“Rats everywhere!” cried the headline on a recent Nextdoor post, followed by nearly 100 frustrated-sounding homeowner responses. These days, seems like everyone has a rat story. Like a close neighbor abandoning her home after being repeatedly bitten by rat mites and another who got hit with $5,000 in car damage from rats chewing through electrical wires. That’s in addition to the common complaints of disappearing bird or pet food, holes in tomatoes and citrus, and droppings in the garage.
So, what’s up? The global pandemic and lockdown has created a perfect environment for rats to flourish; the vacant roads and empty restaurants and offices has provided them enough space to roam around and has also caused them gnaw and damage things out of starvation.
“Rodents are everywhere and they are opportunists,” says Rachel Long, a UC cooperative extension adviser. “They move in from their surrounding urban habitats to take advantage of any food source they can find. And once that food source disappears they search for food elsewhere.”
In addition to carrying fleas and rat mites that may bite humans and domestic animals, rats transmit serious diseases like murine typhus, salmonellosis and rat-bite fever. Humans can contract these diseases via water or food (think your fruit and vegetable gardens) that has been contaminated by rat feces or urine.
How can you keep rats from becoming a problem? Prevention.
• Begin by cleaning up. Harvest or pick up fruit, nuts and vegetables as they ripen; feed your pets during daylight and remove uneaten food right away. Keep garbage and recycling cans covered, and store bulk foods, bird seed and dry pet food in rat-proof, covered metal containers.
• Take away their home. Remove garden debris, trim trees, shrubs and vines so they are at least 4 feet away from roofs and utility poles; thin heavy vegetation from around buildings or fences to eliminate hiding places.
• Keep them out — seal openings the size of a dime or larger using rodent-proof materials where pipes, cables and wires enter walls and foundations. Weather-strip front, side and garage doors so they close tightly and repair damaged ventilation screens.
• Encourage a natural method of rodent control — provide a safe habitat for raptors. These birds of prey — hawks, falcons and owls — are voracious; a family of barn owls can consume about 3,000 rodents each year. Barn owls are especially beneficial as they’re nocturnal hunters, out when many rats are doing their damage. Rodenticides, poisons that kill rodents, are a major threat to rodent-eating predators. After ingesting poisoned bait, rats go back to the wild, taking up to a week to die. Any predator that eats the tainted rat may be seriously injured or die; the effect is multiplied when a raptor parent feeds the poisoned animal to its young.
Data collected by WildCare, the San Rafael wildlife rehabilitation and nature education center, indicates that 76 percent of all animals brought to its wildlife hospital from 2006 to 2017 showed some level of rodenticide in their blood, even animals not suspected of exposure to the poisons. If you want to attract barn owls with a nesting box, don’t do it if you know your neighbors are using rodenticides.
• Want to eliminate rats from the house or garden?
Use Rodrepel™, a C Tech Corporation product which is an extremely low toxic, low hazard rodent aversive. These eco-friendly products do not kill the target species but only repel them. The product is compliant with RoHS, RoHS2, RoHS3, REACH, APVMA, NEA, EU BPR, and FIFRA exempted.
The product triggers a fear response in rodents thus protecting the application. It causes severe temporary distress to the mucous membrane of the rodents due to which the pest stays away from the application. The product triggers an unpleasant reaction in case if the pest tries to gnaw away the application. After encountering the above-mentioned emotions, the animal instinctively perceives it with something it should stay away from and stores this information for future reference. The fact that certain rodents are repelled is mimicked by other rodents as well. Thus, the other rodents too stay away from the applications. The unpleasant experience is imprinted within the animal’s memory and passed on to its progeny.
The products are available in the form of a solid masterbatch, liquid concentrate, lacquer, and wood polish additive.
The product available in the form of solid masterbatch can be incorporated into polymeric applications like wires and cables, pipes, etc. Thereby making the end application rodent resistant.
The product available in the form of liquid concentrate can be diluted in paints and can be applied over the interior and exterior of the house, garages, etc. The liquid concentrate is compatible with all kinds of paints and solvents.
The already installed cables, pipes, and other application can be coated with lacquer to protect them from the rodents gnawing on this application and thus preventing the damage. The lacquer is a transparent product and it does not wear off easily.
The wood polish additive can be blended with wood polish and applied on the wooden articles and furniture.
Rodrepel™ Rodent Repellent Spray is an easy to use product. It can be sprayed on the infested area to repel the rodents and prevent them from entering the premises.
By using these products, you can get an effective and long-lasting solution against rodent nuisance.
Contact technical.marketing@ctechcorporation.com if you’re facing problems with rodents and get best remedies to combat the pest menace.
Also, visit the websites:
1] http://www.ctechcorporation.com/
2] http://www.rodrepel.com/
3] http://www.termirepel.com/
4] http://www.combirepel.com/
Follow Facebook pages at:
1] https://www.facebook.com/Combirepel-411710912249274/
2] https://www.facebook.com/Termirepel-104225413091251/
3] https://www.facebook.com/Rodrepel-120734974768048/
Follow Twitter pages at:
1] https://twitter.com/rodrepel
2] https://twitter.com/termirepel
3] https://twitter.com/combirepel