This article is moronic. Rats can be killed pretty easy. Look at Alberta, rat free, must be the oilsands I guess or perhaps we spend money on rat control
I had a pet rat (Boris) while I was in Grad school and 2 of my grand daughters had Dumbos as pets . Rats were drawn to humans not because they wanted to drink our blood but because we stayed in one place and were filthy. All the crap we tossed out or stored was a constant and reliable source of food – they would have been stupid to pass that up. Other than the fact they can be a vector for Bubonic plague (as are a whole host of other rodents) they are not associated with any other plague diseases or any diseases of serious public health concern – your house cat has a greater potential to make you sick that a rat living in the crawl space.
Of all the things there are to worry about rats should be low on the list – they have been with us before dogs and cats.
"You can't catch them...You can't kill them." BS! I saw a rat's movement out of the corner of my eye in the dark while I was watching television. I cornered it in a closet and used a broom and dustpan to pick it up. Then I dropped that sucker in the toilet and flushed that mf down! Never saw another rat in my apartment.
I had a family of rats in my apartment living in Savannah GA. Let me tell ya they were decent roommates. They ate up all those huge southeastern c**kroaches that no exterminator can completely eradicate, quietly at night, and stayed out of sight during the day when I had people over (unlike the giant roaches which would happily wander).
This arrangement worked very well for me. In fact since I kept my property very clean I would put small amounts of food down for them in the evening occasionally to assure they didn't get hungry and leave. After several years, the rats (and Savannah rats are very much _rats_, not mice) learned not to chew wires or furniture in exchange for the extra food and actually would signal me by making a chirping noise in a specific spot behind the TV when food supplies were low.
I'm aware how nuts this sounds to most folks, but the rats kept to themselves, only crapped in one spot which could easily be sweeped up, never showed themselves when an unfamiliar scent was in the house (guests), were normally quiet, never aggressive toward me, and actually seemed to respect my property. In exchange they happily hunted every insect in my apartment to extinction. In the southeast US bugs get huge, ugly and are extremely hard to prevent. Even with regular spraying services they still manage to infest homes... but not mine.
jaythewiseFeb 6, 2012
This article is moronic. Rats can be killed pretty easy. Look at Alberta, rat free, must be the oilsands I guess or perhaps we spend money on rat control
wcarverFeb 7, 2012
I had a pet rat (Boris) while I was in Grad school and 2 of my grand daughters had Dumbos as pets . Rats were drawn to humans not because they wanted to drink our blood but because we stayed in one place and were filthy. All the crap we tossed out or stored was a constant and reliable source of food – they would have been stupid to pass that up. Other than the fact they can be a vector for Bubonic plague (as are a whole host of other rodents) they are not associated with any other plague diseases or any diseases of serious public health concern – your house cat has a greater potential to make you sick that a rat living in the crawl space.
Of all the things there are to worry about rats should be low on the list – they have been with us before dogs and cats.
encognitoFeb 7, 2012
"You can't catch them...You can't kill them." BS! I saw a rat's movement out of the corner of my eye in the dark while I was watching television. I cornered it in a closet and used a broom and dustpan to pick it up. Then I dropped that sucker in the toilet and flushed that mf down! Never saw another rat in my apartment.
xaulted1Feb 7, 2012
I had a family of rats in my apartment living in Savannah GA. Let me tell ya they were decent roommates. They ate up all those huge southeastern c**kroaches that no exterminator can completely eradicate, quietly at night, and stayed out of sight during the day when I had people over (unlike the giant roaches which would happily wander).
This arrangement worked very well for me. In fact since I kept my property very clean I would put small amounts of food down for them in the evening occasionally to assure they didn't get hungry and leave. After several years, the rats (and Savannah rats are very much _rats_, not mice) learned not to chew wires or furniture in exchange for the extra food and actually would signal me by making a chirping noise in a specific spot behind the TV when food supplies were low.
I'm aware how nuts this sounds to most folks, but the rats kept to themselves, only crapped in one spot which could easily be sweeped up, never showed themselves when an unfamiliar scent was in the house (guests), were normally quiet, never aggressive toward me, and actually seemed to respect my property. In exchange they happily hunted every insect in my apartment to extinction. In the southeast US bugs get huge, ugly and are extremely hard to prevent. Even with regular spraying services they still manage to infest homes... but not mine.
Rats are OK with me. I miss them here in Ohio.
badsyntaxFeb 7, 2012
You creep me out. Not saying you are wrong or anything, but that you just creep me out.
redleafloansFeb 6, 2012
They can be carrier of different diseases.
jeworldFeb 6, 2012
FTA: You can't kill them: Scientists are comfortingly calling "genetically mutated super rats," which are immune to almost every type of poison.
KILL IT WITH FIRE!
urbanghostsFeb 6, 2012
Rats scare the living daylights out of me, and Washington DC is crawling with them - and no, I really am not talking about politicians!
srosmadeFeb 6, 2012
Tu tout à fait raison!