Rat Catchers Great Wakering, Essex (SS3) Area: Though it's not so common in these modern times, spotting a rat in your garden or even inside your home in Great Wakering just isn't a pleasing thing to experience. One single rat sighting may not be that much of an issue, nonetheless, if you observe the presence of rats more frequently or spot more than one you could be heading for trouble as they breed so fast.
If you do notice rats in Great Wakering, the chances are that they're going to be common brown rats, even though there are in fact two species of rats at present living in the British Isles; black (ship) rats & brown (or common) rats. As you might know black rats were blamed for the Great Plague (17th C) and at that time they were quite widespread. Black rats are quite rare nowadays and actually neither type is a native of the British Isles, both of them coming from Asia.
The biggest of the two rat species is the brown at approximately 9", while the black rat only grows to between 5 and 7 inches. Since their teeth constantly grow, brown rats have to continually gnaw at things, which can result in quite a lot of damage. Their interest is often concentrated on items that is made of timber. Obvious marks and damage can be left around your Great Wakering home by the regular gnawing activity of rats, especially when they've been living there for a while.
Rats gnaw through insulation, woodwork, pipes and wires, spread diseases, leave behind droppings, and generally cause issues in homes & business premises in Great Wakering. Householders must always report rat sightings to their local authorities. It's also possible to report problems with rats on the .gov website HERE. Doing something about it without too much delay can help to prevent what starts as a minor rat issue from escalating into a much more serious infestation to tackle.
You don't have to physically catch sight of rats running around with your own eyes to know they're about, as they usually leave a number of signs that they've been around which could make it fairly obvious that they're around. Perhaps you might hear scratching noises coming from a wall, floor or loft, you might detect droppings on the floor or in cupboards, you may spot rat holes gnawed in floorboards or skirting boards, or you could come across a rat's nest hidden away somewhere.
Rats are very capable little creatures when it comes to looking for a place to live. Even small gaps in your Great Wakering property can be enough for rats to get into the building. Damaged air bricks, gaps around pipework, broken drains, and spaces under the doors can all provide an entrance to a rat, while rubbish, compost, bird feed, and unsecured bins may motivate rats to settle down on your property in the first place. Keeping outside areas of your Great Wakering property clean & eliminating the major entry points makes it a lot less attractive to rats.
To solve this issue there are two or three routes you could take. You could set traps or poison yourself, you could locate a rat catcher or pest removal expert or you can speak to your local Great Wakering environmental health. In the world today rat catchers usually come under the umbrella of pest management, and pest control companies don't only control rats but in addition moles, fleas, cockroaches, mice, bedbugs, wasps and many more types of garden and domestic pests.
Eliminating existing rats is just part of the work, since you need to know how they entered & what attracted them in the first place. Once you are sure that rats are no longer using any of the holes or damaged areas, you should seal them and keep your waste, pet food & garbage in places which do not allow rats to get at them. An experienced Great Wakering pest controller can also help identify potential problem areas in the house or garden in advance to prevent another disaster or rat infestation in the future.
Rat catching and pest control can be done in Great Wakering and also in nearby places like: Little Wakering, Southen-on-Sea, Stambridge, Hawkwell, Hockley, Canewdon, Potton Island, Shoeburyness, Rochford, Barling, Burnham-on-Crouch, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, North Shoebury, as well as in these postcodes SS3 0ER, SS3 0AD, SS3 0HN, SS3 0PF, SS3 0HZ, SS3 0EA, SS3 0JB, SS3 0BL, SS3 0HL, SS3 0ES. Local Great Wakering rat catchers will most likely have the telephone dialling code 01702 and the postcode SS3.
Rat Prevention Great Wakering
Dissuading rats before they even show up is definitely the most effective way of avoiding having problems with them. Therefore, even if you do not currently have a problem with rats, rat prevention should be extremely high on your list of priorities. Domestic rubbish cluttering up your garden is one of the major reasons for rat and rodent infestations. You will do little else but encourage rats if you supply them with both the materials and place to build nests. Additionally, you should avoid supplying them with easily accessible foodstuffs by leaving household food scraps around the garden and putting bird seed feeders out with grain that's only going to encourage rats.
Rat Poisons
One of the ways to solve a rat problem is to use poison. Grains of wheat are coated using a poisonous compound and strategically left for rats to ingest, it only takes several days for them to perish. When placed in the optimal spot within a rat infested area, the poison can pretty swiftly kill a large population of rats. One or more of three primary components that are used in rat poisons are: difenacoum, bromadioline, or brodifacoum. You must be careful to keep this out of reach of dogs and cats. Brands of rat poison in the UK include: Roshield, Pest Expert, RatKil, Propest, Rentokil, and Elixir Gardens. (Tags: Rat Poison Great Wakering, Rat Poisons Great Wakering)
Types of Rat
There are actually two kinds of rat which you could encounter in Great Wakering or in fact anywhere else in the UK. They are the Brown Rat & the Black Rat.
The Brown Rat (Rattus Norvegicus)
In Great Wakering, the rest of the British Isles & Continental Europe the most widespread kind of rat is the brown rat (street rat, Norwegian Rat (Rattus Norvegicus), sewer rat or common rat), this is what you are likely to discover in your home or garden. The brown rat (it can often be grey) is typically 4 to 9 inches in length (not including the tail) & weighs about 140-500g. It is always found wherever humans live. This species was named Norway Rat (Rattus Norvegicus) as it was believed to have come to the UK by ship from Norway. The brown rat is now understood to have originated in China or Central Asia. Brown rats climb well & burrow extensively, they have bad eyesight but an acute sense of hearing, the female rats can produce up to five litters per year, they eat practically any foodstuffs (omnivores) but favour grain cereals.
The Black Rat (Ship Rat)
Originating from Southeast Asia (India) the black rat, ship rat or roof rat (Rattus Rattus) is also not a native of the British Isles or Europe. It's regarded as having spread to Europe during the time of the Roman Empire, probably traveling in spice shipments. The black rat was once widespread in Britain but was basically replaced by the more dominant brown rat and now is quite scarce. Weighing in at just 75-230g, the black rat reaches a length of 5-7 inches. Well known for causing diseases black rats can be the cause of bubonic plague, Weil's disease, typhus, toxoplasmosis, trichinosis, salmonella, listeria, rat bite fever, and tularemia.
Do You Have Rats?
If you have an idea that you may have rats in your property or business, there are several ways in which you can tell. You should listen for scratching noises emanating from walls & rooves, especially at night, be on the lookout for burrows or tunnels alongside solid objects, keep your eyes peeled for faeces, they are dark brown and look much like large grains of rice, watch out for rub marks where their greasy fur leaves marks on skirtings and walls, check for gnawing in wood, wires and cables, especially in lofts, try to find footprints or tail trails in dusty areas or on loose soil.
What Attracts Mice & Rats?
Irrespective of their seemingly cute appearance, with their fur covered bodies, pointy faces and twitchy whiskers, mice and rats can be dangerous & are definitely not animals that you wish to be making a home in your house or garden in Great Wakering. By gnawing through electric wires, skirting boards, plasterboard and plastic, rats and mice can cause electrical fires and other accidents. Spreading conditions like bubonic plague, Weil's disease, typhus, toxoplasmosis, trichinosis, salmonella, listeria, rat bite fever, and tularemia, rats and mice can cause over 30 different kinds of disease. So, the main things that attract mice and rats into your home or garden are:
- FOOD - Food that's left lying around or discarded is perhaps the main attraction for rats & mice.
- TRASH - Accumulations of junk and garden waste heaped up on your property (particularly in the garden) will definitely attract mice and rats.
- CLUTTER - General clutter in an outbuilding, basement or attic will be particularly attractive to mice and rats, especially if there is a source of food nearby.
- HOLES AND ENTRY POINTS - Rats & mice can crawl through the tiniest of holes, so look out for gaps around entrances, crawl spaces, pipes and air vents.
- WATER - Busy little rodents need to drink like any other creature, so water sources like birdbaths, pet water bowls, seeping sprinkler systems and leaking pipes are a big temptation for these unwelcome pests.
- PET WASTE/COMPOST - Surprisingly pet waste & even piles of compost can be attractive to rodents - they'll find plenty of tasty titbits hidden in there!
Rat Bites
While they're by no means one of the most common injuries inflicted on people in the British Isles, every so often bites from rats certainly do happen, and the effects can sometimes be serious. Rats can bite humans if they feel cornered or pressured, therefore in confined spaces it is advisable to stay well out of their way, or leave them a clear exit route.
These types of bites occasionally occur where rats are being kept as pets (which is happening quite frequently these days), and you could be asking for trouble if you poke your hand in a rat's cage, regardless how tame it is. While rat bites aren't dangerous in all cases, they can turn nasty or even fatal if they develop into "rat bite fever" (caused by Streptobacillus moniliformis). "Rat bite fever", if it is left without treatment, has a 10% mortality rate.
Symptoms of Rat Bite Fever (RBF) - Various symptoms & signs can be suffered by somebody with "rat bite fever" (streptobacillary RBF) including things like:
- Fever
- Vomiting
- Headache
- Muscle Pain
- Joint Pain or Swelling
- Rashes
- Swelling or Redness
If you are ever bitten by a rat you should promptly wash the affected area with warm water, apply an antibiotic ointment, and cover with a clean gauze or bandage. Even if you do not think it is that bad, you should get it checked out at your nearest A&E, or make an appointment at your local doctor's surgery. If it is five years or more since you received your last tetanus vaccine, you must get one of those done as well, given that rat bites can become a cause of infection.
Diseases Spread by Rats
Humans can contract various diseases from rats, with their faeces, saliva and urine being the main sources of transmission. Among the diseases that can be transmitted from rats to humans are leptospirosis, hantavirus, salmonellosis, and rat-bite fever.
Flu-like symptoms can be caused by the bacterial infection leptospirosis, which can lead to the failure of the kidneys and liver. The respiratory system can be severely affected by hantavirus, potentially resulting in fatality. Salmonellosis is a bacterial infection that causes abdominal cramps, fever & diarrhea. Through a rat bite or scratch, the bacterial infection rat-bite fever can cause rashes, vomiting and fever.
The risk of disease transmission can be minimised by controlling and preventing rat infestations. Rats have been found to carry ticks & fleas, which have the potential to transmit diseases such as Lyme disease and typhus to humans. Moreover, the risk of disease transmission can be compounded by the contamination of water and food sources with rat urine and droppings. Effective rat control measures, such as rodent-proofing & proper sanitation, can help to prevent & reduce the spread of these diseases & the risk of rat infestations.
When you've got a rat problem in Great Wakering you may be tempted to try to take care of it yourself - and of course lots of property owners in Great Wakering do choose that strategy. By looking around hardware stores, supermarkets and shops in and around Great Wakering, it's relatively simple to buy rat poisons, rat traps and similar merchandise. Having said that, unless you know exactly what you are at, it is probably wise to use an experienced rat exterminator, who will have remedied this problem hundreds if not thousands of times previously, and will automatically know what the most effective solution is. Most often the novice's use of rat poison isn't actually that helpful, and can even do more harm than good - would you really want to risk the possibility of doing harm to your children and pets? If in doubt, bring in the professionals for rat control needs in Great Wakering.
Pest Control Services
Great Wakering rat catchers can normally help you with rat treatment services for homes with signs of nesting activity, rat trapping, rat control, squirrel pest control, pest control for rats in kitchens lofts and garages, garden rat removal and control services for outdoor infestations, wildlife management, mole catching in Great Wakering, the removal of contaminated loft insulation, rodent control, pest control, electronic pest control, rat control services targeting entry points & nesting areas, garden pest control, domestic rat control services including inspection treatment & proofing, bird nest clearing, rat proofing around drains air bricks & external entry points, loft rat removal and clean up services for property owners, anti-bird spike installation, pest removal services, pest control for fleas, emergency rat control services for severe infestations in homes, residential pest control and other pest control in Great Wakering, Essex. Listed are just some of the tasks that are performed by those installing pest control. Great Wakering providers will tell you about their full range of pest control services.
Local Rat Control Enquiries
Current rat control client enquiries: Kristina Moran said - We can hear rats in the walls between rooms and it's starting to spread, need a rat catcher who can locate where they're nesting. Hugh Bennett wrote - Rats appear to be using the same route along the fence and into the shed, looking for pest control to break that pattern and remove them. Lyla Welsh said - We are looking for someone to deal with rats around our stables as they've started getting into feed stores and bedding areas. Rico Heath said - Seen multiple rats in the garden over the last week and it's becoming a concern, need a rat catcher to assess and deal with it. Caitlyn Beattie said - We are looking for professional rat control near Great Wakering after our dog uncovered several holes and tunnels along the back garden fence. Walter Coll said - We need a pest controller fairly rapidly as we've found fresh rat droppings behind the fridge & around the bottom kitchen cupboards.
FAQ: Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about rat and pest control: Is poison effective for rats? How long do rats live? When should I call a rat catcher? Do rats burrow underground? What are the limitations of ultrasonic pest control devices compared with traditional rat control methods? Are rats attracted to dirty homes? How can I prevent a rat infestation long term? Do rats damage pipes? Are drains a common entry point for rats? What is rat proofing? How long is a rat's pregnancy? How quickly do rats multiply?.
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Also find: North Shoebury pest control services, Shoeburyness pest control services, Burnham-on-Crouch pest control services, Southchurch pest control services, Hawkwell pest control services, Southen-on-Sea pest control services, Canewdon pest control services, Potton Island pest control services, Thorpe Bay pest control services, Stambridge pest control services, Rochford pest control services, Little Wakering pest control services, Hockley pest control services, Barling pest control services rat catchers and more. All these locations are served by local pest control. Great Wakering home and business owners can get pest control quotations by going here.
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Rat catchers in SS3 area, 01702.
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