RATS!? We Can Solve This
- historicdistrictbh
- May 20
- 2 min read
By Alan Holden
Belmont Heights is in a wonderful zone for growing vegetables, and many fruit trees love it here. Unfortunately, critters also emerge with the warmer weather including the rodent family: Mice and Rats. Rats seem to swoop in just days before we’re ready to harvest. Even a modest rat population has taken 80% or more of my wife’s heirloom tomato harvest over a season. Wild rodents can also carry ticks, mites, or fleas that can spread diseases. They’re also quite romantic, producing litters of up to 12 offspring every 21-28 days under the best conditions.
It's easy to know you have a case of indoor rodents. There will be small dark droppings in places like your pantry, chew marks around some small openings, surrounded by discoloration that builds up due to the passage of so much dirty fur. You or your landlord can try to locate and plug all the access points yourself, but the best solution is to buy an Exclusion package from your pest control. This includes a complete survey and correction to any entry points, some indoor traps to gauge success, and a limited guarantee that – if those traps keep “trapping” – they’ll come back and patch any missed holes for free.
Traditional indoor control methods have involved killing the rodents, either with various traps or poison. But this has a very real danger when attempted outdoors, in harming and killing beneficial animals, rodent predators, and even family pets. Live trapping & relocation is an option, but research has shown that a rodent transported up to 2 miles from its original location may find its way back. I used to cage and release them by the wetlands, but this got boring, and the rodents got trap-trained, both in a short time.
Enter Rodent Birth Control! Bait treatments are now available that prevent pregnancies when ingested and are also harmless to other animals. Options range from proven products from licensed pest controllers (we use Premium Pest Control right here in Long Beach) to less expensive and lightweight retail versions available online for direct purchase.
I’m volunteering to start the Belmont Heights “Rodent Abatement Team”. With a coordinated effort, Club RAT members in strategic locations throughout the neighborhood can better “grid” the area with contraception stations. Without Club RAT, our efforts might become lopsided and less effective. We’ve seen good results over the past year, but it would be much better if it weren’t just a few of us in the club.
If you’re interested in joining Club RAT and hosting a rodent contraception station in some hidden region of your yard, please email me at alfromlongbeach@gmail.com, and we’ll see if your area needs one! It’s safe for your pets and other wildlife.
Sources:
Artwork by Rob Zylowski
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