On more than one occasion, I’m sure you’ve heard the term urban, so what does it mean? The definition of urban says “relating to, or characteristic of a city or town” So now I want to present an idea to you, the readers. One that you may be unfamiliar with. Urban Wildlife. Maybe you’ve heard this term before, maybe you haven’t. But I’m here to talk a little about what urban wildlife is, and how it affects you. Urban wildlife can be found anywhere that supports human life. Just in case you aren’t sure what some good examples are, raccoons, rats, pigeons, mice, and squirrels could all be considered urban wildlife. Think about how often you’ve seen raccoons digging through the dumpster in a back alley, or a squirrel snitching some food off of the ground in front of a trendy food truck. Many people wouldn’t consider this wildlife, in fact, to many people they are simply vermin. You even see animals like deer attempting to cross a busy road, so now I’ve got you thinking, what has this got to do with me? Well, pal, I’ve got news for you, you play a major part in this whole urban wildlife mess.
An increase in the number of wildlife encounters you have could come from a number of factors. A few of those reasons could be habitat loss, noise or light pollution, pollution, or invasive species. This could mean you run into more less than friendly faces while you’re out and about during the day. Fortunately, there are ways you can help minimize the damage this might cause. You can start by locking all of your outdoor garbage cans. This might not seem like a large thing, but having a source for food could draw more unwanted pests. You should also regularly dispose of fallen fruit, use spill-proof birdfeeders, and keep your pets indoors at night. This will do a lot to protect your property. Remember, most of these animals have adapted to be able to handle human encounters, so don’t be afraid to call for extra back up from trained professionals if things get out of hand.
Tag Archives: get rid of rats
Dirty Rat
We’ve tried everything to get rid of the raccoons in the attic, but at this point it seems impossible. They’ve been there for what, a couple of months now? I can’t pinpoint an exact time because we actually didn’t know they were there until a month or so ago, which is when we first saw the mother raccoon go into the attic. Before that, we just heard the occasional bumps and creaks that we gave the old house credit for. We would have been none the wiser if our neighbor’s cat hadn’t gotten into a tiff with the raccoon, leaving us to investigate the commotion and catch the raccoon crawling through a gap in the soffit.
After that we listened carefully to the sounds from above the ceiling, and it became fairly clear to us that there was more than just one raccoon in the attic, she had babies, so we started to do our research. Anything we could think of we looked up: how to get rid of raccoons in the attic, trapping raccoons, the most effective raccoon removal methods; all of it. After we made a list of possible solutions, we started to check them off one at a time. We turned the lights on in the attic, we started playing loud music during the day when we were gone, we set traps outside where we thought we might catch the mother, and we even put ammonia soaked rags up there with a fan to blow the smell around. We took every step possible, and we thought it had worked.
Not long after we had started harassing the raccoons, I saw the mother leave the attic with what looked like a baby in her mouth. We were ecstatic! After we celebrated for a minute, my husband went out and sealed off the gap we saw her entering and exiting through. We went to bed happy that night, thinking all was well. Of course, happy endings are for fairy tales and the next night the raccoon came back, tore the soffit open again, and has been hiding out there for the last 4 days (she hasn’t left once). We can’t hear any babies anymore, but we don’t know what she’s doing up there and we have nothing left to try. Please, we need some serious help to get rid of the raccoon in our attic, I can’t keep doing this.
The Longest Night
Around this time last year, we had rats in the walls. I look back on the whole situation and I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t realize it beforehand. I would find little black pellets both inside my house and on the deck near some gaps in the siding. Obviously I’m not completely oblivious, I recognized the pellets and feces and assumed it was a small mouse problem so I set out some mouse traps here and there, but never had any success so I assumed the feces I had found was old and that my cat had already killed the culprits.
That was until one night I was enjoying old NCIS reruns, and my TV stopped working. I tried turning it off and on, and plugging and unplugging it but still nothing; no sound, no static, no anything. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do so I Googled possible problems. I came up with a blown fuse, faulty cord or plug, or even a failed power supply; I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with that information so I called my neighbor and asked if he’d come take a look. He came and checked everything he could and said he wasn’t sure why it wouldn’t work, everything seemed perfectly fine and nothing else was down. I had to wait out the night in radio silence until the cable company could come in the morning.
When they did, I was genuinely surprised at what they had found! It wasn’t a problem with any of the actual electrical sources, but something had chewed through the cable in the wall that fed to the back of the TV. After that I called in a Wildlife Technician and they were able to identify my problem: there were rats in the walls. It took a month or so to get them all trapped and all of the mess they left behind cleaned up, but I was very happy with the outcome. Now I can sit and watch my shows without any worry of rats chewing up my wires.
Rat Infestation In Car
Recently, one young Irish mother was buckling her toddler into his car seat when she noticed rat droppings all over the back seat and noticed gnaw-marks on the back seats and head rests. Her car was infested with rats! Of course, she immediately took her child out of the car, locked it, and called a friend for help. She and her friend have tried to lure the rats out and poison them, but so far, they’re still a problem.
Anyone with little ones knows the car that the kids ride in the most is covered in toys, shed jackets, a few crayons or markers, and lots and lots of dropped food. It’s a mecca for rats, mice or anything that can get inside. There’s plenty to eat and lots of things to gnaw on.
This woman already had a phobia of rats, and now she’s terrified she’ll be driving down the road just to have one scamper over her foot. I would be equally afraid that a rat would gnaw through a crucial wire or hose.
Ireland isn’t alone in its rat problems. Plenty of U.S. cities are struggling right now to eradicate their rats. New York City and Baltimore, for example, are making a concerted effort to take care of their rat infestations. But, smaller, more rural towns which are overrun with the rodents may not have the resources yet to fully manage the problem.
Additionally, there is a great deal of controversy over cities laying out rat poison, which may cause secondary poisoning. Secondary poisoning is when a rat has consumed rat poison and is then, in turn, consumed by a predator such as a cat, hawk, coyote or snake. Recently, two bobcats were found dead on the East coast, after consuming rats who had not died yet from poisoning. Bird lovers are dismayed by the deaths of hawks who had eaten poisoned rats.
But, a rat infestation is a serious danger. We were already aware of numerous diseases that can be transmitted to humans from rats, but a recent study of New York City rats just revealed 18 additional previously unknown diseases harbored by the rodents. That doesn’t even begin to address the structural or electrical damage rats can cause to buildings, and apparently also cars.
So, where do we draw the line between guarding against secondary poisoning to other animals and guarding the health and safety of human beings?
Rats, Disease, and Rat Mites
It’s well-known that rats are responsible for spreading lots of diseases, and recently researchers have discovered 18 more unknown viruses carried by New York City’s rats. As if they weren’t already bad enough! But, of course, we know that rats are found all over the United States, not just in the big cities, and we should all be aware that they present a very real and serious health risk.
According to the CDC, the diseases we know of that are transmitted from rodents to humans include: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome, Lassa Fever, Leptospirosis, Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM), Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever, Plague, Rat-Bite Fever, Salmonellosis, South American Arenaviruses, and Tularemia. Awful, right?
Now, let’s add to that the fact that rats have tiny parasites called rat mites that live on rats and inside their nests and feed off rat blood. But, rat mites are capable of living without a rat host, and are perfectly happy to feed off human blood. If you have rat mites, you have a rat problem, and it’s time to get rid of those rats. The advantage to having Allstate Animal Control send someone out to take care of your rat problem is you get experts who are experienced at getting rid of the rats that are breeding in your structure, as well as sanitizing and repairing the area they infested so rat mites don’t seek out new hosts (aka you, your family or your pets). They can also inspect your home or other building to seek out and seal up all entrance points to prevent the rats from returning and keep other wild animals out.
Rats In House
Oh, no, this will not do, we will have no more rats in the house, uh uh, no way. I don’t know how the dirty damn things got in my house, or why they chose us. I run a clean home. We don’t live in a museum or anything, that’s not what I’m saying. We live in a cute little clean home, though, and I refuse to let rats in the house destroy it.
But, we are losing this battle, and I am ready to drop kick the little suckers into next year if I have to.
I first noticed we might have a rat in the house when I went through the Christmas decorations that I keep in the downstairs office. There were holes chewed right through the cardboard boxes, and little rat turds sprinkled in the tinsel and garlands. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d up and had babies right there in and amongst the nativity scenes and tree ornaments. At least there wasn’t anything dead in there, but just knowing they had made free with my decorations was enough to give me the shivers.
I made everyone tear through the house, looking for little rat holes or rat droppings. My niece found half an eaten potato in the pantry. Oh, no, we not only have rats in the house but they’re in the kitchen, too?! It was on, I was at war.
We put out traps, sealed up all the food, cleaned up all the rat turds. It obviously wasn’t enough. The rats in the house chewed through the water line to the refrigerator next. Oh, yes, they did, chewed enough holes in it that water soaked up underneath the floor boards and ran down the wall into a closet downstairs. Water damage on two floors, all because some furry little rodent can’t keep clear of my house and keep its teeth off pipes.
We caught two rats with the kind of rat traps you get at the hardware store, and I thought, phew, we don’t have anymore rats in the house. But, it turns out I was wrong, because the next thing you know, we found out that a rat had made its way into a guest bedroom, chewed a hole into the closet where we keep all our extra winter clothes, and made a rat nest and had babies inside a spare skiing jacket. It chewed its way clean through the jacket lining and used the inside fluff to make a nest for disgusting rat babies.
This will not do. I cannot have rats in my house. We are a clean family and I expect our home to be free of rats, so you gotta send someone out here ASAP to trap the rats, kill the rats, whatever you gotta do to get them out of my house.
Dead Rat In Wall
My apartment smells like sewage, and the maintenance guys for the apartment complex told me it’s probably a dead rat in the wall. We’ve been having a rat problem outside in our area, which is bad enough, but when the rats get inside the building and then die in the walls, it’s awful.
When I was in high school, a rat died in the wall of my Mom’s house. It smelled like urine and decay and it was just awful. It had died inside one of the walls of the downstairs bathroom, and we had to have someone come in and tear up the walls of the bathroom until they found the dead rat and removed it. So, I know what you’re supposed to do if you have a dead rat inside the wall.
But, the maintenance guys for my apartment complex figured they’d just do something else, something simple. They came in and re-caulked the top and bottom of the walls and then left, saying I’d have to just deal with the smell until the rat had decayed enough that it stopped smelling. Uh, yeah, great idea. Or not. Who wants to live with an apartment that smells like sewage and dead rat?? I would think they’d have to check the pipes to see if somehow rats have damaged them, and then go inside the wall to remove the dead rat. Because, a decomposing rat means that, not only are there nasty smells, but probably lots and lots of bugs, too.
I had a party planned for this weekend, but I’m going to have to cancel it or maybe convince one of my friends to have it at their place. I can’t even stand to hang out in my front room, which is where the smell is worst, so how can I expect my friends to come over and sit around in that room?
The smell is so bad in that front room that I don’t even relax in there anymore. I walk inside, holding my breath, go straight to the kitchen to drop my stuff off and get dinner, and then go straight to my bedroom, where I work on the computer and watch TV until it’s time to sleep. I’m furious the maintenance people won’t do anything about the dead rat in my wall, other than just add a little caulk to “seal out the smell.” But, I called the property manager, and convinced him to reduce my rent for next month by what it would cost me to get the dead rat removed out of the wall. That doesn’t help me if there’s a problem with the pipes, but at least it gets the dead rat out of the wall. One step at a time, I guess.
Rat in the House
“Well, of course there’s a rat in the house. That’s just great.” I was speaking to myself, of course. There wasn’t anyone else around at the moment to fully appreciate the resigned and slightly sarcastic tone in my voice. There were days I loved being a mother of four. There were days I was so proud my husband was serving in Afghanistan that I didn’t mind being a single parent for another six months. This was not one of those days. This had been the kind of day that ends with me sending the kids to bed early and in tears because I was just too sick of their fighting to bear one more minute. This had been the kind of day that ends with me sitting on my bed, eyes glazed, can of whatever in my hand, and an open bag of some kind of junk food. This had been that kind of day.
It had started off badly, when I overslept. I’d stayed up late, because I had a chance to talk briefly with my husband. His call had been delayed for some reason, but we did finally talk. I miss him terribly. I miss my partner. After our conversation, I stayed up even later, feeling sorry for us and wishing he could come home and stay home forever.
Oversleeping means that the children are late for school. When I did wake up, chaos began. I had to yell at Martin for watching television before school, and make him get himself dressed and ready for first grade. Andrea pretended like she was still asleep, until I threatened to sing our Good Morning song, and then she was up like a shot and whining and complaining that life was sooooo unfair to her. Cody and Brady fought each other in their sleep, I think, because they woke up angry at each other and didn’t stop fighting all day long.
I got them all off to school, eventually, although Andrea missed her bus and I had to drive her to junior high. That meant I was late for work at the recreation center, which meant I missed our morning meeting and had to sit in my boss’ office for ten minutes while she told me how important it was to get to work on time. My boss is fifteen years younger than I am, and feels she has something to prove.
Work didn’t get any better during the day, but I managed to stick it out and make it home in time for the kids to come home. Helping them with their homework seemed like a special punishment designed for the worst levels of hell. By the time everyone had finished homework and eaten dinner, I wanted to kill everyone.
I survived another couple of hours while their fighting, bickering and complaining increased, and finally had enough. They all went to bed early, and I lay on my bed, too dazed to cry.
That’s when I saw the rat in the house. It stopped in the middle of my bedroom floor and just looked at me. “Good timing, stupid,” I thought, “I’m just spoiling for a fight!”
Rat in the House
Laundry is one of those chores I actually don’t mind, as long as a rat in the house is not part of the process. My wife loathes doing the laundry. She would much rather take care of the garbage, the vacuuming or the dishes. She says she can’t stand sorting through dirty laundry, looking through the pockets of our boys’ pants to make sure they don’t contain rocks, sticks or other debris they treasure for a moment until it’s forgotten in the dark recesses of their pants. Once everything’s finally washed, my wife just cannot stand turning clothes right-side-out, folding them, and fighting with our boys to put them away before they are unfolded. Plus, she says the process dries her hands out. So, I made a deal with her – she takes care of the garbage, and I will stay on top of the laundry.
(Artwork by Sharon Davis. Contact us for her contact info.)
I keep my end of the deal, and secretly rejoice that I don’t have to face the disgusting garbage can ever again.
So, one night, after we put the boys to bed, I trundled off into the laundry room with the upstairs hamper in tow, and proceeded to prepare the clothes for the washing machine. My elbow bumped the liquid detergent, and some of it spilled onto the floor, so I pulled open the drawer on the bottom of the dryer to grab a rag with which I could wipe up the sticky detergent before it made a bright blue path under the machines and down the drain. It was at that moment that I discovered we have a rat in the house.
Apparently, the rat in the house loves the warmth that comes from the dryer, and the relative quiet it enjoys in that laundry room, since I’m the only one who really uses it. It had made a nest out of the rags that I’d neatly folded up long ago and placed in the drawer. I have no idea if the rat explored the rest of the house often, or if it just stuck to the laundry room, feasting on whatever tidbits I’d fished out of the boys’ pockets and tossed in the small garbage can. And, I have to admit, I was simultaneously glad my wife hadn’t been the one to discover the rat in the house, and jealous of her. Really, of the two of us, you would have thought the one who dealt with the garbage would be more likely to discover a rat in the house. But, no, it was me.
Fortunately, we’d already used Allstate Animal Control in the past, when we’d discovered another critter digging holes in the lawn. So, it was a no-brainer to email them again and have them get rid of the rat in the house.
You know, after that incident, I haven’t left a single pile of laundry just sitting in the laundry room. I hate to imagine a rat making a nest in our clothes!
Get Rid of Rats
These people, these cats, dogs and stupid birds all think they know how to get rid of rats, but the only way I’m leaving my home is if a real professional rat trapper comes in here and drags me out, kicking and screaming. I’ve been here long enough to have established my residency, so they can just kiss my little furry rat tail if they think they can run me out.
I was drawn to this place when I was a young rat. There’s a feed mill nearby, and even though it was tough to get inside the mill itself, because it was protected against me and my friends like they harbored told inside, there was still enough grain that blew away in the wind, fell, or was left out long enough for us to feast like kings. Our lean days were over. Not only that, but there was a perfect little farm nearby, with lots of perfect places in which to nest. While some of my bolder friends chose to dangerously nest inside of the barn, I preferred a tunnel and burrow in the ground, under a nut tree. The people who own the place got rid of the rats inside the barn, but there are still a few of us around who remember what it was like to live in the fields, chased by the machines and cats, and merely hoping we could enjoy a meager meal each day.
The feed mill still operates, but the barn cats, the guard dogs, and the rat traps that people set out got rid of most of the rats long ago. There are still a few of us that were wiser in our choice of home, and are more secure. We feast, and I admit, I’ve gotten fatter than I’d like, but I’m still lightning fast and can strike quickly when I need to.
Recently, a huge flock of blackbirds discovered the feed mill, and realized there wasn’t as much competition for the food as exists in other places. It started out with just a few birds, which didn’t bother me much. But, birds talk and yammer more than any other creature I know, and before long, there were hundreds here, gossiping and cawing and taking over the place. They acted like they discovered it first.
Until then, my little burrow under the tree had been a perfectly quiet spot. Then, it was taken over by these bird pests, and they got increasingly more aggressive. Before I knew it, they were eating all the feed before I had a chance to get to it, and they were guarding the entrance to my burrow to keep me from getting out. What wild cats, guard dogs and rat traps had failed to do, these birds just might pull off. They were going to get rid of rats just by being annoying.
Fine, I’m going to fight for it. Show these birds who’s boss. That’s why this morning, I crept up to the entrance of my burrow with all the stealth I could muster, and then pounced on one of those annoying birds! Made the other ones think, I can assure you. Like I said, it’ll take a professional trapper to get rid of this rat.