path unless it smells another rat’s breathe on the food source. Roof Rats are much more cautious than Norway Rats. Norway Rats seem to be as dumb as dirt and thus are much easier to entice to a Rat Trap or Rat Trap bait station. Norway Rats like to stay at ground level. They are low level rats. They mostly travel along the ground. Norway Rats follow regular paths next to walls. They do this for several reasons. First, Norway Rats and Roof Rats have very poor eye site they rely on their whiskers to feel their way along a wall. Secondly, Norway Rats and Roof Rats are incontinent - no bladder control. Norway Rats' and Roof Rats' running movements cause them to urinate in small amounts everywhere they go. An infant Roof Rat will die if its mother does not lick its belly. The licking motion on the belly is the only way a baby Roof Rat can pee. The urine constantly left by running rats leaves a scent trail that the rats follow. These scent trails can last for two years. The average Roof Rats and Norway Rat live for about one year. So, the scent trail left by a single rat will be followed by other rats, and other rats etc.
Roof Rats are accomplished climbers. Roof Rats prefer to live in trees or attics where it is safe. Roof Rats are incredibly cautious and intelligent and thus hard to entice to rat poison or a rat trap. Roof Rats are cannibalistic. A roof Rat will eat another dead Roof Rat. This cannibalistic behavior is one reason why Roof Rats are becoming immune to rat poisons, because at times a dead rat will have died from eating a poison and the secondary poisoning that occurs to the cannibalistic rats will not be enough to kill them but instead helps them develop a resistance to the poisons which is passed down to their offspring.
NEIGHBORHOOD CITRUS CLEAN-UP AND ROOF RAT CONTROL:
Citrus trees and Roof Rats. Did you know that Roof Rats do not eat oranges for food? Rather, as I was told by one of the leading academic Roof Rat scientists, they use the oranges as a safe source of fluids. So getting rid of all the oranges off your trees may not really help you get rid of the roof rats in your attic. There is something else you or your neighbors may need to get rid of in order to curb your roof rat problem. Integrated Pest Management aka. IPM calls for reducing the roof rats food sources in order to get rid of a roof rat problem.
Roof Rats have poor eyesight, but they have keen senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Roof Rats, Norway Rats and Mice are mostly active at night.Rats, especially Roof Rats, explore and learn about their environment, memorizing all the elements of their domain. They quickly detect and avoid anything new. This behavior is very pronounced in Roof Rats. This was dramatically demonstrated in one experiment. In this experiment there were two rooms separated by a common wall. In the wall there was a hole through which the Roof Rat could pass. One room was the harborage (safe place) room for the rat. The harborage room was kept dark and had no food or water source. The other room was outfitted with furniture, lighting and a food and water source on the far side of the room from the access hole. The Roof Rat would routinely leave the harborage room at regular times, run along the floor always keeping next to the wall and eat and drink and then leave via its routine wall hugging path. The experimenters then re-arranged some of the furniture. The next time the rat returned it came through the hole, looked around and noticed things had been changed and immediately stopped and returned to the harborage room. The rat would regularly look through the hole but did not re-enter the room to go to its only source of food and water until three full days had passed since the furniture had been rearranged.
In a field experiment, described to me by the Vertebrate Pest Specialist who does the pest control device claim inspections for the Federal Trade Commission, a Roof Rat was observed for several days. The setting was a yard with a wooden fence. Inside the fence was a home with a porch and a dog with its food and water bowls. There was also a Roof Rat. The Roof Rat shared the dog's rations. The Roof Rat would appear from it hiding place about the same time every night (the dog's bedtime). The Roof Rat world then sit on the fence and observer the dog falling asleep and then sleeping. The pest specialist were intrigued that the Roof Rat would patiently wait for a long while after the dog had fallen asleep. Why didn't the Roof rat go eat out of the bowl. The dog was fast asleep. The pest specialist told me that they observed the dog more carefully and noticed that as soon as the dog displayed the physical signs that it was in REM sleep ( the deepest dream stage of sleep) the Roof Rat went down and ate and drank out of the dog's bowl. That's careful. That's smart!
The metropolitan area of Phoenix has a serious Roof Rat problem. Several years ago the government placed 6,000 Rat Poison bait stations in infested areas in order to curb the Roof Rat problem. The local government left the bait stations out for one month and then checked the rat poison bait stations and found that only 1% of the rat poison had been touched by the rat population.
