The Return Of The Rat – Our Most Reviled Pest Thrives

The Return Of The Rat – Our Most Reviled Pest Thrives

The Return Of The Rat – Our Most Reviled Pest Thrives – The rat population of Britain is currently at an all time high, fortnightly waste collections, lack of sewer baiting and the late night takeaway are all cited as culprits in this rodent explosion, but what do we really know about the humble creatures that thrive in our sewers and induce almost universal fear and loathing in all who encounter them.

Rats are not native to Europe or North America but originate in Asia and almost certainly arrived in Europe as stowaways on trading ships, indeed the common name for Rattus rattus is the ship or black rat.

In Asian folklore the rat is a prominent character, in Hindu mythology the elephant-headed god Ganesh is accompanied by a rat wherever he travels. An offering to Ganesh and his companion Vahana the rat is therefore an important part of Hindu worship.

To the Romans the sighting of a white rat was considered to be lucky but if you found that rats had chewed your belongings then you should postpone any business affairs that you were planning that day or they would surely fail.

Reviled in the west, the rat is revered in Chinese mythology, being part of the Chinese zodiac and respected for its quick wit and resourcefulness. The rat is considered good luck in China & Japan where it is credited with bringing the gift of rice to the world.

To the Polynesians rats were an easily bred and transportable source of food

In 1347 the Mongols laying siege to the Crimean city of Caffa began to succumb to a mysterious illness that killed swiftly and mercilessly. In order to weaken the city the Mongols catapulted the bodies of their own dead over the city walls and within days the inhabitants of Caffa also fell prey to the disease.

However, a group of Italian merchants were allowed to leave the city and return to Italy, and probably unknowingly took with them the Black Death, Yersinia pestis.

The ensuing plague raged throughout the continent reaching Britain in 1348 with up to 90% mortality in some areas and it reappeared in Europe in every generation for over four hundred years.

We now know of course that the rat was a carrier, or to be more precise the fleas that the rats carried on their bodies were the agents of plague transmission.

Indeed whilst being in no way established in fact, it is possible that the children’s story of the Pied Piper of Hamlyn is an allegory of the plague, it certainly indicates that the rat population was booming at the time.

Every cloud however has a silver lining and the survivors of the 14^th century plagues found that they could now demand higher wages and better conditions as the shortage of workers in the wake of plague deaths created a seller’s market for labour. The rise of the Yeoman Farmer and the British class system could be argued to be attributed to the humble rat.

Into modern times and the Black Rat is now almost extinct in the British Isles, having been replaced from the 18^th century onwards by the Brown or Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus) and it is this creature that now thrives in our sewers, on our streets and in our homes and it is when we encounter it there that it creates most revulsion.

A typical rat weighs around 200 – 300 grams or half to three quarters of a pound, and has a tail around the same length as its body, often making it appear bigger than it really is.

One of the primary functions of a rat’s tail is thermo-regulation; it uses its tail to dissipate body heat. When a rat’s temperature falls it restricts blood flow into its tail.

Rats are rodents, the word comes from the Latin ‘Rodere’ meaning ‘to gnaw or eat away’, aptly named as their teeth never stop growing and they gnaw on hard objects to keep them sharp, unfortunately this can often include electrical wiring and water pipes. A rat’s teeth can penetrate mild steel.

Often a rat will move into a loft or roof void looking for somewhere safe to give birth, being excellent climbers the interior of the cavity wall of the building is a common route, especially if there is an underground breach in the drainage system.

They are sexually mature at around 13 weeks and have a gestation period of about 20 –22 days giving birth typically to 7 – 10 young per litter.

They are naturally shy and nocturnal creatures said to suffer from ‘neophobia’ a fear of anything new in their environment.

Often the first signs that a house is infested will be the patter of tiny feet on the upstairs plasterboard ceilings, although with the modern trend for roof insulation an infestation can often go undetected for quite some time. In homes with floorboards gnawing will often be heard in the sub-floor area.

Their need to eat will often betray their presence, food stored in cupboards will be taken, cereal packets chewed, chocolate and crisps are favourites, although a rat often has a diet that we would find somewhat strange.

The rat has no ability to taste ‘bitter’ foods so it can quite happily munch away on a bar of soap for the fat content. Pest controllers use this as a safety feature and all rat poison is coated in a bitter substance that the rats can’t taste but which would make it totally unpalatable to a dog or a child.

Although the rat is no longer a plague carrier it does come with a number of unwelcome traits. It is a carrier of a number of diseases including Murine Typhus, Salmonella and Weil’s Disease, spread from rats’ urine, which unfortunately usually claims at least one life in Britain each year.

If you have a rat infestation then you have a legal duty to remedy it and in extreme circumstances forced entry to your property can be made against your will.

As a final sting in the tail, many household insurance policies specifically exclude damage by vermin so if a rat chews your wiring and the house burns down you may find yourself without insurance cover.

Hated, despised and unloved the humble rat continues to share and shape our environment in ways that we do not see or appreciate and despite our best effort the rat and man will always co-exist.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Black Death in Europe (weuropeanhistory.suite101.com)
• Return of the Plague (time.com)

Eradicate Ants From Your Home – Permanently

Eradicate Ants From Your Home – Permanently

Eradicate Ants From Your Home – Permanently – Only the unfortunate people who have experienced it will know the true  of winged ants in their homes.
Suffering an infestation of ordinary wingless ants is bad enough but when they go through their yearly mating  cycle the situation can become insufferable.
Ants often build colonies under the floors and in the wall cavities of our homes and these colonies will survive for many years if left untreated becoming progressively more intolerable each year.
Our homes are warm and dry and provide the ideal places for a thriving ant colony; even ‘solid’ concrete floor is permeable to an ant.
Our room heating systems maintains their metabolism even in winter  and my earliest ant call-out was on my birthday, in early January!
Ants prefer a sandy soil and there are many locations in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester which tend to suffer more ant infestationsthan others, Southport, Blackpool, Bolton, Sale & Altrincham leap to mind as hot ant spots.
Unfortunately it is during their mating cycle that they are most troublesome. Here in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester this tends to be fairlyoften  around the third or fourth week in July.
Ants mate on the wing and around mid-summer they produce winged immature Queens and winged males which in  a more natural environment would fly off and mate on the wing. Many thousands of these winged ants are produced per nest and nests tend to synchronise  their release so that they mate with ants produced by other nests.
Invariably this process starts after two or three days of warm, dry weather  and will usually go on for about a week although smaller releases will continue throughout most of June, July & August.
Unfortunately when the colony is hidden beneath the floor of the dwelling the results can be catastrophic, literally thousands of winged ants are released into the lower rooms, congregating on windows as they head for the light.
This can be extremely distressing for some people leading to extreme emotional trauma to the degree that people learn to hate the warm months of summer and have actually sold their homes to escape the invasion of ants which they know comes each year.
The wet summers of the last couple of years has meant that ant problems were down on previous years but appear to have a way of catching up and 2009 looks set to be a very busy year.
Most people who have this problem attempt DIY solutions with powders from hardware shops etc but usually these efforts are in vain as they are not getting to the heart of the problem which is the colony itself, hidden away in the cavity wall or sub-floor area.
Fortunately for many people the answer is at hand.
At Harrier Pest Control (subject to site survey) we are able to cure this problem and issue an extendable three year guarantee.

The procedure which is carried out mainly from the exterior of the property, is perfectly safe for animals and children and produces no smell, involves drilling small holes into the cavity walls of the property, not unlike a damp-course injection and injecting an insecticidal powder into the cavity under pressure.
This forms an impenetrable barrier across which the ants cannot go and together with a precautionary internal spray treatment (if appropriate) will gradually bring the infestation under control.
The holes, which are only 8mm in diameter remain open so it is a simply matter of re-injecting the cavities every three years to extend the effectiveness of the guarantee indefinitely.
This procedure is best carried out in the early spring although it can be done at any time of year.
As a limited time special offer before our busy period begins  we are offering 25% off the usual cost until April 30 2009. Whilst we usually cover the whole of Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, we are prepared to travel further afield but this will increase the cost.
For a discussion or to arrange an appointment contact Harrier Pest Prevention on Free Phone 0800 019 8382 or

http://harrierpestprevention.com

Get Rid Of Bed Bugs

Get Rid Of Bed Bugs

Get Rid Of Bed Bugs – Sleep Tight & Don’t Let The Bed Bugs Bite

One of the most reviled pests known to man is the bed bug (Cimex lectularius). How many of us gone off to sleep at night as young ones with the words of our parents in our ears ‘sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite’?

Bed bugs possibly started to feed on man at about the time we moved into caves, the ‘bat bugs’ Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily feed on bats and it is probable that bat feeding species of bug evolved to dine on human blood when our forebears started dwelling in bat infested caves.

Until the advent of DDT in the early 20th century bed bugs were common unwelcome guests in a lot of poor quality homes.

The later part of the 20th century has seen pest control companies dealing with very few bed bug calls indeed, their presence being largely confined to cheap holiday camps and student lodging etc.

Many people confuse dust mites, which are not visible to the unaided eye, with bed bugs which certainly are.

Adult bedbugs are red-brown, about a quarter of an inch in size and very swollen after a feed of our blood.

They experience an incomplete metamorphosis which means that the nymphs are just smaller versions of the adult, they don’t have a maggot stage like fleas or flies.

Bed bugs regularly feed on human blood every 7 – 10 days, coming out in the hours before dawn and finding their target by detecting the exhaled CO2 from respiration and when nearing in on their target, infra red body heat.

In the absence of a suitable human host to dine on they can survive for periods of up to 18 months without feeding.

Indications of a bed bug infestation are spots of blood on bedding and on the underside of mattresses and many people can react badly to their bites.

The early 21st century has seen bed bug numbers increase across the globe, the cheap availability of global travel and economic migration have both been blamed for the increase.

What is sure is that that are now making a real comeback not only in poor quality homes but high class hotels, schools and often hospitals.

One London borough noted a doubling of bed bug infestations every year from 1995 – 2001.

A lone night away in an infested hotel is all it requires to become infested, they hitch a ride in your suitcases or bags. Pest control companies are also now reporting cases of transport related bed bug infestations on tubes, trains and buses so a simple ride to work on an infested tube or train can be sufficient to spread the infestation to your home.

They are an expensive pest to deal with as contrary to popular opinion they do not just live in beds. They crawl into any nook and cranny conveniently close to a sleeping human being, beds, electrical sockets, televisions, bed-side telephones etc and treatment is both difficult and time consuming. They have even been found living beneath the toe-nails of infirm persons and in the folds of flesh on heavily over-weight people.

They are not a pest that can be tackled by an amateur and a professional will almost certainly need to be called in.

Wasps’ Nests in Urmston

Wasps’ Nests in Urmston

Wasps’ Nests in Urmston – Urmston Pest Control destroy wasps’ nests in the Urmston area at a fixed fee of £29.50, we do not charge extra for Weekends, Evenings or Bank Holidays.

The annoying wasp season is almost with us once again, what would summer be without our friends the wasps to irritate us as we enjoy our summer evening barbeques?

The biology of the wasp means they are rarely seen much sooner than July as until then only the wasp queen is in the nest.

In early spring the over-wintered queens leave their hibernating sites to find nesting places which could be in a hole in the ground, a bush or man made structures such as air-bricks eaves, lofts and attics, garden sheds etc.

The queen starts to construct her nest with a papery material that she makes by chewing small fragments of wood mixed with saliva; this is known as Wasp paper.

She will raise the first few workers by herself and those workers will then commence the construction of the nest and caring for the immature Wasps to follow.

Nest building starts in earnest in June and will reach its maximum in size in September, when 5 – 30,000 workers may be present. These workers will forage up to 400 metres from the nest. The size of wasps’ nests will vary from year to year, the severity of the previous winter is probably the key factor.

In the mid-September the newly produced queens mate and leave the nest to hibernate, the rest of the nest dies out and the nest is never reused.

Individuals react differently to being stung by wasps; some are hardly affected, others endure considerable pain and discomfort and a few become seriously allergic to being stung, which in some cases results in sudden death due to anaphylactic shock.
Control
It is always advisable to let a professional Pest Control Officer destroy a Wasps’ nest for the reasons mentioned above. An insecticide will be injected into the entrance to the nest. Returning wasps will carry the insecticide into the middle of the nest and within an hour all wasps should be dead.

It is not a good idea to allow a wasps’ nest to go full term as the immature queens produced by the nest will invariably nest nearby in the following spring resulting in many more nests the following year. For this reason several nests are often found close together in an area a locality.

Wasps’ Nests in Urmston

Feeding Pigeons is Dreadful for Healthful Living

Pigeons are wonderful species and most of us love this bird. Many people enjoy feeding pigeons unless they create a mess. Their loveliness is attenuated when these social animals move into our buildings. When pigeon pests come home to roost on your porch or window ledge, they bring with them a host of dangerous diseases that put you and your family at serious risk. Among them are diseases such as Salmonella, Histoplasmosis, Cryptococcosis and Psittacosis, and parasites such as Bedbugs and Mites, to name a few. An average sized pigeon dumps approximately about 25 pounds of poop annually. This can cause all sorts of problems and contain the high concentration of uric acid which can discolor paint, stain wood, erode metal, and even crumble concrete and expensive stonework. When talking about pigeon control one should understand the importance of getting rid of these birds before they bring infection on your roof through their dirty droppings. When dealing with the pigeon control one should choose the humane ways around for pigeon control as Employing poisons, traps, or other deadly measures to control pigeons might land you in trouble. Deterring pigeons in a humane way have many methods. Each is effective, humane and easy to install and use and you choose what suits you the most.

Among the most common and effective pigeon control devices is the pigeon spike manufactured from highest quality stainless steel and UV stabilized material.  Pigeon spikes are Ideal for rooftops, awnings, girders, ledges, and just about anywhere pigeons try to land. They are easy to install and won’t harm pigeons. When installing the pigeon spikes, they are usually placed to cover an entire ledge positioned to seal off corners and open sides to keep the clever birds from sneaking around them. Another popular and highly effective pigeon control solution is pigeon netting.  If it’s properly installed, pigeons simply can’t get through pigeon netting, become frustrated and leave. Its polyethylene fabric is U.V. stabilized, flame resistant and rot and waterproof. The pigeon netting should be draped over window recesses, balconies or even whole rooftops to prevent pest pigeons from pigeons from sneaking in. Our next pigeon deterrent uses sound to shoo pigeons away. This high-tech pigeon control device that’s well suited for a wide range of outdoor applications is the ultrasonic bird Repeller as they are easily and commercially available to control one and all birds. It emits annoying distress and predator calls only birds and pigeons can hear. Pigeons feel threatened by the sounds of their natural enemies and leave. For homeowners and property managers who want a speedy, economical pigeon control solution, there’s bird gel. This non-toxic, sticky chemical won’t harm birds, yet it leaves a surface that’s tacky and uncomfortable to pest pigeons. The stuff is non-toxic and won’t harm birds, yet it sticks to pigeons’ toes like warm saltwater taffy. There are many more but these are the most effective and statistics have shown that people use them on a large scale.

 

Ethan Mark works for USA Bird Control, Inc. in marketing and public relations. His interests include birds, gardening, reading, and writing. More information on humane pigeon control is available on the website of the Pigeon Control.
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Simple Steps In Controlling Pigeon Bird Pest

In bird controlling there are many different types of methods and products which is very effective and easy to find in our local stores. Here are some methods and tips in controlling those pest birds like pigeons. In pigeon bird control there are 4 simple steps that you have to follow and do to eliminate these friendly feathered creatures.

First, conduct a preliminary study to determine the pigeon population and activity on the site, nesting, feeding and resting of pigeons, and then carrying out the relevant actions.

Sanitation is the first step to eliminate the plagues of pigeons. In some cases, sanitation measures can resolve the problem of pest bird pigeons. Remove any leftover food or water source, both pools, pools, waterways clogged, and so on. With this measure we can eliminate the problem of pigeons without performing the remaining steps.

Secondly Habitat modification of pigeons. Modify the environment where they often perch and roost, it is the most effective way to exterminate pest pigeons. Seal the entrance of buildings, monuments, etc., with special plastic nets for the weight and resistance of pigeons. As for the shelves, amending its angle to exceed 45 º, it is also one good way in preventing these birds to land on in our property and uncomfortable to them.

Pigeon repllents is a effective and efficient in controlling pest birds. Repellent helps to chase away the pigeons. Pigeon repellents are placed in the nesting site, raising or break them feel uncomfortable and leave.

There are four types of Pigeon bird repellents.

· Pigeons tactile repellents: Repellents touch for pigeons can be mechanical or chemical. The mechanics are sharp wire, rows of tensioned steel wire, electric fences or water jets. The chemicals are gels, pastes, etc..

· Visual repellents pigeons: pigeon visual repellents used are fake owls, snakes, hawks, flashing lights, balloons, etc.. Keep in mind that city pigeons unlike those living in the area are accustomed to foreign objects and ignore visual repellents.

· Bird sound repellents: Repellents for pigeons are sound alarm sounds, gunshots, recordings of bird voices warning broadcasts, etc.. This system, like the pigeon visual repellents for city pigeons is not effective because they are accustomed to the noises of the city.

· Olfactory repellents: pigeon olfactory repellent is moth balls. To be effective the result should apply high amounts of naphthalene, so this method can not be used in buildings which are inhabited.

Reduction of the pigeon population in some regions are not allowed. toxic chemicals to kill pests pigeons are against the law in some countries, so the substance is used Anthraquinone is a repellent, not a toxic bait. To reduce pest pigeon, traps are used with 4 or 5 claims to lure other pigeons and not to be suspicious. To ensure the successful of elimination of pests bird, we recommend priming the pigeons with corn or millet for 3 or 4 days. After this period we placed the traps for the final extermination of the pest pigeons. Character and habitat of pigeons. To carry out the removal of pigeons is necessary to know the characteristics and habits of pigeons.

The pigeons are characterized by a rounded body, small head, broad tail and gray plumage.  Its population is high, as the doves breed throughout the year except in extreme weather months. They usually put 2 eggs per clutch and the incubation period lasts for 17 days after laying the last egg. The young dominate the life flight per month and 5 months old, and are suitable for breeding. Its length of life is 20 years and are linked to the death.

The pigeons live in cities and countryside. In the cities, instead of raising, resting and nesting in parks, squares, bridges, buildings, statues, monuments, etc. In the field they ussually stay in farms, stables, barns, towers, etc..

Pigeons are now call pest birds, in most cases they feed, nest and roost in the same place, they are usually seen in protected areas. They stay in these places causes deterioration in buildings, benches, statues, vehicles, among others. Excessive droppings causes permanent stains or early corrosion and oxidation of metal structures and other objects. Besides being annoying to the sight and smell. And if we speak from the health point of view, the pigeons frequently carry pathogens and disease-carrying, such as histoplasmosis, ornithosis, salmonellosis, cryptococcosis, and ectoparasites, as cimex columbarius-bug nest of the dove, argas relexus – tick dove, fly Pseudolynchia canariensis-dove-etc.

Currently urban pigeons are the most dangerous pest birds to humans, although much of the population believe they are beneficial birds and spend hours watching them and feeding them. This simple fact makes the pigeon population to grow to the extent that it becomes a plague. If we can prevent this act the pigeon population would be reduced and would not be a problem. You can also prevent the problem by preventing nesting and raising the hygiene of the place. You can also deal with pigeon bird control experts.

I am a father of my kids, I am a husband of my wife, and I am a best friend of my pets. Breeding Parrots is my hobby and interest. That is life…
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