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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35542-8.txt b/35542-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d22099 --- /dev/null +++ b/35542-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1476 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of House Rats and Mice, by David E. Lantz + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: House Rats and Mice + Farmers' Bulletin 896 + +Author: David E. Lantz + +Release Date: March 10, 2011 [EBook #35542] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE RATS AND MICE *** + + + + +Produced by Erica Pfister-Altschul, Larry B. Harrison and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + [Transcriber's Note: + + The following suspected errors have been changed in this text: + Page 6: "highdays" changed to "highways" + Page 11: "abbatoirs" changed to "abattoirs" + Page 11: Added missing "." to "FIG. 5."] + Page 14: Added missing "." to "FIG. 10."] + + + + +HOUSE RATS AND MICE + + +DAVID E. LANTZ + +Assistant Biologist + + +[Illustration] + + +FARMERS' BULLETIN 896 + +UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE + + * * * * * + +Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey + +E. W. NELSON, Chief + + + Washington, D. C. October, 1917 + + Show this bulletin to a neighbor. Additional copies may be obtained + free from the Division of Publications, United States Department of + Agriculture + + WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1917 + + +The rat is the worst animal pest in the world. + +From its home among filth it visits dwellings and storerooms to pollute +and destroy human food. + +It carries bubonic plague and many other diseases fatal to man and has +been responsible for more untimely deaths among human beings than all +the wars of history. + +In the United States rats and mice each year destroy crops and other +property valued at over $200,000,000. + +This destruction is equivalent to the gross earnings of an army of over +200,000 men. + +On many a farm, if the grain eaten and wasted by rats and mice could be +sold, the proceeds would more than pay all the farmer's taxes. + +The common brown rat breeds 6 to 10 times a year and produces an average +of 10 young at a litter. Young females breed when only three or four +months old. + +At this rate a pair of rats, breeding uninterruptedly and without +deaths, would at the end of three years (18 generations) be increased to +359,709,482 individuals. + +For centuries the world has been fighting rats without organization and +at the same time has been feeding them and building for them fortresses +for concealment. If we are to fight them on equal terms we must deny +them food and hiding places. We must organize and unite to rid +communities of these pests. The time to begin is now. + + + + +HOUSE RATS AND MICE. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page. + + Destructive habits 3 + + Protection of food and other stores 5 + Rat-proof building 5 + Keeping food from rats and mice 9 + + Destroying rats and mice 11 + Traps 11 + Poisons 15 + Domestic animals 18 + Fumigation 18 + Rat viruses 19 + Natural enemies 20 + + Organized efforts to destroy rats 20 + Community efforts 21 + State and national aid 21 + + Important repressive measures 23 + + + + +DESTRUCTIVE HABITS OF HOUSE RATS AND MICE. + + +Losses from depredations of house rats amount to many millions of +dollars yearly--to more, in fact, than those from all other injurious +mammals combined. The common house mouse[1] and the brown rat[2] (fig. +1), too familiar to need description, are pests in nearly all parts of +the country; while two other kinds of house rats, known as the black +rat[3] and the roof rat,[4] are found within our borders. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Brown rat.] + +Of these four introduced species--for none is native to America--the +brown rat is the most destructive, and, except the mouse, the most +numerous and most widely distributed. Brought to America just before +the Revolution, it has supplanted and nearly exterminated its less +robust relative the black rat; and in spite of the constant warfare of +man has extended its range and steadily increased in numbers. Its +dominance is due to its great fecundity and its ability to adapt itself +to all sorts of surroundings. It breeds (in the middle part of the +United States) six or more times a year and produces from 6 to 20 young +(average 10) in a litter. Females breed when only 3 or 4 months old. +Thus a pair, breeding uninterruptedly and without deaths, could in three +years (18 generations) produce a posterity of 359,709,480 individuals. +Mice and the black and roof rats produce smaller litters, but the period +of gestation, about 21 days, and the number of litters are the same for +all. + +Rats and mice are practically omnivorous, feeding upon all kinds of +animal and vegetable matter. The brown rat makes its home in the open +field, the hedge row, and the river bank, as well as in stone walls, +piers, and all kinds of buildings. It destroys grains when newly +planted, while growing, and in the shock, stack, mow, crib, granary, +mill, elevator, or ship's hold, and also in the bin and feed trough. It +invades store and warehouse and destroys furs, laces, silks, carpets, +leather goods, and groceries. It attacks fruits, vegetables, and meats +in the markets, and destroys by pollution ten times as much as it +actually eats. It destroys eggs and young poultry, and eats the eggs and +young of song and game birds. It carries disease germs from house to +house and bubonic plague from city to city. It causes disastrous +conflagrations; floods houses by gnawing lead water pipes; ruins +artificial ponds and embankments by burrowing; and damages foundations, +floors, doors, and furnishings of dwellings. + +Unlike the brown rat the black rat rarely migrates to the fields. It has +disappeared from most parts of the Northern States, but is occasionally +found in remote villages or farms. At our seaports it frequently arrives +on ships from abroad, but seldom becomes very numerous. The roof rat is +common in many parts of the South, where it is a persistent pest in cane +and rice fields. It maintains itself against the brown rat partly +because of its habit of living in trees. The common house mouse by no +means confines its activities to the inside of buildings, but is often +found in open fields, where its depredations in shock and stack are well +known. + +Not only are mice and rats, especially the brown rat, a cause of +destruction and damage to property, but they are also a constant menace +to the health of man. It has been proved that they are the chief means +of perpetuating and transmitting bubonic plague and that they play +important rôles in conveying other diseases to human beings. They are +parasites, without redeeming characteristics, and should everywhere be +routed and destroyed. + + + + +PROTECTION OF FOOD AND OTHER STORES FROM RATS AND MICE. + + +Past attempts to exterminate rats and mice have failed, not so much +because of lack of effective means as because of the neglect of +necessary precautions and the absence of concerted endeavors. We have +rendered our work abortive by continuing to provide subsistence and +hiding places for the animals. If these advantages are denied, +persistent and general use of the usual methods of destruction will +prove far more successful. + + +RAT-PROOF BUILDING. + +First in importance, as a measure of rat repression, is the exclusion of +the animals from places where they find food and safe retreats for +rearing their young. + +The best way to keep rats from buildings, whether in city or in country, +is to use cement in construction. As the advantages of this material are +coming to be generally understood, its use is rapidly extending to all +kinds of buildings. The processes of mixing and laying this material +require little skill or special knowledge, and workmen of ordinary +intelligence can successfully follow the plain directions contained in +handbooks of cement construction.[5] + +Many modern public buildings are so constructed that rats can find no +lodgment in the walls or foundations, and yet in a few years, through +negligence, such buildings often become infested with the pests. +Sometimes drain pipes are left uncovered for hours at a time. Often +outer doors, especially those opening on alleys, are left ajar. A common +mistake is failure to screen basement windows which must be opened for +ventilation. However the intruders are admitted, when once inside they +intrench themselves behind furniture or stores, and are difficult to +dislodge. The addition of inner doors to vestibules is an important +precaution against rats. The lower edge of outer doors to public +buildings, especially markets, should be reinforced with light metal +plates to prevent the animals from gnawing through. Any opening left +around water, steam, or gas pipes, where they go through walls, should +be closed carefully with concrete to the full depth of the wall. + +=Dwellings.=--In constructing dwelling houses the additional cost of +making the foundations rat-proof is slight compared with the advantages. +The cellar walls should have concrete footings, and the walls themselves +should be laid in cement mortar. The cellar floor should be of medium +rather than lean concrete. Even old cellars may be made rat-proof at +comparatively small expense. Rat holes may be permanently closed with a +mixture of cement, sand, and broken glass, or sharp bits of crockery or +stone. + +On a foundation like the one described above, the walls of a wooden +dwelling also may be made rat-proof. The space between the sheathing and +lath, to the height of about a foot, should be filled with concrete. +Rats can not then gain access to the walls, and can enter the dwelling +only through doors or windows. Screening all basement and cellar windows +with wire netting is a most necessary precaution. + +=Old buildings in cities.=--Aside from old dwellings, the chief refuges +for rats in cities are sewers, wharves, stables, and outbuildings. +Modern sewers are used by the animals merely as highways and not as +abodes, but old-fashioned brick sewers often afford nesting crannies. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Rat-proofing a frame dwelling by concrete side +wall (United States Public Health Service, New Orleans, La., 1914).] + +Wharves, stables, and outbuildings in cities should be so built as to +exclude rats. Cement is the chief means to this end. Old tumble-down +buildings and wharves should not be tolerated in any city. (See fig. 2.) + +In both city and country, wooden floors of sidewalks, areas, and porches +are commonly laid upon timbers resting on the ground. Under such floors +rats have a safe retreat from nearly all enemies. The conditions can be +remedied in towns by municipal action requiring that these floors be +replaced by others made of cement. Areas or walks made of brick are +often undermined by rats and may become as objectionable as those of +wood. Wooden floors of porches should always be well above the ground. + +=Farm buildings.=--Granaries, corncribs, and poultry houses may be made +rat-proof by a liberal use of cement in the foundations and floors; or +the floors may be of wood resting upon concrete. Objection has been +urged against concrete floors for horses, cattle, and poultry, because +the material is too good a conductor of heat, and the health of the +animals suffers from contact with these floors. In poultry houses, dry +soil or sand may be used as a covering for the cement floor, and in +stables a wooden floor resting on concrete is just as satisfactory so +far as the exclusion of rats is concerned. + +The common practice of setting corncribs on posts with inverted pans at +the top often fails to exclude rats, because the posts are not high +enough to place the lower cracks of the structure beyond reach of the +animals. As rats are excellent jumpers, the posts should be tall enough +to prevent the animals from obtaining a foothold at any place within 3 +feet of the ground. A crib built in this way, however, is not very +satisfactory. + +For a rat-proof crib a well-drained site should be chosen. The outer +walls, laid in cement, should be sunk about 20 inches into the ground. +The space within the walls should be grouted thoroughly with cement and +broken stone and finished with rich concrete for a floor. Upon this the +structure may be built. Even the walls of the crib may be of concrete. +Corn will not mold in contact with them, provided there is good +ventilation and the roof is water-tight. + +However, there are cheaper ways of excluding rats from either new or old +corncribs. Rats, mice, and sparrows may be kept out effectually by the +use of either an inner or an outer covering of galvanized-wire netting +of half-inch mesh and heavy enough to resist the teeth of the rats. The +netting in common use in screening cellar windows is suitable for +covering or lining cribs. As rats can climb the netting, the entire +structure must be screened, or, if sparrows are not to be excluded, the +wire netting may be carried up about 3 feet from the ground, and above +this a belt of sheet metal about a foot in width may be tacked to the +outside of the building. + +Complete working drawings for the practical rat-proof corncrib shown in +figures 3 and 4 may be obtained from the Office of Public Roads and +Rural Engineering of the department. + +=Buildings for storing foodstuffs.=--Whenever possible, stores of food +for man or beast should be placed only in buildings of rat-proof +construction, guarded against rodents by having all windows near the +ground and all other possible means of entrance screened with netting +made of No. 18 or No. 20 wire and of 1/4-inch mesh. Entrance doors +should fit closely, should have the lower edges protected by wide strips +of metal, and should have springs attached, to insure that they shall +not be left open. Before being used for housing stores, the building +should be inspected as to the manner in which water, steam, or gas +pipes go through the walls, and any openings found around such pipes +should be closed with concrete. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Perspective of rat-proof corncrib, showing +concrete foundation by dotted lines; also belt of metal.] + +If rat-proof buildings are not available, it is possible, by the use of +concrete in basements and the other precautions just mentioned, to make +an ordinary building practically safe for food storage. + +When it is necessary to erect temporary wooden structures to hold +forage, grain, or food supplies for army camps, the floors of such +buildings should not be in contact with the ground, but elevated, the +sills having a foot or more of clear space below them. Smooth posts +rising 2 or 3 feet above the ground may be used for foundations, and the +floor itself may be protected below by wire netting or sheet metal at +all places where rats could gain a foothold. Care should be taken to +have the floors as tight as possible, for it is chiefly scattered grain +and fragments of food about a camp that attract rats. + +=Rat-proofing by elevation.=--The United States Public Health Service +reports that in its campaigns against bubonic plague in San Francisco +(1907) and New Orleans (1914) many plague rats were found under the +floors of wooden houses resting on the ground. These buildings were made +rat-proof by elevation, and no case of either human or rodent plague +occurred in any house after the change. Placing them on smooth posts 18 +inches above the ground, with the space beneath the floor entirely open, +left no hiding place for rats. + +This plan is adapted to small dwellings throughout the South, and to +small summer homes, temporary structures, and small farm buildings +everywhere. Wherever rats might obtain a foothold on the top of the post +they may be prevented from gnawing the adjacent wood by tacking metal +plates or pieces of wire netting to floor or sill. + + +KEEPING FOOD FROM RATS AND MICE. + +The effect of an abundance of food on the breeding of rodents should be +kept in mind. Well-fed rats mature quickly, breed often, and have large +litters. Poorly fed rats, on the contrary, reproduce less frequently and +have smaller litters. In addition, scarcity of food makes measures for +destroying the animals far more effective. + +=Merchandise in stores.=--In all parts of the country there is a serious +economic drain in the destruction by rats and mice of merchandise held +for sale by dealers. Not only foodstuffs and forage, but textiles, +clothing, and leather goods are often ruined. This loss is due mainly to +the faulty buildings in which the stores are kept. Often it would be a +measure of economy to tear down the old structures and replace them by +new ones. However, even the old buildings may often be repaired so as to +make them practically rat-proof; and foodstuffs, as flour, seeds, and +meats, may always be protected in wire cages at slight expense. The +public should be protected from insanitary stores by a system of rigid +inspection. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Floor plan of rat-proof corncrib shown in figure +3.] + +=Household supplies.=--Similar care should be exercised in the home to +protect household supplies from mice and rats. Little progress in +ridding the premises of these animals can be made so long as they have +access to supplies of food. Cellars, kitchens, and pantries often +furnish subsistence not only to rats that inhabit the dwelling, but to +many that come from outside. Food supplies may always be kept from rats +and mice if placed in inexpensive rat-proof containers covered with wire +netting. Sometimes all that is needed to prevent serious waste is the +application of concrete to holes in the basement wall or the slight +repair of a defective part of the building. + +=Produce in transit.=--Much loss of fruits, vegetables, and other +produce occurs in transit by rail and on ships. Most of the damage is +done at wharves and in railway stations, but there is also considerable +in ships' holds, especially to perishable produce brought from warm +latitudes. Much of this may be prevented by the use of rat-proof cages +at the docks, by the careful fumigation of seagoing vessels at the end +of each voyage, and by the frequent fumigation of vessels in coastwise +trade; but still more by replacing old and decrepit wharves and station +platforms with modern ones built of concrete. + +Where cargoes are being loaded or unloaded at wharves or depots, food +liable to attack by rats may be temporarily safeguarded by being placed +in rat-proof cages, or pounds, constructed of wire netting. Wooden boxes +containing reserve food held in depots for a considerable time or +intended for shipment by sea may be made rat-proof by light coverings of +metal along the angles. This plan has long been in use to protect naval +stores on ships and in warehouses. It is based on the fact that rats do +not gnaw the plane surfaces of hard materials, but attack doors, +furniture, and boxes at the angles only. + +=Packing houses.=--Packing houses and abattoirs are often sources from +which rats secure subsistence, especially where meats are prepared for +market in old buildings. In old-style cooling rooms with double walls of +wood and sawdust insulation, always a source of annoyance because of rat +infestation, the utmost vigilance is required to prevent serious loss of +meat products. On the other hand, packing houses with modern +construction and sanitary devices have no trouble from rats or mice. + +=Garbage and waste.=--Since much of the food of rats consists of garbage +and other waste materials, it is not enough to bar the animals from +markets, granaries, warehouses, and private food stores. Garbage and +offal of all kinds must be so disposed of that rats can not obtain them. + +In cities and towns an efficient system of garbage collection and +disposal should be established by ordinances. Waste from markets, +hotels, cafés and households should be collected in covered metal +receptacles and frequently emptied. Garbage should never be dumped in or +near towns, but should be utilized or promptly destroyed by fire. + +Rats find abundant food in country slaughterhouses; reform in the +management of these is badly needed. Such places are centers of rat +propagation. It is a common practice to leave offal of slaughtered +animals to be eaten by rats and swine, and this is the chief means of +perpetuating trichinæ in pork. The law should require that offal be +promptly cremated or otherwise disposed of. Country slaughterhouses +should be as cleanly and as constantly inspected as abattoirs. + +Another important source of rat food is found in remnants of lunches +left by employees in factories, stores, and public buildings. This food, +which alone is sufficient to attract and sustain a small army of rats, +is commonly left in waste baskets or other open receptacles. Strictly +enforced rules requiring all remnants of food to be deposited in covered +metal vessels would make trapping far more effective. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Guillotine trap made entirely of metal.] + +Military training camps, unless subjected to rigid discipline in the +matter of disposal of garbage and waste, soon become centers of rat +infestation. Waste from camps, deposited in covered metal cans and +collected daily, should be removed far from the camp itself and either +burned or utilized in approved modern ways. + + + + +DESTROYING RATS AND MICE. + + +The Biological Survey has made numerous laboratory and field experiments +with various agencies for destroying rats and mice. The results form the +chief basis for the following recommendations: + + +TRAPS. + +Owing to their cunning, it is not always easy to clear rats from +premises by trapping; if food is abundant, it is impossible. A few +adults refuse to enter the most innocent-looking trap. And yet trapping, +if persistently followed, is one of the most effective ways of +destroying the animals. + +=Guillotine trap.=--For general use the improved modern traps with a +wire fall released by a baited trigger and driven by a coiled spring +have marked advantages over the old forms, and many of them may be used +at the same time. These traps, sometimes called "guillotine" traps, are +of many designs, but the more simply constructed are preferable. +Probably those made entirely of metal are the best, as they are more +durable. Traps with tin or sheet-metal bases are not recommended. + +Guillotine traps of the type shown in figure 5 should be baited with +small pieces of Vienna sausage (Wienerwurst) or fried bacon. A small +section of an ear of corn is an excellent bait if other grain is not +present. The trigger wire should be bent inward to bring the bait into +proper position for the fall to strike the rat in the neck, as shown in +figure 6. + +Other excellent baits for rats and mice are oatmeal, toasted cheese, +toasted bread (buttered), fish, fish offal, fresh liver, raw meat, pine +nuts, apples, carrots, and corn, and sunflower, squash, or pumpkin +seeds. Broken fresh eggs are good bait at all seasons, and ripe +tomatoes, green cucumbers, and other fresh vegetables are very tempting +to the animals in winter. When seed, grain, or meal is used with a +guillotine trap, it is put on the trigger plate, or the trigger wire may +be bent outward and the bait placed directly under it. + +Oatmeal (rolled oats) is recommended as a bait for guillotine traps made +with wooden base and trigger plate (fig. 7). These traps are especially +convenient to use on ledges or other narrow rat runs or at the openings +of rat burrows. They are often used without bait. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Method of baiting guillotine trap.] + +A common mistake in trapping for rats and mice is to use only one or two +traps when dozens are needed. For a large establishment hundreds of +traps may be used to advantage, and a dozen is none too many for an +ordinary barn or dwelling infested with rats. House mice are less +suspicious than rats and are much more easily trapped. Small guillotine +traps baited with oatmeal will soon rid an ordinary dwelling of the +smaller pests. + +=Cage trap.=--When rats are abundant, the large French wire cage traps +may be used to advantage. They should be made of stiff wire, well +reinforced. Many of those sold in stores are useless, because a +full-grown rat can bend the light wires apart and so escape. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Guillotine trap with wooden base and trigger +plate.] + +Cage traps may be baited and left open for several nights until the rats +are accustomed to enter them to obtain food. They should then be closed +and freshly baited, when a larger catch may be expected, especially of +young rats (fig. 8). As many as 25, and even more, partly grown rats +have been taken at a time in one of these traps. It is better to cover +the trap than to leave it exposed. A short board should be laid on the +trap and an old cloth or bag or a bunch of hay or straw thrown +carelessly over the top. Often the trap may be placed with the entrance +opposite a rat hole and fitting it so closely that rats can not pass +through without entering the trap. If a single rat is caught it may be +left in the trap as a decoy to others. + +Notwithstanding the fact that sometimes a large number of rats may be +taken at a time in cage traps, a few good guillotine traps intelligently +used will prove more effective in the long run. + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Cage trap with catch of rats.] + +=Figure-4 trigger trap.=--The old-fashioned box trap set with a +figure-4 trigger is sometimes useful to secure a wise old rat that +refuses to be enticed into a modern trap. Better still is a simple +deadfall--a flat stone or a heavy plank--supported by a figure-4 +trigger. An old rat will go under such a contrivance to feed without +fear. + +=Steel trap.=--The ordinary steel trap (No. 0 or 1) may sometimes be +satisfactorily employed to capture a rat. The animal is usually caught +by the foot, and its squealing has a tendency to frighten other rats. +The trap may be set in a shallow pan or box and covered with bran or +oats, care being taken to have the space under the trigger pan free of +grain. This may be done by placing a very little cotton under the +trigger and setting as lightly as possible. In a narrow run or at the +mouth of a burrow a steel trap unbaited and covered with very light +cloth or tissue paper is often effective. + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Barrel trap: 1, With stiff paper cover; 2, with +hinged barrel cover; _a_, stop; _b_, baits.] + +The best bait usually is food of a kind that the rats and mice do not +get in the vicinity. In a meat market, vegetables or grain should be +used; in a feed store, meat. As far as possible food other than the bait +should be inaccessible while trapping is in progress. The bait should be +kept fresh and attractive, and the kind changed when necessary. Baits +and traps should be handled as little as possible. + +[Illustration: FIG. 10--Pit trap. _aa_, Rat run; _bb_, cover; _cc_, +position of weights; _dd_, rods on which covers turn.] + +=Barrel trap.=--About 60 years ago a writer in the Cornhill Magazine +gave details of a trap, by means of which it was claimed that 3,000 rats +were caught in a warehouse in a single night. The plan involved tolling +the rats to the place and feeding them for several nights on the tops of +barrels covered with coarse brown paper. Afterwards a cross was cut in +the paper, so that the rats fell into the barrel (fig. 9 (1)). Many +variations of the plan, but few improvements upon it, have been +suggested by agricultural writers since that time. Reports are +frequently made of large catches of rats by means of a barrel fitted +with a light cover of wood, hinged on a rod so as to turn with the +weight of a rat (fig. 9 (2)). + +=Pit trap.=--A modification of the barrel trap is the pit trap (fig. +10). This consists of a stout narrow box sunk in the ground so that the +top is level with the rat run. It is fixed with a cover of light wood or +metal in two sections, the sections fitting nicely inside the box and +working independently. They turn on rods, to which they are fastened. +They are weighted near the ends of the box and so adjusted that they +swing easily. An animal stepping upon the cover beyond the rods is +precipitated into the box, while the cover immediately swings back to +its place. Besides rats, the trap is well adapted to capture larger +animals, as minks, raccoons, opossums, and cats. It is especially useful +to protect poultry yards, game preserves, and the like. The trap should +be placed along the fence outside the yard, and behind a shelter of +boards or brush that leans against the fence. + +=Fence and battue.=--In the rice fields of the Far East the natives +build numerous piles of brush and rice straw, and leave them for several +days until many rats have taken shelter in them. A portable bamboo +inclosure several feet in height is then set up around each pile in +succession and the straw and brush are thrown out over the top, while +dogs and men kill the trapped rodents. Large numbers are destroyed in +this way, and the plan with modifications may be utilized in America +with satisfactory results. A wire netting of fine mesh may be used for +the inclosure. The scheme is applicable at the removal of grain, straw, +or haystacks, as well as brush piles. + +In a large barn near Washington, a few years ago, piles of unhusked corn +were left in the loft and were soon infested with rats. A wooden pen was +set down surrounding the piles in turn and the corn thrown out until +dogs were able to get at the rats. In this way several men and dogs +killed 500 rats in a single day. + + +POISONS. + +While the use of poison is the best and quickest way to get rid of rats +and mice, the odor from the dead animals makes the method impracticable +in occupied houses. Poisons may be effectively used in barns, stables, +sheds, cribs, and other outbuildings. + +=Caution.=--In the United States there are few laws which prohibit the +laying of poisons on lands owned or controlled by the poisoner. Hence it +is all the more necessary to exercise extreme caution to prevent +accidents. In several States notice of intention to lay poison must be +given to persons living in the neighborhood. Poison for rats should +never be placed in open or unsheltered places. This applies particularly +to strychnin or arsenic on meat. _Packages containing poisons should +always bear a warning label and should not be kept where children might +reach them._ + +Among the principal poisons that have been recommended for killing rats +and mice are barium carbonate, strychnin, arsenic, phosphorus, and +squills. + +=Barium carbonate.=--One of the cheapest and most effective poisons for +rats and mice is barium carbonate. This mineral has the advantage of +being without taste or smell. It has a corrosive action on the mucous +lining of the stomach and is dangerous to larger animals if taken in +sufficient quantity. In the small doses fed to rats and mice it would be +harmless to domestic animals. Its action upon rats is slow, and if exit +is possible the animals usually leave the premises in search of water. +For this reason the poison may frequently, though not always, be used in +houses without disagreeable consequences. + +Barium carbonate may be fed in the form of dough composed of four parts +of meal or flour and one part of the mineral. A more convenient bait is +ordinary oatmeal with about one-eighth of its bulk of the mineral, mixed +with water into a stiff dough. A third plan is to spread the barium +carbonate upon fish, toasted bread (moistened), or ordinary bread and +butter. The prepared bait should be placed in rat runs, about a +teaspoonful at a place. If a single application of the poison fails to +kill or drive away all rats from the premises, it should be repeated +with a change of bait. + +=Strychnin.=--Strychnin is too rapid in action to make its use for rats +desirable in houses, but elsewhere it may be employed effectively. +Strychnia sulphate is the best form to use. The dry crystals may be +inserted in small pieces of raw meat, Vienna sausage, or toasted cheese, +and these placed in rat runs or burrows; or oatmeal may be moistened +with a strychnin sirup and small quantities laid in the same way. + +Strychnin sirup is prepared as follows: Dissolve a half ounce of +strychnia sulphate in a pint of boiling water; add a pint of thick sugar +sirup and stir thoroughly. A smaller quantity may be prepared with a +proportional quantity of water and sirup. In preparing the bait it is +necessary to moisten all the oatmeal with the sirup. Wheat and corn are +excellent alternative baits. The grain should be soaked overnight in the +strychnin sirup. + +=Arsenic.=--Arsenic is probably the most popular of the rat poisons, +owing to its cheapness, yet our experiments prove that, measured by the +results obtained, arsenic is dearer than strychnin. Besides, arsenic is +extremely variable in its effect upon rats, and if the animals survive a +first dose it is very difficult to induce them to take another. + +Powdered white arsenic (arsenious acid) may be fed to rats in almost any +of the baits mentioned under barium carbonate and strychnin. It has been +used successfully when rubbed into fresh fish or spread on buttered +toast. Another method is to mix twelve parts by weight of corn meal and +one part of arsenic with whites of eggs into a stiff dough. + +An old formula for poisoning rats and mice with arsenic is the +following, adapted from an English source: + +Take a pound of oatmeal, a pound of coarse brown sugar, and a spoonful +of arsenic. Mix well together and put the composition into an earthen +jar. Put a tablespoonful at a place in runs frequented by rats. + +=Phosphorus.=--For poisoning rats and mice, phosphorus is used almost as +commonly as arsenic, and undoubtedly it is effective when given in an +attractive bait. The phosphorus paste of the drug stores is usually +dissolved yellow phosphorus, mixed with glucose or other substances. The +proportion of phosphorus varies from one-fourth of 1 per cent to 4 per +cent. The first amount is too small to be always effective and the last +is dangerously inflammable. When homemade preparations of phosphorus are +used there is much danger of burning the person or of setting fire to +crops or buildings. In the Western States many fires have resulted from +putting out homemade phosphorus poisons for ground squirrels, and entire +fields of ripe grain have been destroyed in this way. Even with +commercial pastes the action of sun and rain changes the phosphorus and +leaches out the glucose until a highly inflammable residue is left. + +It is often claimed that phosphorus eaten by rats or mice dries up or +mummifies the body so that no odor results. The statement has no +foundation in fact. No known poison will prevent decomposition of the +body of an animal that died from its effects. Equally misleading is the +statement that rats poisoned with phosphorus do not die on the premises. +Owing to its slower operation, no doubt a larger portion escape into the +open before dying than when strychnin is used. + +The Biological Survey does not recommend the use of phosphorus as a +poison for rodents. + +=Squills.=--The squill, or sea leek,[6] is a favorite rat poison in many +parts of Europe and is well worthy of trial in America. It is rapid and +very deadly in its action, and rats seem to eat it readily. The poison +is used in several ways. Two ounces of dry squills, powdered, may be +thoroughly mixed with eight ounces of toasted cheese or of butter and +meal and put out in runs of rats or mice. Another formula recommends two +parts of squills to three parts of finely chopped bacon, mixed with meal +enough to make it cohere. This is baked in small cakes. + +=Poison in poultry houses.=--For poisoning rats in buildings and yards +occupied by poultry the following method is recommended: Two wooden +boxes should be used, one considerably larger than the other and each +having one or more holes in the sides large enough to admit rats. The +poisoned bait should be placed on the bottom and near the middle of the +smaller box, and the larger box should then be inverted over it. Rats +thus have free access to the bait, but fowls are excluded. + + +DOMESTIC ANIMALS. + +Among domestic animals employed to kill rats are the dog, the cat, and +the ferret. + +=Dogs.=--The value of dogs as ratters can not be appreciated by persons +who have had no experience with a trained animal. The ordinary cur and +the larger breeds of dogs seldom develop the necessary qualities for +ratters. Small Irish, Scotch, and fox terriers, when properly trained, +are superior to other breeds and under favorable circumstances may be +relied upon to keep the farm premises reasonably free from rats. + +=Cats.=--However valuable cats may be as mousers, few learn to catch +rats. The ordinary house cat is too well fed and consequently too lazy +to undertake the capture of an animal as formidable as the brown rat. +Birds and mice are much more to its liking. Cats that are fearless of +rats, however, and have learned to hunt and destroy them are often very +useful about stables and warehouses. They should be lightly fed, chiefly +on milk. A little sulphur in the milk at intervals is a corrective +against the bad effects of a constant rat or mouse diet. Cats often die +from eating these rodents. + +=Ferrets.=--Tame ferrets, like weasels, are inveterate foes of rats, and +can follow the rodents into their retreats. Under favorable +circumstances they are useful aids to the rat catcher, but their value +is greatly overestimated. For effective work they require experienced +handling and the additional services of a dog or two. Dogs and ferrets +must be thoroughly accustomed to each other, and the former must be +quiet and steady instead of noisy and excitable. The ferret is used only +to bolt the rats, which are killed by the dogs. If unmuzzled ferrets are +sent into rat retreats, they are apt to make a kill and then lie up +after sucking the blood of their victim. Sometimes they remain for hours +in the burrows or escape by other exits and are lost. There is danger +that these lost ferrets may adapt themselves to wild conditions and +become a pest by preying upon poultry and birds. + + +FUMIGATION. + +Rats may be destroyed in their burrows in the fields and along river +banks, levees, and dikes by carbon bisulphid.[7] A wad of cotton or +other absorbent material is saturated with the liquid and then pushed +into the burrow, the opening being packed with earth to prevent the +escape of the gas. All animals in the burrow are asphyxiated. Fumigation +in buildings is not so satisfactory, because it is difficult to confine +the gases. Moreover, when effective, the odor from the dead rats is +highly objectionable in occupied buildings. + +Chlorin, carbon monoxid, sulphur dioxid, and hydrocyanic acid are the +gases most used for destroying rats and mice in sheds, warehouses, and +stores. Each is effective if the gas can be confined and made to reach +the retreats of the animals. Owing to the great danger from fire +incident to burning charcoal or sulphur in open pans, a special furnace +provided with means for forcing the gas into the compartments of vessels +or buildings is generally employed. + +Hydrocyanic-acid gas is effective in destroying all animal life in +buildings. It has been successfully used to free elevators and +warehouses of rats, mice, and insects. However, it is so dangerous to +human life that the novice should not attempt fumigation with it, except +under careful instructions. Directions for preparing and using the gas +may be found in a publication entitled Hydrocyanic-acid Gas against +Household Insects, by Dr. L. O. Howard and Charles H. Popenoe.[8] + +Carbon monoxid is rather dangerous, as its presence in the hold of a +vessel or other compartment is not manifest to the senses, and fatal +accidents have occurred during its employment to fumigate vessels. + +Chlorin gas has a strong bleaching action upon textile fabrics, and for +this reason can not be used in many situations. + +Sulphur dioxid also has a bleaching effect upon textiles, but less +marked than that of chlorin, and ordinarily it is not noticeable with +the small percentage of the gas it is necessary to use. On the whole, +this gas has many advantages as a fumigator and disinfectant. It is used +also as a fire extinguisher on board vessels. Special furnaces for +generating the gas and forcing it into the compartments of ships and +buildings are on the market, and many steamships and docks are now +fitted with the necessary apparatus. + + +RAT VIRUSES. + +Several microorganisms, or bacteria, found originally in diseased rats +or mice, have been exploited for destroying rats. A number of these +so-called rat viruses are on the American market. The Biological Survey, +the Bureau of Animal Industry, and the United States Public Health +Service have made careful investigations and practical tests of these +viruses, mostly with negative results. The cultures tested by the +Biological Survey have not proved satisfactory. + +The chief defects to be overcome before the cultures can be recommended +for general use are: + +1. The virulence is not great enough to kill a sufficiently high +percentage of rats that eat food containing the microorganisms. + +2. The virulence decreases with the age of the cultures. They +deteriorate in warm weather and in bright sunlight. + +3. The diseases resulting from the microorganisms are not contagious and +do not spread by contact of diseased with healthy animals. + +4. The comparative cost of the cultures is too great for general use. +Since they have no advantages over the common poisons, except that they +are usually harmless to man and other animals, they should be equally +cheap; but their actual cost is much greater. Moreover, considering the +skill and care necessary in their preparation, it is doubtful if the +cost can be greatly reduced. + +The Department of Agriculture, therefore, does not prepare, use, or +recommend the use of rat viruses. + + +NATURAL ENEMIES OF RATS AND MICE. + +Among the natural enemies of rats and mice are the larger hawks and +owls, skunks, foxes, coyotes, weasels, minks, dogs, cats, and ferrets. + +Probably the greatest factor in the increase of rats, mice, and other +destructive rodents in the United States has been the persistent killing +off of the birds and mammals that prey upon them. Animals that on the +whole are decidedly beneficial, since they subsist upon harmful insects +and rodents, are habitually destroyed by some farmers and sportsmen +because they occasionally kill a chicken or a game bird. + +The value of carnivorous mammals and the larger birds of prey in +destroying rats and mice should be more fully recognized, especially by +the farmer and the game preserver. Rats actually destroy more poultry +and game, both eggs and young chicks, than all the birds and wild +mammals combined; yet some of their enemies among our most useful birds +of prey and carnivorous mammals are persecuted almost to the point of +extinction. An enlightened public sentiment should cause the repeal of +all bounties on these animals and afford protection to the majority of +them. + + + + +ORGANIZED EFFORTS TO DESTROY RATS. + + +The necessity of cooperation and organization in the work of rat +destruction is of the utmost importance. To destroy all the animals on +the premises of a single farmer in a community has little permanent +value, since they are soon replaced from near-by farms. If, however, the +farmers of an entire township or county unite in efforts to get rid of +rats, much more lasting results may be attained. If continued from year +to year, such organized efforts are very effective. + + +COMMUNITY EFFORTS. + +Cooperative efforts to destroy rats have taken various forms in +different localities. In cities, municipal employees have occasionally +been set at work hunting rats from their retreats, with at least +temporary benefit to the community. Thus, in 1904, at Folkestone, +England, a town of about 25,000 inhabitants, the corporation employees, +helped by dogs, in three days killed 1,645 rats. + +Side hunts in which rats are the only animals that count in the contest +have sometimes been organized and successfully carried out. At New +Burlington, Ohio, a rat hunt took place some years ago in which each of +the two sides killed over 8,000 rats, the beaten party serving a banquet +to the winners. + +There is danger that organized rat hunts will be followed by long +intervals of indifference and inaction. This may be prevented by +offering prizes covering a definite period of effort. Such prizes +accomplish more than municipal bounties, because they secure a friendly +rivalry which stimulates the contestants to do their utmost to win. + +In England and some of its colonies contests for prizes have been +organized to promote the destruction of the English, or house, sparrow, +but many of the so-called sparrow clubs are really sparrow and rat +clubs, for the destruction of both pests is the avowed object of the +organizations. A sparrow club in Kent, England, accomplished the +destruction of 28,000 sparrows and 16,000 rats in three seasons by the +annual expenditure of but £6 ($29.20) in prize money. Had ordinary +bounties been paid for this destruction, the tax on the community would +have been about £250 (over $1,200). + +Many organizations already formed should be interested in destroying +rats. Boards of trade, civic societies, and citizens' associations in +towns and farmers' and women's clubs in rural communities will find the +subject of great importance. Women's municipal leagues in several large +cities already have taken up the matter. The league in Baltimore +recently secured appropriations of funds for expenditure in fighting +mosquitoes, flies, and rats. The league in Boston during the past year, +supported by voluntary contributions for the purpose, made a highly +creditable educational campaign against rats. Boys' corn clubs, the +troops of Boy Scouts, and similar organizations could do excellent work +in rat campaigns. + + +STATE AND NATIONAL AID. + +To secure permanent results any general campaign for the elimination of +rats must aim at _building the animals out of shelter and food_. +Building reforms depend on municipal ordinances and legislative +enactments. The recent plague eradication work of the United States +Public Health Service in San Francisco, Seattle, New Orleans, and at +various places in Hawaii and Porto Rico required such ordinances and +laws as well as financial aid in prosecuting the work. The campaign of +Danish and Swedish organizations for the destruction of rats had the +help of governmental appropriations. The legislatures of California, +Texas, Indiana, and Hawaii have in recent years passed laws or made +appropriations to aid in rat riddance. It is probable that +well-organized efforts of communities would soon win legislative support +everywhere. Communities should not postpone efforts, however, while +waiting for legislative cooperation, but should at once organize and +begin repressive operations. Wherever health is threatened the Public +Health Service of the United States can cooperate, and where crops and +other products are endangered the Bureau of Biological Survey of the +Department of Agriculture is ready to assist by advice and in +demonstration of methods. + + + + +IMPORTANT REPRESSIVE MEASURES. + + +The measures needed for repressing and eliminating rats and mice include +the following: + +1. The requirement that all new buildings erected shall be made +rat-proof under competent inspection. + +2. That all existing rat-proof buildings shall be closed against rats +and mice by having all openings accessible to the animals, from +foundation to roof, closed or screened by door, window, grating, or +meshed wire netting. + +3. That all buildings not of rat-proof construction shall be made so by +remodeling, by the use of materials that may not be pierced by rats, or +by elevation. + +4. The protection of our native hawks, owls, and smaller predatory +mammals--the natural enemies of rats. + +5. Greater cleanliness about markets, grocery stores, warehouses, +courts, alleys, stables, and vacant lots in cities and villages, and +like care on farms and suburban premises. This includes the storage of +waste and garbage in tightly covered vessels and the prompt disposal of +it each day. + +6. Care in the construction of drains and sewers, so as not to provide +entrance and retreat for rats. Old brick sewers in cities should be +replaced by concrete or tile. + +7. The early threshing and marketing of grains on farms, so that stacks +and mows shall not furnish harborage and food for rats. + +8. Removal of outlying straw stacks and piles of trash or lumber that +harbor rats in fields and vacant lots. + +9. The keeping of provisions, seed grain, and foodstuffs in rat-proof +containers. + +10. Keeping effective rat dogs, especially on farms and in city +warehouses. + +11. The systematic destruction of rats, whenever and wherever possible, +by (_a_) trapping, (_b_) poisoning, and (_c_) organized hunts. + +12. The organization of clubs and other societies for systematic warfare +against rats. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Mus musculus._ + +[2] _Rattus norvegicus._ + +[3] _Rattus rattus rattus._ + +[4] _Rattus rattus alexandrinus._ + +[5] Farmers' Bulletin 461, Use of Concrete on the Farm, will prove +useful to city and village dwellers as well as to the farmer. + +[6] _Scilla maritima._ + +[7] CAUTION.--Carbon disulphid is very inflammable and can be ignited by +a match, lantern, cigar, or pipe. + +[8] Farmers' Bulletin 699. + + + + +PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE RELATING TO +NOXIOUS MAMMALS. + + +AVAILABLE FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION. + + How to Destroy Rats. (Farmers' Bulletin 369.) + + The Common Mole of Eastern United States. (Farmers' Bulletin 583.) + + Field Mice as Farm and Orchard Pests. (Farmers' Bulletin 670.) + + Cottontail Rabbits in Relation to Trees and Farm Crops. (Farmers' + Bulletin 702.) + + Trapping Moles and Utilizing Their Skins. (Farmers' Bulletin 832.) + + Destroying Rodent Pests on the Farm. (Separate 708, Yearbook for + 1916.) + + +FOR SALE BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, +WASHINGTON, D. C. + + Harmful and Beneficial Mammals of the Arid Interior, with Special + Reference to the Carson and Humboldt Valleys, Nevada. (Farmers' + Bulletin 335.) Price 5 cents. + + The Nevada Mouse Plague of 1907-8. (Farmers' Bulletin 352.) Price 5 + cents. + + Some Common Mammals of Western Montana in Relation to Agriculture + and Spotted Fever. (Farmers' Bulletin 484.) Price 5 cents. + + Danger of Introducing Noxious Animals and Birds. (Separate 132, + Yearbook 1898.) Price 5 cents. + + Meadow Mice in Relation to Agriculture and Horticulture. (Separate + 388, Yearbook 1905.) Price 5 cents. + + Mouse Plagues, Their Control and Prevention. (Separate 482, Yearbook + 1908.) Price--cents. + + Use of Poisons for Destroying Noxious Mammals. (Separate 491, + Yearbook 1908.) Price 5 cents. + + Pocket Gophers as Enemies of Trees. (Separate 506, Yearbook 1909.) + Price 5 cents. + + The Jack Rabbits of the United States. (Biological Survey Bulletin + 8.) Price 10 cents. + + Economic Study of Field Mice, genus _Microtus_. (Biological Survey + Bulletin 31.) Price 15 cents. + + The Brown Rat in the United States. (Biological Survey Bulletin 33.) + Price 15 cents. + + Directions for the Destruction of Wolves and Coyotes. (Biological + Survey Circular 55.) Price 5 cents. + + The California Ground Squirrel. (Biological Survey Circular 76.) + Price 5 cents. + + Seed-eating Mammals in Relation to Reforestation. (Biological Survey + Circular 78.) Price 5 cents. + + Mammals of Bitterroot Valley, Montana, in Their Relation to Spotted + Fever. (Biological Survey Circular 82.) Price 5 cents. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of House Rats and Mice, by David E. Lantz + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE RATS AND MICE *** + +***** This file should be named 35542-8.txt or 35542-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/4/35542/ + +Produced by Erica Pfister-Altschul, Larry B. Harrison and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Lantz + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: House Rats and Mice + Farmers' Bulletin 896 + +Author: David E. Lantz + +Release Date: March 10, 2011 [EBook #35542] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE RATS AND MICE *** + + + + +Produced by Erica Pfister-Altschul, Larry B. Harrison and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></div> +<h1>HOUSE RATS AND MICE</h1> + + +<h3>DAVID E. LANTZ<br /> +<span class="smaller">Assistant Biologist</span></h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/fig-00-800.jpg"> +<img class="frame" src="images/fig-00-400.png" width="400" height="386" alt="" title="" /> +</a> +</div> + + +<h2>FARMERS’ BULLETIN 896</h2> + +<h3>UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE</h3> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<h3>Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey</h3> + +<h4>E. W. NELSON, Chief</h4> + +<p>Washington, D. C. <span class="floatright">October, 1917</span></p> + +<p class="center">Show this bulletin to a neighbor. Additional copies may be +obtained free from the Division of Publications, United States +Department of Agriculture</p> + +<p class="right smaller">WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1917</p> + + +<hr class="cb" /> +<div><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></div> +<p>The rat is the worst animal pest in the world.</p> + +<p>From its home among filth it visits dwellings and +storerooms to pollute and destroy human food.</p> + +<p>It carries bubonic plague and many other diseases +fatal to man and has been responsible for more untimely +deaths among human beings than all the wars +of history.</p> + +<p>In the United States rats and mice each year destroy +crops and other property valued at over $200,000,000.</p> + +<p>This destruction is equivalent to the gross earnings +of an army of over 200,000 men.</p> + +<p>On many a farm, if the grain eaten and wasted by +rats and mice could be sold, the proceeds would more +than pay all the farmer's taxes.</p> + +<p>The common brown rat breeds 6 to 10 times a +year and produces an average of 10 young at a litter. +Young females breed when only three or four months +old.</p> + +<p>At this rate a pair of rats, breeding uninterruptedly +and without deaths, would at the end of three years +(18 generations) be increased to 359,709,482 individuals.</p> + +<p>For centuries the world has been fighting rats +without organization and at the same time has been +feeding them and building for them fortresses for +concealment. If we are to fight them on equal terms +we must deny them food and hiding places. We must +organize and unite to rid communities of these pests. +The time to begin is now.</p> + +<hr class="cb" /> +<div><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></div> +<h2>HOUSE RATS AND MICE.</h2> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<ul class="TOC"> + <li> <span class="ralign">Page.</span></li> + <li><a href="#DESTRUCTIVE_HABITS">Destructive habits</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></span></li> + <li><a href="#PROTECTION_OF_FOOD">Protection of food and other stores</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></span> + <ul> + <li><a href="#RAT-PROOF_BUILDING">Rat-proof building</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></span></li> + <li><a href="#KEEPING_FOOD">Keeping food from rats and mice</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></span></li> + </ul></li> + <li><a href="#DESTROYING_RATS_AND_MICE">Destroying rats and mice</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></span> + <ul> + <li><a href="#TRAPS">Traps</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></span></li> + <li><a href="#POISONS">Poisons</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></span></li> + <li><a href="#DOMESTIC_ANIMALS">Domestic animals</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></span></li> + <li><a href="#FUMIGATION">Fumigation</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></span></li> + <li><a href="#RAT_VIRUSES">Rat viruses</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></span></li> + <li><a href="#NATURAL_ENEMIES">Natural enemies</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></span></li> + </ul></li> + <li><a href="#ORGANIZED_EFFORTS">Organized efforts to destroy rats</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></span> + <ul> + <li><a href="#COMMUNITY_EFFORTS">Community efforts</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></span></li> + <li><a href="#STATE_AND_NATIONAL_AID">State and national aid</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></span></li> + </ul></li> + <li><a href="#IMPORTANT_REPRESSIVE_MEASURES">Important repressive measures</a> + <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></span></li> +</ul> + +<hr class="cb" /> +<h2><a name="DESTRUCTIVE_HABITS" id="DESTRUCTIVE_HABITS"></a>DESTRUCTIVE HABITS OF HOUSE RATS AND MICE.</h2> + +<p>Losses from depredations of house rats amount to many millions +of dollars yearly—to more, in fact, than those from all other +injurious mammals combined. The common house mouse<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and the +brown rat<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> (fig. 1), too familiar to need description, are pests in +nearly all parts of the country; while two other kinds of house rats, +known as the black rat<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and the roof rat,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> are found within our +borders.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/fig-01-800.jpg"> +<img class="frame" src="images/fig-01-400.png" width="400" height="178" alt="" title="" /> +</a> +<span class="caption smaller"><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 1.—Brown rat.</span> +</div> + +<p>Of these four introduced species—for none is native to America—the +brown rat is the most destructive, and, except the mouse, the most +numerous and most widely distributed. Brought to America just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +before the Revolution, it has supplanted and nearly exterminated +its less robust relative the black rat; and in spite of the constant warfare +of man has extended its range and steadily increased in numbers. +Its dominance is due to its great fecundity and its ability to adapt +itself to all sorts of surroundings. It breeds (in the middle part of +the United States) six or more times a year and produces from 6 to +20 young (average 10) in a litter. Females breed when only 3 or 4 +months old. Thus a pair, breeding uninterruptedly and without +deaths, could in three years (18 generations) produce a posterity of +359,709,480 individuals. Mice and the black and roof rats produce +smaller litters, but the period of gestation, about 21 days, and the +number of litters are the same for all.</p> + +<p>Rats and mice are practically omnivorous, feeding upon all kinds +of animal and vegetable matter. The brown rat makes its home in +the open field, the hedge row, and the river bank, as well as in stone +walls, piers, and all kinds of buildings. It destroys grains when +newly planted, while growing, and in the shock, stack, mow, crib, +granary, mill, elevator, or ship's hold, and also in the bin and feed +trough. It invades store and warehouse and destroys furs, laces, +silks, carpets, leather goods, and groceries. It attacks fruits, vegetables, +and meats in the markets, and destroys by pollution ten times +as much as it actually eats. It destroys eggs and young poultry, and +eats the eggs and young of song and game birds. It carries disease +germs from house to house and bubonic plague from city to city. +It causes disastrous conflagrations; floods houses by gnawing lead +water pipes; ruins artificial ponds and embankments by burrowing; +and damages foundations, floors, doors, and furnishings of dwellings.</p> + +<p>Unlike the brown rat the black rat rarely migrates to the fields. +It has disappeared from most parts of the Northern States, but is +occasionally found in remote villages or farms. At our seaports it +frequently arrives on ships from abroad, but seldom becomes very +numerous. The roof rat is common in many parts of the South, +where it is a persistent pest in cane and rice fields. It maintains +itself against the brown rat partly because of its habit of living in +trees. The common house mouse by no means confines its activities +to the inside of buildings, but is often found in open fields, where its +depredations in shock and stack are well known.</p> + +<p>Not only are mice and rats, especially the brown rat, a cause of +destruction and damage to property, but they are also a constant +menace to the health of man. It has been proved that they are the +chief means of perpetuating and transmitting bubonic plague and +that they play important rôles in conveying other diseases to human +beings. They are parasites, without redeeming characteristics, and +should everywhere be routed and destroyed.</p> + +<div><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="PROTECTION_OF_FOOD" id="PROTECTION_OF_FOOD"></a>PROTECTION OF FOOD AND OTHER STORES FROM RATS AND MICE.</h2> + +<p>Past attempts to exterminate rats and mice have failed, not so much +because of lack of effective means as because of the neglect of necessary +precautions and the absence of concerted endeavors. We have +rendered our work abortive by continuing to provide subsistence and +hiding places for the animals. If these advantages are denied, persistent +and general use of the usual methods of destruction will prove +far more successful.</p> + +<h3><a name="RAT-PROOF_BUILDING" id="RAT-PROOF_BUILDING"></a>RAT-PROOF BUILDING.</h3> + +<p>First in importance, as a measure of rat repression, is the exclusion +of the animals from places where they find food and safe retreats for +rearing their young.</p> + +<p>The best way to keep rats from buildings, whether in city or in +country, is to use cement in construction. As the advantages of this +material are coming to be generally understood, its use is rapidly extending +to all kinds of buildings. The processes of mixing and laying +this material require little skill or special knowledge, and +workmen of ordinary intelligence can successfully follow the plain +directions contained in handbooks of cement construction.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Many modern public buildings are so constructed that rats can +find no lodgment in the walls or foundations, and yet in a few years, +through negligence, such buildings often become infested with the +pests. Sometimes drain pipes are left uncovered for hours at a time. +Often outer doors, especially those opening on alleys, are left ajar. +A common mistake is failure to screen basement windows which must +be opened for ventilation. However the intruders are admitted, when +once inside they intrench themselves behind furniture or stores, and +are difficult to dislodge. The addition of inner doors to vestibules is +an important precaution against rats. The lower edge of outer doors +to public buildings, especially markets, should be reinforced with +light metal plates to prevent the animals from gnawing through. +Any opening left around water, steam, or gas pipes, where they go +through walls, should be closed carefully with concrete to the full +depth of the wall.</p> + +<p><b>Dwellings.</b>—In constructing dwelling houses the additional cost of +making the foundations rat-proof is slight compared with the advantages. +The cellar walls should have concrete footings, and the +walls themselves should be laid in cement mortar. The cellar floor +should be of medium rather than lean concrete. Even old cellars +may be made rat-proof at comparatively small expense. Rat holes +may be permanently closed with a mixture of cement, sand, and +broken glass, or sharp bits of crockery or stone.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +On a foundation like the one described above, the walls of a wooden +dwelling also may be made rat-proof. The space between the sheathing +and lath, to the height of about a foot, should be filled with concrete. +Rats can not then gain access to the walls, and can enter the +dwelling only through doors or windows. Screening all basement +and cellar windows with wire netting is a most necessary precaution.</p> + +<p><b>Old buildings in cities.</b>—Aside from old dwellings, the chief refuges +for rats in cities are sewers, wharves, stables, and outbuildings. +Modern sewers are used by the animals merely as highways and not as +abodes, but old-fashioned brick sewers often afford nesting crannies.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/fig-02-800.jpg"> +<img class="frame" src="images/fig-02-400.png" width="400" height="298" alt="" title="" /> +</a> +<span class="caption smaller"> +<span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 2.—Rat-proofing a frame dwelling +by concrete side wall (United States Public Health Service, New Orleans, +La., 1914).</span> +</div> + +<p>Wharves, stables, and outbuildings in cities should be so built as to +exclude rats. Cement is the chief means to this end. Old tumble-down +buildings and wharves should not be tolerated in any city. +(See fig. 2.)</p> + +<p>In both city and country, wooden floors of sidewalks, areas, and +porches are commonly laid upon timbers resting on the ground. +Under such floors rats have a safe retreat from nearly all enemies. +The conditions can be remedied in towns by municipal action requiring +that these floors be replaced by others made of cement. Areas or +walks made of brick are often undermined by rats and may become +as objectionable as those of wood. Wooden floors of porches should +always be well above the ground.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +<b>Farm buildings.</b>—Granaries, corncribs, and poultry houses may be +made rat-proof by a liberal use of cement in the foundations and +floors; or the floors may be of wood resting upon concrete. Objection +has been urged against concrete floors for horses, cattle, and poultry, +because the material is too good a conductor of heat, and the health +of the animals suffers from contact with these floors. In poultry +houses, dry soil or sand may be used as a covering for the cement +floor, and in stables a wooden floor resting on concrete is just as satisfactory +so far as the exclusion of rats is concerned.</p> + +<p>The common practice of setting corncribs on posts with inverted +pans at the top often fails to exclude rats, because the posts are not +high enough to place the lower cracks of the structure beyond reach +of the animals. As rats are excellent jumpers, the posts should be +tall enough to prevent the animals from obtaining a foothold at any +place within 3 feet of the ground. A crib built in this way, however, +is not very satisfactory.</p> + +<p>For a rat-proof crib a well-drained site should be chosen. The +outer walls, laid in cement, should be sunk about 20 inches into the +ground. The space within the walls should be grouted thoroughly +with cement and broken stone and finished with rich concrete for a +floor. Upon this the structure may be built. Even the walls of the +crib may be of concrete. Corn will not mold in contact with them, +provided there is good ventilation and the roof is water-tight.</p> + +<p>However, there are cheaper ways of excluding rats from either +new or old corncribs. Rats, mice, and sparrows may be kept out +effectually by the use of either an inner or an outer covering of galvanized-wire +netting of half-inch mesh and heavy enough to resist +the teeth of the rats. The netting in common use in screening cellar +windows is suitable for covering or lining cribs. As rats can climb +the netting, the entire structure must be screened, or, if sparrows are +not to be excluded, the wire netting may be carried up about 3 +feet from the ground, and above this a belt of sheet metal about a +foot in width may be tacked to the outside of the building.</p> + +<p>Complete working drawings for the practical rat-proof corncrib +shown in figures 3 and 4 may be obtained from the Office of Public +Roads and Rural Engineering of the department.</p> + +<p><b>Buildings for storing foodstuffs.</b>—Whenever possible, stores of food +for man or beast should be placed only in buildings of rat-proof +construction, guarded against rodents by having all windows near +the ground and all other possible means of entrance screened with +netting made of No. 18 or No. 20 wire and of ¼-inch mesh. Entrance +doors should fit closely, should have the lower edges protected by +wide strips of metal, and should have springs attached, to insure that +they shall not be left open. Before being used for housing stores, +the building should be inspected as to the manner in which water, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +steam, or gas pipes go through the walls, and any openings found +around such pipes should be closed with concrete.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/fig-03-400.png" width="400" height="245" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smaller"> +<span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 3.—Perspective of rat-proof +corncrib, showing concrete foundation by dotted lines; also +belt of metal.</span> +</div> + +<p>If rat-proof buildings are not available, it is possible, by the use +of concrete in basements and the other precautions just mentioned, to +make an ordinary building practically safe for food storage.</p> + +<p>When it is necessary to erect temporary wooden structures to hold +forage, grain, or food supplies for army camps, the floors of such +buildings should not be in contact with the ground, but elevated, the +sills having a foot or more of clear space below them. Smooth posts +rising 2 or 3 feet above the ground may be used for foundations, +and the floor itself may be protected below by wire netting or sheet +metal at all places where rats could gain a foothold. Care should be +taken to have the floors as tight as possible, for it is chiefly scattered +grain and fragments of food about a camp that attract rats.</p> + +<p><b>Rat-proofing by elevation.</b>—The United States Public Health Service +reports that in its campaigns against bubonic plague in San +Francisco (1907) and New Orleans (1914) many plague rats were +found under the floors of wooden houses resting on the ground. +These buildings were made rat-proof by elevation, and no case of +either human or rodent plague occurred in any house after the +change. Placing them on smooth posts 18 inches above the ground, +with the space beneath the floor entirely open, left no hiding place +for rats.</p> + +<p>This plan is adapted to small dwellings throughout the South, and +to small summer homes, temporary structures, and small farm buildings +everywhere. Wherever rats might obtain a foothold on the +top of the post they may be prevented from gnawing the adjacent +wood by tacking metal plates or pieces of wire netting to floor or sill.</p> + +<div><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></div> +<h3><a name="KEEPING_FOOD" id="KEEPING_FOOD"></a>KEEPING FOOD FROM RATS AND MICE.</h3> + +<p>The effect of an abundance of food on the breeding of rodents +should be kept in mind. Well-fed rats mature quickly, breed often, +and have large litters. Poorly fed rats, on the contrary, reproduce +less frequently and have smaller litters. In addition, scarcity of food +makes measures for destroying the animals far more effective.</p> + +<p><b>Merchandise in stores.</b>—In all parts of the country there is a serious +economic drain in the destruction by rats and mice of merchandise +held for sale by dealers. Not only foodstuffs and forage, but textiles, +clothing, and leather goods are often ruined. This loss is due mainly +to the faulty buildings in which the stores are kept. Often it would +be a measure of economy to tear down the old structures and replace +them by new ones. However, even the old buildings may often be +repaired so as to make them practically rat-proof; and foodstuffs, as +flour, seeds, and meats, may always be protected in wire cages at +slight expense. The public should be protected from insanitary +stores by a system of rigid inspection.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/fig-04-800.png"> +<img src="images/fig-04-400.png" width="400" height="324" alt="" title="" /> +</a> +<span class="caption smaller"><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 4.—Floor +plan of rat-proof corncrib shown in figure 3.</span> +</div> + +<p><b>Household supplies.</b>—Similar care should be exercised in the home to +protect household supplies from mice and rats. Little progress in +ridding the premises of these animals can be made so long as they +have access to supplies of food. Cellars, kitchens, and pantries often +furnish subsistence not only to rats that inhabit the dwelling, but to +many that come from outside. Food supplies may always be kept +from rats and mice if placed in inexpensive rat-proof containers +covered with wire netting. Sometimes all that is needed to prevent +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +serious waste is the application of concrete to holes in the basement +wall or the slight repair of a defective part of the building.</p> + +<p><b>Produce in transit.</b>—Much loss of fruits, vegetables, and other produce +occurs in transit by rail and on ships. Most of the damage is +done at wharves and in railway stations, but there is also considerable +in ships' holds, especially to perishable produce brought from warm +latitudes. Much of this may be prevented by the use of rat-proof +cages at the docks, by the careful fumigation of seagoing vessels at +the end of each voyage, and by the frequent fumigation of vessels in +coastwise trade; but still more by replacing old and decrepit wharves +and station platforms with modern ones built of concrete.</p> + +<p>Where cargoes are being loaded or unloaded at wharves or depots, +food liable to attack by rats may be temporarily safeguarded by being +placed in rat-proof cages, or pounds, constructed of wire netting. +Wooden boxes containing reserve food held in depots for a considerable +time or intended for shipment by sea may be made rat-proof by +light coverings of metal along the angles. This plan has long been in +use to protect naval stores on ships and in warehouses. It is based +on the fact that rats do not gnaw the plane surfaces of hard materials, +but attack doors, furniture, and boxes at the angles only.</p> + +<p><b>Packing houses.</b>—Packing houses and abattoirs are often sources +from which rats secure subsistence, especially where meats are prepared +for market in old buildings. In old-style cooling rooms with +double walls of wood and sawdust insulation, always a source of +annoyance because of rat infestation, the utmost vigilance is required +to prevent serious loss of meat products. On the other hand, packing +houses with modern construction and sanitary devices have no trouble +from rats or mice.</p> + +<p><b>Garbage and waste.</b>—Since much of the food of rats consists of +garbage and other waste materials, it is not enough to bar the animals +from markets, granaries, warehouses, and private food stores. Garbage +and offal of all kinds must be so disposed of that rats can not +obtain them.</p> + +<p>In cities and towns an efficient system of garbage collection and +disposal should be established by ordinances. Waste from markets, +hotels, cafés and households should be collected in covered metal +receptacles and frequently emptied. Garbage should never be +dumped in or near towns, but should be utilized or promptly destroyed +by fire.</p> + +<p>Rats find abundant food in country slaughterhouses; reform in the +management of these is badly needed. Such places are centers of rat +propagation. It is a common practice to leave offal of slaughtered +animals to be eaten by rats and swine, and this is the chief means of +perpetuating trichinæ in pork. The law should require that offal be +promptly cremated or otherwise disposed of. Country +slaughter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>houses +should be as cleanly and as constantly inspected as abattoirs.</p> + +<p>Another important source of rat food is found in remnants of lunches left +by employees in factories, stores, and public buildings. This food, which +alone is sufficient to attract and sustain a small army of rats, is commonly left +in waste baskets or other open receptacles. Strictly enforced rules requiring +all remnants of food to be deposited in covered metal vessels would make trapping +far more effective.</p> + +<p>Military training camps, unless subjected to rigid +discipline in the matter of disposal of garbage and waste, soon +become centers of rat infestation. Waste from camps, deposited in +covered metal cans and collected daily, should be removed far from +the camp itself and either burned or utilized in approved modern +ways.</p> + +<h2><a name="DESTROYING_RATS_AND_MICE" id="DESTROYING_RATS_AND_MICE"></a>DESTROYING RATS AND MICE.</h2> + +<p>The Biological Survey has made numerous laboratory and field +experiments with various agencies for destroying rats and mice. +The results form the chief basis for the following recommendations:</p> + +<h3><a name="TRAPS" id="TRAPS"></a>TRAPS.</h3> + +<p>Owing to their cunning, it is not always easy to clear rats from +premises by trapping; if food is abundant, it is impossible. A few +adults refuse to enter the most innocent-looking trap. And yet trapping, +if persistently followed, is one of the most effective ways of +destroying the animals.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 308px;"> +<a href="images/fig-05-800.jpg"> +<img class="frame" src="images/fig-05-400.png" width="308" height="400" alt="" title="" /> +</a> +<span class="caption smaller"><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 5.—Guillotine +trap made entirely of metal.</span> +</div> + +<p><b>Guillotine trap.</b>—For general use the improved modern traps with a +wire fall released by a baited trigger and driven by a coiled spring +have marked advantages over the old forms, and many of them may +be used at the same time. These traps, sometimes called "guillotine" +traps, are of many designs, but the more simply constructed are preferable. +Probably those made entirely of metal are the best, as they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +are more durable. Traps with tin or sheet-metal bases are not recommended.</p> + +<p>Guillotine traps of the type shown in figure 5 should be baited +with small pieces of Vienna sausage (Wienerwurst) or fried bacon. +A small section of an ear of corn is an excellent bait if other grain +is not present. The trigger wire should be bent inward to bring +the bait into proper position for the fall to strike the rat in the neck, +as shown in figure 6.</p> + +<p>Other excellent baits for rats and mice are oatmeal, toasted cheese, +toasted bread (buttered), fish, fish offal, fresh liver, raw meat, pine +nuts, apples, carrots, and corn, and sunflower, squash, or pumpkin +seeds. Broken fresh eggs are good bait at all seasons, and ripe +tomatoes, green cucumbers, and other fresh vegetables are very +tempting to the animals in winter. When seed, grain, or meal is +used with a guillotine trap, it is put on the trigger plate, or the trigger +wire may be bent outward and the bait placed directly under it.</p> + +<p>Oatmeal (rolled oats) is recommended as a bait for guillotine traps +made with wooden base and trigger plate (fig. 7). These traps are +especially convenient to use on ledges or other narrow rat runs or +at the openings of rat burrows. They are often used without bait.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/fig-06-800.jpg"> +<img class="frame" src="images/fig-06-400.png" width="400" height="282" alt="" title="" /> +</a> +<span class="caption smaller"><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 6.—Method +of baiting guillotine trap.</span> +</div> + +<p>A common mistake in trapping for rats and mice is to use only +one or two traps when dozens are needed. For a large establishment +hundreds of traps may be used to advantage, and a dozen is none too +many for an ordinary barn or dwelling infested with rats. House +mice are less suspicious than rats and are much more easily trapped. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +Small guillotine traps baited with oatmeal will soon rid +an ordinary dwelling of the smaller pests.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/fig-07-400.png" width="400" height="202" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smaller"><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 7.—Guillotine +trap with wooden base and trigger plate.</span> +</div> + +<p><b>Cage trap.</b>—When rats are abundant, the large French +wire cage traps may be used to advantage. They should be made +of stiff wire, well reinforced. Many of those sold in stores are useless, +because a full-grown rat can bend the light wires apart and so escape.</p> + +<p>Cage traps may be baited and left open for several nights until the +rats are accustomed to enter them to obtain food. They should then +be closed and freshly baited, when a larger catch may be expected, +especially of young rats (fig. 8). As many as 25, and even more, +partly grown rats have been taken at a time in one of these traps. +It is better to cover the trap than to leave it exposed. A short board +should be laid on the trap and an old cloth or bag or a bunch of hay +or straw thrown carelessly over the top. Often the trap may be +placed with the entrance opposite a rat hole and fitting it so closely +that rats can not pass through without entering the trap. If a single +rat is caught it may be left in the trap as a decoy to others.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the fact that sometimes a large number of rats +may be taken at a time in cage traps, a few good guillotine traps +intelligently used will prove more effective in the long run.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a href="images/fig-08-800.jpg"> +<img class="frame" src="images/fig-08-400.png" width="400" height="195" alt="" title="" /> +</a> +<span class="caption smaller"><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 8.—Cage +trap with catch of rats.</span> +</div> + +<p><b>Figure-4 trigger trap.</b>—The old-fashioned box trap set with a figure-4 +trigger is sometimes useful to secure a wise old rat that refuses +to be enticed into a modern trap. Better still is a simple +deadfall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>—a +flat stone or a heavy plank—supported by a figure-4 trigger. An +old rat will go under such a contrivance to feed without fear.</p> + +<p><b>Steel trap.</b>—The ordinary steel trap (No. 0 or 1) may sometimes be +satisfactorily employed to capture a rat. The animal is usually +caught by the foot, and its squealing has a tendency to frighten other +rats. The trap may be set in a shallow pan or box and covered with +bran or oats, care being taken to have the space under the trigger pan free +of grain. This may be done by placing a very little cotton under the trigger +and setting as lightly as possible. In a narrow run or at the mouth of a burrow +a steel trap unbaited and covered with very light cloth or tissue paper is +often effective.</p> + +<p>The best bait usually is food of a kind that the rats and mice do not +get in the vicinity. In a meat market, vegetables or grain should +be used; in a feed store, meat. As far as possible food other than +the bait should be inaccessible while trapping is in progress. The +bait should be kept fresh and attractive, and the kind changed when +necessary. Baits and traps should be handled as little as possible.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/fig-09-400.png" width="400" height="288" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smaller"><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 9.—Barrel +trap: 1, With stiff paper cover; 2, with hinged barrel cover; +<i>a</i>, stop; <i>b</i>, baits.</span> +</div> + +<p><b>Barrel trap.</b>—About 60 years ago a writer in the Cornhill Magazine +gave details of a trap, by means of which it was claimed +that 3,000 rats were caught in a warehouse in a single night. The +plan involved tolling the rats to the place +and feeding them for several nights on the tops of barrels covered +with coarse brown paper. Afterwards a cross was cut in the paper, +so that the rats fell into the barrel (fig. 9 (1)). Many variations of +the plan, but few improvements upon it, have been suggested by agricultural +writers since that time. Reports are frequently made of large +catches of rats by means of a barrel fitted with a light cover of wood, +hinged on a rod so as to turn with the weight of a rat (fig. 9 (2)).</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/fig-10-400.png" width="400" height="201" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption smaller"><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 10.—Pit trap. +<i>aa</i>, Rat run; <i>bb</i>, cover; <i>cc</i>, position of weights; <i>dd</i>, rods on which covers +turn.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +<b>Pit trap.</b>—A modification of the barrel trap is the pit trap (fig. 10). +This consists of a stout narrow box sunk in the ground so that the +top is level with the rat run. It is fixed with a cover of light wood +or metal in two sections, the sections fitting nicely inside the box +and working independently. They turn on rods, to which they are +fastened. They are weighted near the ends of the box and so adjusted +that they swing easily. An animal stepping upon the cover +beyond the rods is precipitated into the box, while the cover immediately +swings back to its place. Besides rats, the trap is well +adapted to capture larger animals, as minks, raccoons, opossums, and +cats. It is especially useful to protect poultry yards, game preserves, +and the like. The trap should be placed along the fence outside the +yard, and behind a shelter of boards or brush that leans against the +fence.</p> + +<p><b>Fence and battue.</b>—In the rice fields of the Far East the natives +build numerous piles of brush and rice straw, and leave them for +several days until many rats have taken shelter in them. A portable +bamboo inclosure several feet in height is then set up around each +pile in succession and the straw and brush are thrown out over the +top, while dogs and men kill the trapped rodents. Large numbers +are destroyed in this way, and the plan with modifications may be +utilized in America with satisfactory results. A wire netting of fine +mesh may be used for the inclosure. The scheme is applicable at the +removal of grain, straw, or haystacks, as well as brush piles.</p> + +<p>In a large barn near Washington, a few years ago, piles of unhusked +corn were left in the loft and were soon infested with rats. +A wooden pen was set down surrounding the piles in turn and the +corn thrown out until dogs were able to get at the rats. In this way +several men and dogs killed 500 rats in a single day.</p> + +<h3><a name="POISONS" id="POISONS"></a>POISONS.</h3> + +<p>While the use of poison is the best and quickest way to get rid of +rats and mice, the odor from the dead animals makes the method impracticable +in occupied houses. Poisons may be effectively used in +barns, stables, sheds, cribs, and other outbuildings.</p> + +<p><b>Caution.</b>—In the United States there are few laws which prohibit +the laying of poisons on lands owned or controlled by the poisoner. +Hence it is all the more necessary to exercise extreme caution to +prevent accidents. In several States notice of intention to lay poison +must be given to persons living in the neighborhood. Poison for +rats should never be placed in open or unsheltered places. This +applies particularly to strychnin or arsenic on meat. <i>Packages containing +poisons should always bear a warning label and should not +be kept where children might reach them.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +Among the principal poisons that have been recommended for +killing rats and mice are barium carbonate, strychnin, arsenic, phosphorus, +and squills.</p> + +<p><b>Barium carbonate.</b>—One of the cheapest and most effective poisons +for rats and mice is barium carbonate. This mineral has the advantage +of being without taste or smell. It has a corrosive action on the +mucous lining of the stomach and is dangerous to larger animals if +taken in sufficient quantity. In the small doses fed to rats and mice +it would be harmless to domestic animals. Its action upon rats is +slow, and if exit is possible the animals usually leave the premises in +search of water. For this reason the poison may frequently, though +not always, be used in houses without disagreeable consequences.</p> + +<p>Barium carbonate may be fed in the form of dough composed of +four parts of meal or flour and one part of the mineral. A more +convenient bait is ordinary oatmeal with about one-eighth of its bulk +of the mineral, mixed with water into a stiff dough. A third plan is +to spread the barium carbonate upon fish, toasted bread (moistened), +or ordinary bread and butter. The prepared bait should be placed in +rat runs, about a teaspoonful at a place. If a single application of +the poison fails to kill or drive away all rats from the premises, it +should be repeated with a change of bait.</p> + +<p><b>Strychnin.</b>—Strychnin is too rapid in action to make its use for +rats desirable in houses, but elsewhere it may be employed effectively. +Strychnia sulphate is the best form to use. The dry crystals may be +inserted in small pieces of raw meat, Vienna sausage, or toasted +cheese, and these placed in rat runs or burrows; or oatmeal may be +moistened with a strychnin sirup and small quantities laid in the +same way.</p> + +<p>Strychnin sirup is prepared as follows: Dissolve a half ounce of +strychnia sulphate in a pint of boiling water; add a pint of thick +sugar sirup and stir thoroughly. A smaller quantity may be prepared +with a proportional quantity of water and sirup. In preparing +the bait it is necessary to moisten all the oatmeal with the sirup. +Wheat and corn are excellent alternative baits. The grain should +be soaked overnight in the strychnin sirup.</p> + +<p><b>Arsenic.</b>—Arsenic is probably the most popular of the rat poisons, +owing to its cheapness, yet our experiments prove that, measured +by the results obtained, arsenic is dearer than strychnin. Besides, +arsenic is extremely variable in its effect upon rats, and if the animals +survive a first dose it is very difficult to induce them to take +another.</p> + +<p>Powdered white arsenic (arsenious acid) may be fed to rats in +almost any of the baits mentioned under barium carbonate and +strychnin. It has been used successfully when rubbed into fresh +fish or spread on buttered toast. Another method is to mix twelve +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +parts by weight of corn meal and one part of arsenic with whites of +eggs into a stiff dough.</p> + +<p>An old formula for poisoning rats and mice with arsenic is the +following, adapted from an English source:</p> + +<p>Take a pound of oatmeal, a pound of coarse brown sugar, and a +spoonful of arsenic. Mix well together and put the composition into +an earthen jar. Put a tablespoonful at a place in runs frequented +by rats.</p> + +<p><b>Phosphorus.</b>—For poisoning rats and mice, phosphorus is used +almost as commonly as arsenic, and undoubtedly it is effective when +given in an attractive bait. The phosphorus paste of the drug +stores is usually dissolved yellow phosphorus, mixed with glucose or +other substances. The proportion of phosphorus varies from one-fourth +of 1 per cent to 4 per cent. The first amount is too small +to be always effective and the last is dangerously inflammable. When +homemade preparations of phosphorus are used there is much danger +of burning the person or of setting fire to crops or buildings. +In the Western States many fires have resulted from putting out +homemade phosphorus poisons for ground squirrels, and entire fields +of ripe grain have been destroyed in this way. Even with commercial +pastes the action of sun and rain changes the phosphorus +and leaches out the glucose until a highly inflammable residue is left.</p> + +<p>It is often claimed that phosphorus eaten by rats or mice dries up +or mummifies the body so that no odor results. The statement has +no foundation in fact. No known poison will prevent decomposition +of the body of an animal that died from its effects. Equally misleading +is the statement that rats poisoned with phosphorus do not +die on the premises. Owing to its slower operation, no doubt a +larger portion escape into the open before dying than when strychnin +is used.</p> + +<p>The Biological Survey does not recommend the use of phosphorus +as a poison for rodents.</p> + +<p><b>Squills.</b>—The squill, or sea leek,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> is a favorite rat poison in many +parts of Europe and is well worthy of trial in America. It is rapid +and very deadly in its action, and rats seem to eat it readily. The +poison is used in several ways. Two ounces of dry squills, powdered, +may be thoroughly mixed with eight ounces of toasted cheese or of +butter and meal and put out in runs of rats or mice. Another formula +recommends two parts of squills to three parts of finely +chopped bacon, mixed with meal enough to make it cohere. This is +baked in small cakes.</p> + +<p><b>Poison in poultry houses.</b>—For poisoning rats in buildings and yards +occupied by poultry the following method is recommended: Two +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +wooden boxes should be used, one considerably larger than the other +and each having one or more holes in the sides large enough to +admit rats. The poisoned bait should be placed on the bottom and +near the middle of the smaller box, and the larger box should then +be inverted over it. Rats thus have free access to the bait, but fowls +are excluded.</p> + +<h3><a name="DOMESTIC_ANIMALS" id="DOMESTIC_ANIMALS"></a>DOMESTIC ANIMALS.</h3> + +<p>Among domestic animals employed to kill rats are the dog, the +cat, and the ferret.</p> + +<p><b>Dogs.</b>—The value of dogs as ratters can not be appreciated by persons +who have had no experience with a trained animal. The ordinary +cur and the larger breeds of dogs seldom develop the necessary +qualities for ratters. Small Irish, Scotch, and fox terriers, when +properly trained, are superior to other breeds and under favorable +circumstances may be relied upon to keep the farm premises reasonably +free from rats.</p> + +<p><b>Cats.</b>—However valuable cats may be as mousers, few learn to catch +rats. The ordinary house cat is too well fed and consequently too +lazy to undertake the capture of an animal as formidable as the +brown rat. Birds and mice are much more to its liking. Cats that +are fearless of rats, however, and have learned to hunt and destroy +them are often very useful about stables and warehouses. They +should be lightly fed, chiefly on milk. A little sulphur in the milk at +intervals is a corrective against the bad effects of a constant rat or +mouse diet. Cats often die from eating these rodents.</p> + +<p><b>Ferrets.</b>—Tame ferrets, like weasels, are inveterate foes of rats, and +can follow the rodents into their retreats. Under favorable circumstances +they are useful aids to the rat catcher, but their value is +greatly overestimated. For effective work they require experienced +handling and the additional services of a dog or two. Dogs and +ferrets must be thoroughly accustomed to each other, and the former +must be quiet and steady instead of noisy and excitable. The ferret +is used only to bolt the rats, which are killed by the dogs. If unmuzzled +ferrets are sent into rat retreats, they are apt to make a kill +and then lie up after sucking the blood of their victim. Sometimes +they remain for hours in the burrows or escape by other exits and +are lost. There is danger that these lost ferrets may adapt themselves +to wild conditions and become a pest by preying upon poultry +and birds.</p> + +<h3><a name="FUMIGATION" id="FUMIGATION"></a>FUMIGATION.</h3> + +<p>Rats may be destroyed in their burrows in the fields and along +river banks, levees, and dikes by carbon bisulphid.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> A wad of +cot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>ton +or other absorbent material is saturated with the liquid and +then pushed into the burrow, the opening being packed with earth to +prevent the escape of the gas. All animals in the burrow are asphyxiated. +Fumigation in buildings is not so satisfactory, because it is +difficult to confine the gases. Moreover, when effective, the odor +from the dead rats is highly objectionable in occupied buildings.</p> + +<p>Chlorin, carbon monoxid, sulphur dioxid, and hydrocyanic acid +are the gases most used for destroying rats and mice in sheds, warehouses, +and stores. Each is effective if the gas can be confined and +made to reach the retreats of the animals. Owing to the great danger +from fire incident to burning charcoal or sulphur in open pans, a +special furnace provided with means for forcing the gas into the compartments +of vessels or buildings is generally employed.</p> + +<p>Hydrocyanic-acid gas is effective in destroying all animal life in +buildings. It has been successfully used to free elevators and warehouses +of rats, mice, and insects. However, it is so dangerous to +human life that the novice should not attempt fumigation with it, +except under careful instructions. Directions for preparing and +using the gas may be found in a publication entitled Hydrocyanic-acid +Gas against Household Insects, by Dr. L. O. Howard and +Charles H. Popenoe.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>Carbon monoxid is rather dangerous, as its presence in the hold of +a vessel or other compartment is not manifest to the senses, and fatal +accidents have occurred during its employment to fumigate vessels.</p> + +<p>Chlorin gas has a strong bleaching action upon textile fabrics, and +for this reason can not be used in many situations.</p> + +<p>Sulphur dioxid also has a bleaching effect upon textiles, but less +marked than that of chlorin, and ordinarily it is not noticeable with +the small percentage of the gas it is necessary to use. On the whole, +this gas has many advantages as a fumigator and disinfectant. It is +used also as a fire extinguisher on board vessels. Special furnaces for +generating the gas and forcing it into the compartments of ships and +buildings are on the market, and many steamships and docks are +now fitted with the necessary apparatus.</p> + +<h3><a name="RAT_VIRUSES" id="RAT_VIRUSES"></a>RAT VIRUSES.</h3> + +<p>Several microorganisms, or bacteria, found originally in diseased +rats or mice, have been exploited for destroying rats. A number of +these so-called rat viruses are on the American market. The Biological +Survey, the Bureau of Animal Industry, and the United States +Public Health Service have made careful investigations and practical +tests of these viruses, mostly with negative results. The cultures +tested by the Biological Survey have not proved satisfactory.</p> + +<p>The chief defects to be overcome before the cultures can be recommended +for general use are:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +1. The virulence is not great enough to kill a sufficiently high percentage +of rats that eat food containing the microorganisms.</p> + +<p>2. The virulence decreases with the age of the cultures. They deteriorate +in warm weather and in bright sunlight.</p> + +<p>3. The diseases resulting from the microorganisms are not contagious +and do not spread by contact of diseased with healthy +animals.</p> + +<p>4. The comparative cost of the cultures is too great for general use. +Since they have no advantages over the common poisons, except that +they are usually harmless to man and other animals, they should be +equally cheap; but their actual cost is much greater. Moreover, considering +the skill and care necessary in their preparation, it is doubtful +if the cost can be greatly reduced.</p> + +<p>The Department of Agriculture, therefore, does not prepare, use, +or recommend the use of rat viruses.</p> + +<h3><a name="NATURAL_ENEMIES" id="NATURAL_ENEMIES"></a>NATURAL ENEMIES OF RATS AND MICE.</h3> + +<p>Among the natural enemies of rats and mice are the larger hawks +and owls, skunks, foxes, coyotes, weasels, minks, dogs, cats, and +ferrets.</p> + +<p>Probably the greatest factor in the increase of rats, mice, and other +destructive rodents in the United States has been the persistent killing +off of the birds and mammals that prey upon them. Animals that +on the whole are decidedly beneficial, since they subsist upon harmful +insects and rodents, are habitually destroyed by some farmers and +sportsmen because they occasionally kill a chicken or a game bird.</p> + +<p>The value of carnivorous mammals and the larger birds of prey in +destroying rats and mice should be more fully recognized, especially +by the farmer and the game preserver. Rats actually destroy more +poultry and game, both eggs and young chicks, than all the birds and +wild mammals combined; yet some of their enemies among our most +useful birds of prey and carnivorous mammals are persecuted almost +to the point of extinction. An enlightened public sentiment should +cause the repeal of all bounties on these animals and afford protection +to the majority of them.</p> + +<h2><a name="ORGANIZED_EFFORTS" id="ORGANIZED_EFFORTS"></a>ORGANIZED EFFORTS TO DESTROY RATS.</h2> + +<p>The necessity of cooperation and organization in the work of rat +destruction is of the utmost importance. To destroy all the animals +on the premises of a single farmer in a community has little permanent +value, since they are soon replaced from near-by farms. If, +however, the farmers of an entire township or county unite in efforts +to get rid of rats, much more lasting results may be attained. If continued +from year to year, such organized efforts are very effective.</p> + +<div><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></div> +<h3><a name="COMMUNITY_EFFORTS" id="COMMUNITY_EFFORTS"></a>COMMUNITY EFFORTS.</h3> + +<p>Cooperative efforts to destroy rats have taken various forms in +different localities. In cities, municipal employees have occasionally +been set at work hunting rats from their retreats, with at least temporary +benefit to the community. Thus, in 1904, at Folkestone, England, +a town of about 25,000 inhabitants, the corporation employees, +helped by dogs, in three days killed 1,645 rats.</p> + +<p>Side hunts in which rats are the only animals that count in the +contest have sometimes been organized and successfully carried out. +At New Burlington, Ohio, a rat hunt took place some years ago in +which each of the two sides killed over 8,000 rats, the beaten party +serving a banquet to the winners.</p> + +<p>There is danger that organized rat hunts will be followed by long +intervals of indifference and inaction. This may be prevented by +offering prizes covering a definite period of effort. Such prizes +accomplish more than municipal bounties, because they secure a +friendly rivalry which stimulates the contestants to do their utmost +to win.</p> + +<p>In England and some of its colonies contests for prizes have been +organized to promote the destruction of the English, or house, sparrow, +but many of the so-called sparrow clubs are really sparrow and +rat clubs, for the destruction of both pests is the avowed object of +the organizations. A sparrow club in Kent, England, accomplished +the destruction of 28,000 sparrows and 16,000 rats in three seasons +by the annual expenditure of but £6 ($29.20) in prize money. Had +ordinary bounties been paid for this destruction, the tax on the community +would have been about £250 (over $1,200).</p> + +<p>Many organizations already formed should be interested in destroying +rats. Boards of trade, civic societies, and citizens' associations +in towns and farmers' and women's clubs in rural communities +will find the subject of great importance. Women's municipal +leagues in several large cities already have taken up the matter. +The league in Baltimore recently secured appropriations of funds +for expenditure in fighting mosquitoes, flies, and rats. The league +in Boston during the past year, supported by voluntary contributions +for the purpose, made a highly creditable educational campaign +against rats. Boys' corn clubs, the troops of Boy Scouts, and +similar organizations could do excellent work in rat campaigns.</p> + +<h3><a name="STATE_AND_NATIONAL_AID" id="STATE_AND_NATIONAL_AID"></a>STATE AND NATIONAL AID.</h3> + +<p>To secure permanent results any general campaign for the elimination +of rats must aim at <i>building the animals out of shelter and food</i>. +Building reforms depend on municipal ordinances and legislative +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +enactments. The recent plague eradication work of the United +States Public Health Service in San Francisco, Seattle, New Orleans, +and at various places in Hawaii and Porto Rico required such ordinances +and laws as well as financial aid in prosecuting the work. +The campaign of Danish and Swedish organizations for the destruction +of rats had the help of governmental appropriations. The legislatures +of California, Texas, Indiana, and Hawaii have in recent +years passed laws or made appropriations to aid in rat riddance. It is +probable that well-organized efforts of communities would soon win +legislative support everywhere. Communities should not postpone +efforts, however, while waiting for legislative cooperation, but should +at once organize and begin repressive operations. Wherever health +is threatened the Public Health Service of the United States can cooperate, +and where crops and other products are endangered the +Bureau of Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture is +ready to assist by advice and in demonstration of methods.</p> + +<h2><a name="IMPORTANT_REPRESSIVE_MEASURES" id="IMPORTANT_REPRESSIVE_MEASURES"></a>IMPORTANT REPRESSIVE MEASURES.</h2> + +<p>The measures needed for repressing and eliminating rats and mice +include the following:</p> + +<p>1. The requirement that all new buildings erected shall be made +rat-proof under competent inspection.</p> + +<p>2. That all existing rat-proof buildings shall be closed against rats +and mice by having all openings accessible to the animals, from +foundation to roof, closed or screened by door, window, grating, or +meshed wire netting.</p> + +<p>3. That all buildings not of rat-proof construction shall be made so +by remodeling, by the use of materials that may not be pierced by +rats, or by elevation.</p> + +<p>4. The protection of our native hawks, owls, and smaller predatory +mammals—the natural enemies of rats.</p> + +<p>5. Greater cleanliness about markets, grocery stores, warehouses, +courts, alleys, stables, and vacant lots in cities and villages, and like +care on farms and suburban premises. This includes the storage of +waste and garbage in tightly covered vessels and the prompt disposal +of it each day.</p> + +<p>6. Care in the construction of drains and sewers, so as not to provide +entrance and retreat for rats. Old brick sewers in cities should +be replaced by concrete or tile.</p> + +<p>7. The early threshing and marketing of grains on farms, so that +stacks and mows shall not furnish harborage and food for rats.</p> + +<p>8. Removal of outlying straw stacks and piles of trash or lumber +that harbor rats in fields and vacant lots.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +9. The keeping of provisions, seed grain, and foodstuffs in rat-proof containers.</p> + +<p>10. Keeping effective rat dogs, especially on farms and in city warehouses.</p> + +<p>11. The systematic destruction of rats, whenever and wherever +possible, by (<i>a</i>) trapping, (<i>b</i>) poisoning, and (<i>c</i>) organized hunts.</p> + +<p>12. The organization of clubs and other societies for systematic +warfare against rats.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Mus musculus.</i></p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Rattus norvegicus.</i></p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Rattus rattus rattus.</i></p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Rattus rattus alexandrinus.</i></p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Farmers' Bulletin 461, Use of Concrete on the Farm, will prove useful to city and +village dwellers as well as to the farmer.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Scilla maritima.</i></p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Caution.</span>—Carbon disulphid is very inflammable and can be ignited by a match, lantern, +cigar, or pipe.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Farmers' Bulletin 699.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr class="cb" /> +<div><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></div> +<h2>PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE +RELATING TO NOXIOUS MAMMALS.</h2> + +<h4>AVAILABLE FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION.</h4> + +<div class="hanging"><p>How to Destroy Rats. (Farmers' Bulletin 369.)</p> + +<p>The Common Mole of Eastern United States. (Farmers' Bulletin 583.)</p> + +<p>Field Mice as Farm and Orchard Pests. (Farmers' Bulletin 670.)</p> + +<p>Cottontail Rabbits in Relation to Trees and Farm Crops. (Farmers' Bulletin +702.)</p> + +<p>Trapping Moles and Utilizing Their Skins. (Farmers' Bulletin 832.)</p> + +<p>Destroying Rodent Pests on the Farm. (Separate 708, Yearbook for 1916.)</p></div> + + +<h4>FOR SALE BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, GOVERNMENT PRINTING +OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C.</h4> + +<div class="hanging"><p>Harmful and Beneficial Mammals of the Arid Interior, with Special Reference +to the Carson and Humboldt Valleys, Nevada. (Farmers' Bulletin 335.) +Price 5 cents.</p> + +<p>The Nevada Mouse Plague of 1907-8. (Farmers' Bulletin 352.) Price 5 cents.</p> + +<p>Some Common Mammals of Western Montana in Relation to Agriculture and +Spotted Fever. (Farmers' Bulletin 484.) Price 5 cents.</p> + +<p>Danger of Introducing Noxious Animals and Birds. (Separate 132, Yearbook +1898.) Price 5 cents.</p> + +<p>Meadow Mice in Relation to Agriculture and Horticulture. (Separate 388, Yearbook +1905.) Price 5 cents.</p> + +<p>Mouse Plagues, Their Control and Prevention. (Separate 482, Yearbook 1908.) +Price—cents.</p> + +<p>Use of Poisons for Destroying Noxious Mammals. (Separate 491, Yearbook +1908.) Price 5 cents.</p> + +<p>Pocket Gophers as Enemies of Trees. (Separate 506, Yearbook 1909.) Price +5 cents.</p> + +<p>The Jack Rabbits of the United States. (Biological Survey Bulletin 8.) Price +10 cents.</p> + +<p>Economic Study of Field Mice, genus <i>Microtus</i>. (Biological Survey Bulletin 31.) +Price 15 cents.</p> + +<p>The Brown Rat in the United States. (Biological Survey Bulletin 33.) Price +15 cents.</p> + +<p>Directions for the Destruction of Wolves and Coyotes. (Biological Survey Circular +55.) Price 5 cents.</p> + +<p>The California Ground Squirrel. (Biological Survey Circular 76.) Price 5 +cents.</p> + +<p>Seed-eating Mammals in Relation to Reforestation. (Biological Survey Circular +78.) Price 5 cents.</p> + +<p>Mammals of Bitterroot Valley, Montana, in Their Relation to Spotted Fever. +(Biological Survey Circular 82.) Price 5 cents.</p></div> + +<div class="tnote"> + <h4>Transcriber's Note</h4> + + <p>The following suspected errors have been changed in this text:</p> + <div class="blockquot">Page 6: "highdays" changed to "highways"<br /> + Page 11: "abbatoirs" changed to "abattoirs"<br /> + Page 11: Added missing "." to "Fig. 5."<br /> + Page 14: Added missing "." to "Fig. 10."</div> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of House Rats and Mice, by David E. 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Lantz + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: House Rats and Mice + Farmers' Bulletin 896 + +Author: David E. Lantz + +Release Date: March 10, 2011 [EBook #35542] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE RATS AND MICE *** + + + + +Produced by Erica Pfister-Altschul, Larry B. Harrison and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + [Transcriber's Note: + + The following suspected errors have been changed in this text: + Page 6: "highdays" changed to "highways" + Page 11: "abbatoirs" changed to "abattoirs" + Page 11: Added missing "." to "FIG. 5."] + Page 14: Added missing "." to "FIG. 10."] + + + + +HOUSE RATS AND MICE + + +DAVID E. LANTZ + +Assistant Biologist + + +[Illustration] + + +FARMERS' BULLETIN 896 + +UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE + + * * * * * + +Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey + +E. W. NELSON, Chief + + + Washington, D. C. October, 1917 + + Show this bulletin to a neighbor. Additional copies may be obtained + free from the Division of Publications, United States Department of + Agriculture + + WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1917 + + +The rat is the worst animal pest in the world. + +From its home among filth it visits dwellings and storerooms to pollute +and destroy human food. + +It carries bubonic plague and many other diseases fatal to man and has +been responsible for more untimely deaths among human beings than all +the wars of history. + +In the United States rats and mice each year destroy crops and other +property valued at over $200,000,000. + +This destruction is equivalent to the gross earnings of an army of over +200,000 men. + +On many a farm, if the grain eaten and wasted by rats and mice could be +sold, the proceeds would more than pay all the farmer's taxes. + +The common brown rat breeds 6 to 10 times a year and produces an average +of 10 young at a litter. Young females breed when only three or four +months old. + +At this rate a pair of rats, breeding uninterruptedly and without +deaths, would at the end of three years (18 generations) be increased to +359,709,482 individuals. + +For centuries the world has been fighting rats without organization and +at the same time has been feeding them and building for them fortresses +for concealment. If we are to fight them on equal terms we must deny +them food and hiding places. We must organize and unite to rid +communities of these pests. The time to begin is now. + + + + +HOUSE RATS AND MICE. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page. + + Destructive habits 3 + + Protection of food and other stores 5 + Rat-proof building 5 + Keeping food from rats and mice 9 + + Destroying rats and mice 11 + Traps 11 + Poisons 15 + Domestic animals 18 + Fumigation 18 + Rat viruses 19 + Natural enemies 20 + + Organized efforts to destroy rats 20 + Community efforts 21 + State and national aid 21 + + Important repressive measures 23 + + + + +DESTRUCTIVE HABITS OF HOUSE RATS AND MICE. + + +Losses from depredations of house rats amount to many millions of +dollars yearly--to more, in fact, than those from all other injurious +mammals combined. The common house mouse[1] and the brown rat[2] (fig. +1), too familiar to need description, are pests in nearly all parts of +the country; while two other kinds of house rats, known as the black +rat[3] and the roof rat,[4] are found within our borders. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Brown rat.] + +Of these four introduced species--for none is native to America--the +brown rat is the most destructive, and, except the mouse, the most +numerous and most widely distributed. Brought to America just before +the Revolution, it has supplanted and nearly exterminated its less +robust relative the black rat; and in spite of the constant warfare of +man has extended its range and steadily increased in numbers. Its +dominance is due to its great fecundity and its ability to adapt itself +to all sorts of surroundings. It breeds (in the middle part of the +United States) six or more times a year and produces from 6 to 20 young +(average 10) in a litter. Females breed when only 3 or 4 months old. +Thus a pair, breeding uninterruptedly and without deaths, could in three +years (18 generations) produce a posterity of 359,709,480 individuals. +Mice and the black and roof rats produce smaller litters, but the period +of gestation, about 21 days, and the number of litters are the same for +all. + +Rats and mice are practically omnivorous, feeding upon all kinds of +animal and vegetable matter. The brown rat makes its home in the open +field, the hedge row, and the river bank, as well as in stone walls, +piers, and all kinds of buildings. It destroys grains when newly +planted, while growing, and in the shock, stack, mow, crib, granary, +mill, elevator, or ship's hold, and also in the bin and feed trough. It +invades store and warehouse and destroys furs, laces, silks, carpets, +leather goods, and groceries. It attacks fruits, vegetables, and meats +in the markets, and destroys by pollution ten times as much as it +actually eats. It destroys eggs and young poultry, and eats the eggs and +young of song and game birds. It carries disease germs from house to +house and bubonic plague from city to city. It causes disastrous +conflagrations; floods houses by gnawing lead water pipes; ruins +artificial ponds and embankments by burrowing; and damages foundations, +floors, doors, and furnishings of dwellings. + +Unlike the brown rat the black rat rarely migrates to the fields. It has +disappeared from most parts of the Northern States, but is occasionally +found in remote villages or farms. At our seaports it frequently arrives +on ships from abroad, but seldom becomes very numerous. The roof rat is +common in many parts of the South, where it is a persistent pest in cane +and rice fields. It maintains itself against the brown rat partly +because of its habit of living in trees. The common house mouse by no +means confines its activities to the inside of buildings, but is often +found in open fields, where its depredations in shock and stack are well +known. + +Not only are mice and rats, especially the brown rat, a cause of +destruction and damage to property, but they are also a constant menace +to the health of man. It has been proved that they are the chief means +of perpetuating and transmitting bubonic plague and that they play +important roles in conveying other diseases to human beings. They are +parasites, without redeeming characteristics, and should everywhere be +routed and destroyed. + + + + +PROTECTION OF FOOD AND OTHER STORES FROM RATS AND MICE. + + +Past attempts to exterminate rats and mice have failed, not so much +because of lack of effective means as because of the neglect of +necessary precautions and the absence of concerted endeavors. We have +rendered our work abortive by continuing to provide subsistence and +hiding places for the animals. If these advantages are denied, +persistent and general use of the usual methods of destruction will +prove far more successful. + + +RAT-PROOF BUILDING. + +First in importance, as a measure of rat repression, is the exclusion of +the animals from places where they find food and safe retreats for +rearing their young. + +The best way to keep rats from buildings, whether in city or in country, +is to use cement in construction. As the advantages of this material are +coming to be generally understood, its use is rapidly extending to all +kinds of buildings. The processes of mixing and laying this material +require little skill or special knowledge, and workmen of ordinary +intelligence can successfully follow the plain directions contained in +handbooks of cement construction.[5] + +Many modern public buildings are so constructed that rats can find no +lodgment in the walls or foundations, and yet in a few years, through +negligence, such buildings often become infested with the pests. +Sometimes drain pipes are left uncovered for hours at a time. Often +outer doors, especially those opening on alleys, are left ajar. A common +mistake is failure to screen basement windows which must be opened for +ventilation. However the intruders are admitted, when once inside they +intrench themselves behind furniture or stores, and are difficult to +dislodge. The addition of inner doors to vestibules is an important +precaution against rats. The lower edge of outer doors to public +buildings, especially markets, should be reinforced with light metal +plates to prevent the animals from gnawing through. Any opening left +around water, steam, or gas pipes, where they go through walls, should +be closed carefully with concrete to the full depth of the wall. + +=Dwellings.=--In constructing dwelling houses the additional cost of +making the foundations rat-proof is slight compared with the advantages. +The cellar walls should have concrete footings, and the walls themselves +should be laid in cement mortar. The cellar floor should be of medium +rather than lean concrete. Even old cellars may be made rat-proof at +comparatively small expense. Rat holes may be permanently closed with a +mixture of cement, sand, and broken glass, or sharp bits of crockery or +stone. + +On a foundation like the one described above, the walls of a wooden +dwelling also may be made rat-proof. The space between the sheathing and +lath, to the height of about a foot, should be filled with concrete. +Rats can not then gain access to the walls, and can enter the dwelling +only through doors or windows. Screening all basement and cellar windows +with wire netting is a most necessary precaution. + +=Old buildings in cities.=--Aside from old dwellings, the chief refuges +for rats in cities are sewers, wharves, stables, and outbuildings. +Modern sewers are used by the animals merely as highways and not as +abodes, but old-fashioned brick sewers often afford nesting crannies. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Rat-proofing a frame dwelling by concrete side +wall (United States Public Health Service, New Orleans, La., 1914).] + +Wharves, stables, and outbuildings in cities should be so built as to +exclude rats. Cement is the chief means to this end. Old tumble-down +buildings and wharves should not be tolerated in any city. (See fig. 2.) + +In both city and country, wooden floors of sidewalks, areas, and porches +are commonly laid upon timbers resting on the ground. Under such floors +rats have a safe retreat from nearly all enemies. The conditions can be +remedied in towns by municipal action requiring that these floors be +replaced by others made of cement. Areas or walks made of brick are +often undermined by rats and may become as objectionable as those of +wood. Wooden floors of porches should always be well above the ground. + +=Farm buildings.=--Granaries, corncribs, and poultry houses may be made +rat-proof by a liberal use of cement in the foundations and floors; or +the floors may be of wood resting upon concrete. Objection has been +urged against concrete floors for horses, cattle, and poultry, because +the material is too good a conductor of heat, and the health of the +animals suffers from contact with these floors. In poultry houses, dry +soil or sand may be used as a covering for the cement floor, and in +stables a wooden floor resting on concrete is just as satisfactory so +far as the exclusion of rats is concerned. + +The common practice of setting corncribs on posts with inverted pans at +the top often fails to exclude rats, because the posts are not high +enough to place the lower cracks of the structure beyond reach of the +animals. As rats are excellent jumpers, the posts should be tall enough +to prevent the animals from obtaining a foothold at any place within 3 +feet of the ground. A crib built in this way, however, is not very +satisfactory. + +For a rat-proof crib a well-drained site should be chosen. The outer +walls, laid in cement, should be sunk about 20 inches into the ground. +The space within the walls should be grouted thoroughly with cement and +broken stone and finished with rich concrete for a floor. Upon this the +structure may be built. Even the walls of the crib may be of concrete. +Corn will not mold in contact with them, provided there is good +ventilation and the roof is water-tight. + +However, there are cheaper ways of excluding rats from either new or old +corncribs. Rats, mice, and sparrows may be kept out effectually by the +use of either an inner or an outer covering of galvanized-wire netting +of half-inch mesh and heavy enough to resist the teeth of the rats. The +netting in common use in screening cellar windows is suitable for +covering or lining cribs. As rats can climb the netting, the entire +structure must be screened, or, if sparrows are not to be excluded, the +wire netting may be carried up about 3 feet from the ground, and above +this a belt of sheet metal about a foot in width may be tacked to the +outside of the building. + +Complete working drawings for the practical rat-proof corncrib shown in +figures 3 and 4 may be obtained from the Office of Public Roads and +Rural Engineering of the department. + +=Buildings for storing foodstuffs.=--Whenever possible, stores of food +for man or beast should be placed only in buildings of rat-proof +construction, guarded against rodents by having all windows near the +ground and all other possible means of entrance screened with netting +made of No. 18 or No. 20 wire and of 1/4-inch mesh. Entrance doors +should fit closely, should have the lower edges protected by wide strips +of metal, and should have springs attached, to insure that they shall +not be left open. Before being used for housing stores, the building +should be inspected as to the manner in which water, steam, or gas +pipes go through the walls, and any openings found around such pipes +should be closed with concrete. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Perspective of rat-proof corncrib, showing +concrete foundation by dotted lines; also belt of metal.] + +If rat-proof buildings are not available, it is possible, by the use of +concrete in basements and the other precautions just mentioned, to make +an ordinary building practically safe for food storage. + +When it is necessary to erect temporary wooden structures to hold +forage, grain, or food supplies for army camps, the floors of such +buildings should not be in contact with the ground, but elevated, the +sills having a foot or more of clear space below them. Smooth posts +rising 2 or 3 feet above the ground may be used for foundations, and the +floor itself may be protected below by wire netting or sheet metal at +all places where rats could gain a foothold. Care should be taken to +have the floors as tight as possible, for it is chiefly scattered grain +and fragments of food about a camp that attract rats. + +=Rat-proofing by elevation.=--The United States Public Health Service +reports that in its campaigns against bubonic plague in San Francisco +(1907) and New Orleans (1914) many plague rats were found under the +floors of wooden houses resting on the ground. These buildings were made +rat-proof by elevation, and no case of either human or rodent plague +occurred in any house after the change. Placing them on smooth posts 18 +inches above the ground, with the space beneath the floor entirely open, +left no hiding place for rats. + +This plan is adapted to small dwellings throughout the South, and to +small summer homes, temporary structures, and small farm buildings +everywhere. Wherever rats might obtain a foothold on the top of the post +they may be prevented from gnawing the adjacent wood by tacking metal +plates or pieces of wire netting to floor or sill. + + +KEEPING FOOD FROM RATS AND MICE. + +The effect of an abundance of food on the breeding of rodents should be +kept in mind. Well-fed rats mature quickly, breed often, and have large +litters. Poorly fed rats, on the contrary, reproduce less frequently and +have smaller litters. In addition, scarcity of food makes measures for +destroying the animals far more effective. + +=Merchandise in stores.=--In all parts of the country there is a serious +economic drain in the destruction by rats and mice of merchandise held +for sale by dealers. Not only foodstuffs and forage, but textiles, +clothing, and leather goods are often ruined. This loss is due mainly to +the faulty buildings in which the stores are kept. Often it would be a +measure of economy to tear down the old structures and replace them by +new ones. However, even the old buildings may often be repaired so as to +make them practically rat-proof; and foodstuffs, as flour, seeds, and +meats, may always be protected in wire cages at slight expense. The +public should be protected from insanitary stores by a system of rigid +inspection. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Floor plan of rat-proof corncrib shown in figure +3.] + +=Household supplies.=--Similar care should be exercised in the home to +protect household supplies from mice and rats. Little progress in +ridding the premises of these animals can be made so long as they have +access to supplies of food. Cellars, kitchens, and pantries often +furnish subsistence not only to rats that inhabit the dwelling, but to +many that come from outside. Food supplies may always be kept from rats +and mice if placed in inexpensive rat-proof containers covered with wire +netting. Sometimes all that is needed to prevent serious waste is the +application of concrete to holes in the basement wall or the slight +repair of a defective part of the building. + +=Produce in transit.=--Much loss of fruits, vegetables, and other +produce occurs in transit by rail and on ships. Most of the damage is +done at wharves and in railway stations, but there is also considerable +in ships' holds, especially to perishable produce brought from warm +latitudes. Much of this may be prevented by the use of rat-proof cages +at the docks, by the careful fumigation of seagoing vessels at the end +of each voyage, and by the frequent fumigation of vessels in coastwise +trade; but still more by replacing old and decrepit wharves and station +platforms with modern ones built of concrete. + +Where cargoes are being loaded or unloaded at wharves or depots, food +liable to attack by rats may be temporarily safeguarded by being placed +in rat-proof cages, or pounds, constructed of wire netting. Wooden boxes +containing reserve food held in depots for a considerable time or +intended for shipment by sea may be made rat-proof by light coverings of +metal along the angles. This plan has long been in use to protect naval +stores on ships and in warehouses. It is based on the fact that rats do +not gnaw the plane surfaces of hard materials, but attack doors, +furniture, and boxes at the angles only. + +=Packing houses.=--Packing houses and abattoirs are often sources from +which rats secure subsistence, especially where meats are prepared for +market in old buildings. In old-style cooling rooms with double walls of +wood and sawdust insulation, always a source of annoyance because of rat +infestation, the utmost vigilance is required to prevent serious loss of +meat products. On the other hand, packing houses with modern +construction and sanitary devices have no trouble from rats or mice. + +=Garbage and waste.=--Since much of the food of rats consists of garbage +and other waste materials, it is not enough to bar the animals from +markets, granaries, warehouses, and private food stores. Garbage and +offal of all kinds must be so disposed of that rats can not obtain them. + +In cities and towns an efficient system of garbage collection and +disposal should be established by ordinances. Waste from markets, +hotels, cafes and households should be collected in covered metal +receptacles and frequently emptied. Garbage should never be dumped in or +near towns, but should be utilized or promptly destroyed by fire. + +Rats find abundant food in country slaughterhouses; reform in the +management of these is badly needed. Such places are centers of rat +propagation. It is a common practice to leave offal of slaughtered +animals to be eaten by rats and swine, and this is the chief means of +perpetuating trichinae in pork. The law should require that offal be +promptly cremated or otherwise disposed of. Country slaughterhouses +should be as cleanly and as constantly inspected as abattoirs. + +Another important source of rat food is found in remnants of lunches +left by employees in factories, stores, and public buildings. This food, +which alone is sufficient to attract and sustain a small army of rats, +is commonly left in waste baskets or other open receptacles. Strictly +enforced rules requiring all remnants of food to be deposited in covered +metal vessels would make trapping far more effective. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Guillotine trap made entirely of metal.] + +Military training camps, unless subjected to rigid discipline in the +matter of disposal of garbage and waste, soon become centers of rat +infestation. Waste from camps, deposited in covered metal cans and +collected daily, should be removed far from the camp itself and either +burned or utilized in approved modern ways. + + + + +DESTROYING RATS AND MICE. + + +The Biological Survey has made numerous laboratory and field experiments +with various agencies for destroying rats and mice. The results form the +chief basis for the following recommendations: + + +TRAPS. + +Owing to their cunning, it is not always easy to clear rats from +premises by trapping; if food is abundant, it is impossible. A few +adults refuse to enter the most innocent-looking trap. And yet trapping, +if persistently followed, is one of the most effective ways of +destroying the animals. + +=Guillotine trap.=--For general use the improved modern traps with a +wire fall released by a baited trigger and driven by a coiled spring +have marked advantages over the old forms, and many of them may be used +at the same time. These traps, sometimes called "guillotine" traps, are +of many designs, but the more simply constructed are preferable. +Probably those made entirely of metal are the best, as they are more +durable. Traps with tin or sheet-metal bases are not recommended. + +Guillotine traps of the type shown in figure 5 should be baited with +small pieces of Vienna sausage (Wienerwurst) or fried bacon. A small +section of an ear of corn is an excellent bait if other grain is not +present. The trigger wire should be bent inward to bring the bait into +proper position for the fall to strike the rat in the neck, as shown in +figure 6. + +Other excellent baits for rats and mice are oatmeal, toasted cheese, +toasted bread (buttered), fish, fish offal, fresh liver, raw meat, pine +nuts, apples, carrots, and corn, and sunflower, squash, or pumpkin +seeds. Broken fresh eggs are good bait at all seasons, and ripe +tomatoes, green cucumbers, and other fresh vegetables are very tempting +to the animals in winter. When seed, grain, or meal is used with a +guillotine trap, it is put on the trigger plate, or the trigger wire may +be bent outward and the bait placed directly under it. + +Oatmeal (rolled oats) is recommended as a bait for guillotine traps made +with wooden base and trigger plate (fig. 7). These traps are especially +convenient to use on ledges or other narrow rat runs or at the openings +of rat burrows. They are often used without bait. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Method of baiting guillotine trap.] + +A common mistake in trapping for rats and mice is to use only one or two +traps when dozens are needed. For a large establishment hundreds of +traps may be used to advantage, and a dozen is none too many for an +ordinary barn or dwelling infested with rats. House mice are less +suspicious than rats and are much more easily trapped. Small guillotine +traps baited with oatmeal will soon rid an ordinary dwelling of the +smaller pests. + +=Cage trap.=--When rats are abundant, the large French wire cage traps +may be used to advantage. They should be made of stiff wire, well +reinforced. Many of those sold in stores are useless, because a +full-grown rat can bend the light wires apart and so escape. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Guillotine trap with wooden base and trigger +plate.] + +Cage traps may be baited and left open for several nights until the rats +are accustomed to enter them to obtain food. They should then be closed +and freshly baited, when a larger catch may be expected, especially of +young rats (fig. 8). As many as 25, and even more, partly grown rats +have been taken at a time in one of these traps. It is better to cover +the trap than to leave it exposed. A short board should be laid on the +trap and an old cloth or bag or a bunch of hay or straw thrown +carelessly over the top. Often the trap may be placed with the entrance +opposite a rat hole and fitting it so closely that rats can not pass +through without entering the trap. If a single rat is caught it may be +left in the trap as a decoy to others. + +Notwithstanding the fact that sometimes a large number of rats may be +taken at a time in cage traps, a few good guillotine traps intelligently +used will prove more effective in the long run. + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Cage trap with catch of rats.] + +=Figure-4 trigger trap.=--The old-fashioned box trap set with a +figure-4 trigger is sometimes useful to secure a wise old rat that +refuses to be enticed into a modern trap. Better still is a simple +deadfall--a flat stone or a heavy plank--supported by a figure-4 +trigger. An old rat will go under such a contrivance to feed without +fear. + +=Steel trap.=--The ordinary steel trap (No. 0 or 1) may sometimes be +satisfactorily employed to capture a rat. The animal is usually caught +by the foot, and its squealing has a tendency to frighten other rats. +The trap may be set in a shallow pan or box and covered with bran or +oats, care being taken to have the space under the trigger pan free of +grain. This may be done by placing a very little cotton under the +trigger and setting as lightly as possible. In a narrow run or at the +mouth of a burrow a steel trap unbaited and covered with very light +cloth or tissue paper is often effective. + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Barrel trap: 1, With stiff paper cover; 2, with +hinged barrel cover; _a_, stop; _b_, baits.] + +The best bait usually is food of a kind that the rats and mice do not +get in the vicinity. In a meat market, vegetables or grain should be +used; in a feed store, meat. As far as possible food other than the bait +should be inaccessible while trapping is in progress. The bait should be +kept fresh and attractive, and the kind changed when necessary. Baits +and traps should be handled as little as possible. + +[Illustration: FIG. 10--Pit trap. _aa_, Rat run; _bb_, cover; _cc_, +position of weights; _dd_, rods on which covers turn.] + +=Barrel trap.=--About 60 years ago a writer in the Cornhill Magazine +gave details of a trap, by means of which it was claimed that 3,000 rats +were caught in a warehouse in a single night. The plan involved tolling +the rats to the place and feeding them for several nights on the tops of +barrels covered with coarse brown paper. Afterwards a cross was cut in +the paper, so that the rats fell into the barrel (fig. 9 (1)). Many +variations of the plan, but few improvements upon it, have been +suggested by agricultural writers since that time. Reports are +frequently made of large catches of rats by means of a barrel fitted +with a light cover of wood, hinged on a rod so as to turn with the +weight of a rat (fig. 9 (2)). + +=Pit trap.=--A modification of the barrel trap is the pit trap (fig. +10). This consists of a stout narrow box sunk in the ground so that the +top is level with the rat run. It is fixed with a cover of light wood or +metal in two sections, the sections fitting nicely inside the box and +working independently. They turn on rods, to which they are fastened. +They are weighted near the ends of the box and so adjusted that they +swing easily. An animal stepping upon the cover beyond the rods is +precipitated into the box, while the cover immediately swings back to +its place. Besides rats, the trap is well adapted to capture larger +animals, as minks, raccoons, opossums, and cats. It is especially useful +to protect poultry yards, game preserves, and the like. The trap should +be placed along the fence outside the yard, and behind a shelter of +boards or brush that leans against the fence. + +=Fence and battue.=--In the rice fields of the Far East the natives +build numerous piles of brush and rice straw, and leave them for several +days until many rats have taken shelter in them. A portable bamboo +inclosure several feet in height is then set up around each pile in +succession and the straw and brush are thrown out over the top, while +dogs and men kill the trapped rodents. Large numbers are destroyed in +this way, and the plan with modifications may be utilized in America +with satisfactory results. A wire netting of fine mesh may be used for +the inclosure. The scheme is applicable at the removal of grain, straw, +or haystacks, as well as brush piles. + +In a large barn near Washington, a few years ago, piles of unhusked corn +were left in the loft and were soon infested with rats. A wooden pen was +set down surrounding the piles in turn and the corn thrown out until +dogs were able to get at the rats. In this way several men and dogs +killed 500 rats in a single day. + + +POISONS. + +While the use of poison is the best and quickest way to get rid of rats +and mice, the odor from the dead animals makes the method impracticable +in occupied houses. Poisons may be effectively used in barns, stables, +sheds, cribs, and other outbuildings. + +=Caution.=--In the United States there are few laws which prohibit the +laying of poisons on lands owned or controlled by the poisoner. Hence it +is all the more necessary to exercise extreme caution to prevent +accidents. In several States notice of intention to lay poison must be +given to persons living in the neighborhood. Poison for rats should +never be placed in open or unsheltered places. This applies particularly +to strychnin or arsenic on meat. _Packages containing poisons should +always bear a warning label and should not be kept where children might +reach them._ + +Among the principal poisons that have been recommended for killing rats +and mice are barium carbonate, strychnin, arsenic, phosphorus, and +squills. + +=Barium carbonate.=--One of the cheapest and most effective poisons for +rats and mice is barium carbonate. This mineral has the advantage of +being without taste or smell. It has a corrosive action on the mucous +lining of the stomach and is dangerous to larger animals if taken in +sufficient quantity. In the small doses fed to rats and mice it would be +harmless to domestic animals. Its action upon rats is slow, and if exit +is possible the animals usually leave the premises in search of water. +For this reason the poison may frequently, though not always, be used in +houses without disagreeable consequences. + +Barium carbonate may be fed in the form of dough composed of four parts +of meal or flour and one part of the mineral. A more convenient bait is +ordinary oatmeal with about one-eighth of its bulk of the mineral, mixed +with water into a stiff dough. A third plan is to spread the barium +carbonate upon fish, toasted bread (moistened), or ordinary bread and +butter. The prepared bait should be placed in rat runs, about a +teaspoonful at a place. If a single application of the poison fails to +kill or drive away all rats from the premises, it should be repeated +with a change of bait. + +=Strychnin.=--Strychnin is too rapid in action to make its use for rats +desirable in houses, but elsewhere it may be employed effectively. +Strychnia sulphate is the best form to use. The dry crystals may be +inserted in small pieces of raw meat, Vienna sausage, or toasted cheese, +and these placed in rat runs or burrows; or oatmeal may be moistened +with a strychnin sirup and small quantities laid in the same way. + +Strychnin sirup is prepared as follows: Dissolve a half ounce of +strychnia sulphate in a pint of boiling water; add a pint of thick sugar +sirup and stir thoroughly. A smaller quantity may be prepared with a +proportional quantity of water and sirup. In preparing the bait it is +necessary to moisten all the oatmeal with the sirup. Wheat and corn are +excellent alternative baits. The grain should be soaked overnight in the +strychnin sirup. + +=Arsenic.=--Arsenic is probably the most popular of the rat poisons, +owing to its cheapness, yet our experiments prove that, measured by the +results obtained, arsenic is dearer than strychnin. Besides, arsenic is +extremely variable in its effect upon rats, and if the animals survive a +first dose it is very difficult to induce them to take another. + +Powdered white arsenic (arsenious acid) may be fed to rats in almost any +of the baits mentioned under barium carbonate and strychnin. It has been +used successfully when rubbed into fresh fish or spread on buttered +toast. Another method is to mix twelve parts by weight of corn meal and +one part of arsenic with whites of eggs into a stiff dough. + +An old formula for poisoning rats and mice with arsenic is the +following, adapted from an English source: + +Take a pound of oatmeal, a pound of coarse brown sugar, and a spoonful +of arsenic. Mix well together and put the composition into an earthen +jar. Put a tablespoonful at a place in runs frequented by rats. + +=Phosphorus.=--For poisoning rats and mice, phosphorus is used almost as +commonly as arsenic, and undoubtedly it is effective when given in an +attractive bait. The phosphorus paste of the drug stores is usually +dissolved yellow phosphorus, mixed with glucose or other substances. The +proportion of phosphorus varies from one-fourth of 1 per cent to 4 per +cent. The first amount is too small to be always effective and the last +is dangerously inflammable. When homemade preparations of phosphorus are +used there is much danger of burning the person or of setting fire to +crops or buildings. In the Western States many fires have resulted from +putting out homemade phosphorus poisons for ground squirrels, and entire +fields of ripe grain have been destroyed in this way. Even with +commercial pastes the action of sun and rain changes the phosphorus and +leaches out the glucose until a highly inflammable residue is left. + +It is often claimed that phosphorus eaten by rats or mice dries up or +mummifies the body so that no odor results. The statement has no +foundation in fact. No known poison will prevent decomposition of the +body of an animal that died from its effects. Equally misleading is the +statement that rats poisoned with phosphorus do not die on the premises. +Owing to its slower operation, no doubt a larger portion escape into the +open before dying than when strychnin is used. + +The Biological Survey does not recommend the use of phosphorus as a +poison for rodents. + +=Squills.=--The squill, or sea leek,[6] is a favorite rat poison in many +parts of Europe and is well worthy of trial in America. It is rapid and +very deadly in its action, and rats seem to eat it readily. The poison +is used in several ways. Two ounces of dry squills, powdered, may be +thoroughly mixed with eight ounces of toasted cheese or of butter and +meal and put out in runs of rats or mice. Another formula recommends two +parts of squills to three parts of finely chopped bacon, mixed with meal +enough to make it cohere. This is baked in small cakes. + +=Poison in poultry houses.=--For poisoning rats in buildings and yards +occupied by poultry the following method is recommended: Two wooden +boxes should be used, one considerably larger than the other and each +having one or more holes in the sides large enough to admit rats. The +poisoned bait should be placed on the bottom and near the middle of the +smaller box, and the larger box should then be inverted over it. Rats +thus have free access to the bait, but fowls are excluded. + + +DOMESTIC ANIMALS. + +Among domestic animals employed to kill rats are the dog, the cat, and +the ferret. + +=Dogs.=--The value of dogs as ratters can not be appreciated by persons +who have had no experience with a trained animal. The ordinary cur and +the larger breeds of dogs seldom develop the necessary qualities for +ratters. Small Irish, Scotch, and fox terriers, when properly trained, +are superior to other breeds and under favorable circumstances may be +relied upon to keep the farm premises reasonably free from rats. + +=Cats.=--However valuable cats may be as mousers, few learn to catch +rats. The ordinary house cat is too well fed and consequently too lazy +to undertake the capture of an animal as formidable as the brown rat. +Birds and mice are much more to its liking. Cats that are fearless of +rats, however, and have learned to hunt and destroy them are often very +useful about stables and warehouses. They should be lightly fed, chiefly +on milk. A little sulphur in the milk at intervals is a corrective +against the bad effects of a constant rat or mouse diet. Cats often die +from eating these rodents. + +=Ferrets.=--Tame ferrets, like weasels, are inveterate foes of rats, and +can follow the rodents into their retreats. Under favorable +circumstances they are useful aids to the rat catcher, but their value +is greatly overestimated. For effective work they require experienced +handling and the additional services of a dog or two. Dogs and ferrets +must be thoroughly accustomed to each other, and the former must be +quiet and steady instead of noisy and excitable. The ferret is used only +to bolt the rats, which are killed by the dogs. If unmuzzled ferrets are +sent into rat retreats, they are apt to make a kill and then lie up +after sucking the blood of their victim. Sometimes they remain for hours +in the burrows or escape by other exits and are lost. There is danger +that these lost ferrets may adapt themselves to wild conditions and +become a pest by preying upon poultry and birds. + + +FUMIGATION. + +Rats may be destroyed in their burrows in the fields and along river +banks, levees, and dikes by carbon bisulphid.[7] A wad of cotton or +other absorbent material is saturated with the liquid and then pushed +into the burrow, the opening being packed with earth to prevent the +escape of the gas. All animals in the burrow are asphyxiated. Fumigation +in buildings is not so satisfactory, because it is difficult to confine +the gases. Moreover, when effective, the odor from the dead rats is +highly objectionable in occupied buildings. + +Chlorin, carbon monoxid, sulphur dioxid, and hydrocyanic acid are the +gases most used for destroying rats and mice in sheds, warehouses, and +stores. Each is effective if the gas can be confined and made to reach +the retreats of the animals. Owing to the great danger from fire +incident to burning charcoal or sulphur in open pans, a special furnace +provided with means for forcing the gas into the compartments of vessels +or buildings is generally employed. + +Hydrocyanic-acid gas is effective in destroying all animal life in +buildings. It has been successfully used to free elevators and +warehouses of rats, mice, and insects. However, it is so dangerous to +human life that the novice should not attempt fumigation with it, except +under careful instructions. Directions for preparing and using the gas +may be found in a publication entitled Hydrocyanic-acid Gas against +Household Insects, by Dr. L. O. Howard and Charles H. Popenoe.[8] + +Carbon monoxid is rather dangerous, as its presence in the hold of a +vessel or other compartment is not manifest to the senses, and fatal +accidents have occurred during its employment to fumigate vessels. + +Chlorin gas has a strong bleaching action upon textile fabrics, and for +this reason can not be used in many situations. + +Sulphur dioxid also has a bleaching effect upon textiles, but less +marked than that of chlorin, and ordinarily it is not noticeable with +the small percentage of the gas it is necessary to use. On the whole, +this gas has many advantages as a fumigator and disinfectant. It is used +also as a fire extinguisher on board vessels. Special furnaces for +generating the gas and forcing it into the compartments of ships and +buildings are on the market, and many steamships and docks are now +fitted with the necessary apparatus. + + +RAT VIRUSES. + +Several microorganisms, or bacteria, found originally in diseased rats +or mice, have been exploited for destroying rats. A number of these +so-called rat viruses are on the American market. The Biological Survey, +the Bureau of Animal Industry, and the United States Public Health +Service have made careful investigations and practical tests of these +viruses, mostly with negative results. The cultures tested by the +Biological Survey have not proved satisfactory. + +The chief defects to be overcome before the cultures can be recommended +for general use are: + +1. The virulence is not great enough to kill a sufficiently high +percentage of rats that eat food containing the microorganisms. + +2. The virulence decreases with the age of the cultures. They +deteriorate in warm weather and in bright sunlight. + +3. The diseases resulting from the microorganisms are not contagious and +do not spread by contact of diseased with healthy animals. + +4. The comparative cost of the cultures is too great for general use. +Since they have no advantages over the common poisons, except that they +are usually harmless to man and other animals, they should be equally +cheap; but their actual cost is much greater. Moreover, considering the +skill and care necessary in their preparation, it is doubtful if the +cost can be greatly reduced. + +The Department of Agriculture, therefore, does not prepare, use, or +recommend the use of rat viruses. + + +NATURAL ENEMIES OF RATS AND MICE. + +Among the natural enemies of rats and mice are the larger hawks and +owls, skunks, foxes, coyotes, weasels, minks, dogs, cats, and ferrets. + +Probably the greatest factor in the increase of rats, mice, and other +destructive rodents in the United States has been the persistent killing +off of the birds and mammals that prey upon them. Animals that on the +whole are decidedly beneficial, since they subsist upon harmful insects +and rodents, are habitually destroyed by some farmers and sportsmen +because they occasionally kill a chicken or a game bird. + +The value of carnivorous mammals and the larger birds of prey in +destroying rats and mice should be more fully recognized, especially by +the farmer and the game preserver. Rats actually destroy more poultry +and game, both eggs and young chicks, than all the birds and wild +mammals combined; yet some of their enemies among our most useful birds +of prey and carnivorous mammals are persecuted almost to the point of +extinction. An enlightened public sentiment should cause the repeal of +all bounties on these animals and afford protection to the majority of +them. + + + + +ORGANIZED EFFORTS TO DESTROY RATS. + + +The necessity of cooperation and organization in the work of rat +destruction is of the utmost importance. To destroy all the animals on +the premises of a single farmer in a community has little permanent +value, since they are soon replaced from near-by farms. If, however, the +farmers of an entire township or county unite in efforts to get rid of +rats, much more lasting results may be attained. If continued from year +to year, such organized efforts are very effective. + + +COMMUNITY EFFORTS. + +Cooperative efforts to destroy rats have taken various forms in +different localities. In cities, municipal employees have occasionally +been set at work hunting rats from their retreats, with at least +temporary benefit to the community. Thus, in 1904, at Folkestone, +England, a town of about 25,000 inhabitants, the corporation employees, +helped by dogs, in three days killed 1,645 rats. + +Side hunts in which rats are the only animals that count in the contest +have sometimes been organized and successfully carried out. At New +Burlington, Ohio, a rat hunt took place some years ago in which each of +the two sides killed over 8,000 rats, the beaten party serving a banquet +to the winners. + +There is danger that organized rat hunts will be followed by long +intervals of indifference and inaction. This may be prevented by +offering prizes covering a definite period of effort. Such prizes +accomplish more than municipal bounties, because they secure a friendly +rivalry which stimulates the contestants to do their utmost to win. + +In England and some of its colonies contests for prizes have been +organized to promote the destruction of the English, or house, sparrow, +but many of the so-called sparrow clubs are really sparrow and rat +clubs, for the destruction of both pests is the avowed object of the +organizations. A sparrow club in Kent, England, accomplished the +destruction of 28,000 sparrows and 16,000 rats in three seasons by the +annual expenditure of but L6 ($29.20) in prize money. Had ordinary +bounties been paid for this destruction, the tax on the community would +have been about L250 (over $1,200). + +Many organizations already formed should be interested in destroying +rats. Boards of trade, civic societies, and citizens' associations in +towns and farmers' and women's clubs in rural communities will find the +subject of great importance. Women's municipal leagues in several large +cities already have taken up the matter. The league in Baltimore +recently secured appropriations of funds for expenditure in fighting +mosquitoes, flies, and rats. The league in Boston during the past year, +supported by voluntary contributions for the purpose, made a highly +creditable educational campaign against rats. Boys' corn clubs, the +troops of Boy Scouts, and similar organizations could do excellent work +in rat campaigns. + + +STATE AND NATIONAL AID. + +To secure permanent results any general campaign for the elimination of +rats must aim at _building the animals out of shelter and food_. +Building reforms depend on municipal ordinances and legislative +enactments. The recent plague eradication work of the United States +Public Health Service in San Francisco, Seattle, New Orleans, and at +various places in Hawaii and Porto Rico required such ordinances and +laws as well as financial aid in prosecuting the work. The campaign of +Danish and Swedish organizations for the destruction of rats had the +help of governmental appropriations. The legislatures of California, +Texas, Indiana, and Hawaii have in recent years passed laws or made +appropriations to aid in rat riddance. It is probable that +well-organized efforts of communities would soon win legislative support +everywhere. Communities should not postpone efforts, however, while +waiting for legislative cooperation, but should at once organize and +begin repressive operations. Wherever health is threatened the Public +Health Service of the United States can cooperate, and where crops and +other products are endangered the Bureau of Biological Survey of the +Department of Agriculture is ready to assist by advice and in +demonstration of methods. + + + + +IMPORTANT REPRESSIVE MEASURES. + + +The measures needed for repressing and eliminating rats and mice include +the following: + +1. The requirement that all new buildings erected shall be made +rat-proof under competent inspection. + +2. That all existing rat-proof buildings shall be closed against rats +and mice by having all openings accessible to the animals, from +foundation to roof, closed or screened by door, window, grating, or +meshed wire netting. + +3. That all buildings not of rat-proof construction shall be made so by +remodeling, by the use of materials that may not be pierced by rats, or +by elevation. + +4. The protection of our native hawks, owls, and smaller predatory +mammals--the natural enemies of rats. + +5. Greater cleanliness about markets, grocery stores, warehouses, +courts, alleys, stables, and vacant lots in cities and villages, and +like care on farms and suburban premises. This includes the storage of +waste and garbage in tightly covered vessels and the prompt disposal of +it each day. + +6. Care in the construction of drains and sewers, so as not to provide +entrance and retreat for rats. Old brick sewers in cities should be +replaced by concrete or tile. + +7. The early threshing and marketing of grains on farms, so that stacks +and mows shall not furnish harborage and food for rats. + +8. Removal of outlying straw stacks and piles of trash or lumber that +harbor rats in fields and vacant lots. + +9. The keeping of provisions, seed grain, and foodstuffs in rat-proof +containers. + +10. Keeping effective rat dogs, especially on farms and in city +warehouses. + +11. The systematic destruction of rats, whenever and wherever possible, +by (_a_) trapping, (_b_) poisoning, and (_c_) organized hunts. + +12. The organization of clubs and other societies for systematic warfare +against rats. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Mus musculus._ + +[2] _Rattus norvegicus._ + +[3] _Rattus rattus rattus._ + +[4] _Rattus rattus alexandrinus._ + +[5] Farmers' Bulletin 461, Use of Concrete on the Farm, will prove +useful to city and village dwellers as well as to the farmer. + +[6] _Scilla maritima._ + +[7] CAUTION.--Carbon disulphid is very inflammable and can be ignited by +a match, lantern, cigar, or pipe. + +[8] Farmers' Bulletin 699. + + + + +PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE RELATING TO +NOXIOUS MAMMALS. + + +AVAILABLE FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION. + + How to Destroy Rats. (Farmers' Bulletin 369.) + + The Common Mole of Eastern United States. (Farmers' Bulletin 583.) + + Field Mice as Farm and Orchard Pests. (Farmers' Bulletin 670.) + + Cottontail Rabbits in Relation to Trees and Farm Crops. (Farmers' + Bulletin 702.) + + Trapping Moles and Utilizing Their Skins. (Farmers' Bulletin 832.) + + Destroying Rodent Pests on the Farm. (Separate 708, Yearbook for + 1916.) + + +FOR SALE BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, +WASHINGTON, D. C. + + Harmful and Beneficial Mammals of the Arid Interior, with Special + Reference to the Carson and Humboldt Valleys, Nevada. (Farmers' + Bulletin 335.) Price 5 cents. + + The Nevada Mouse Plague of 1907-8. (Farmers' Bulletin 352.) Price 5 + cents. + + Some Common Mammals of Western Montana in Relation to Agriculture + and Spotted Fever. (Farmers' Bulletin 484.) Price 5 cents. + + Danger of Introducing Noxious Animals and Birds. (Separate 132, + Yearbook 1898.) Price 5 cents. + + Meadow Mice in Relation to Agriculture and Horticulture. (Separate + 388, Yearbook 1905.) Price 5 cents. + + Mouse Plagues, Their Control and Prevention. (Separate 482, Yearbook + 1908.) Price--cents. + + Use of Poisons for Destroying Noxious Mammals. (Separate 491, + Yearbook 1908.) Price 5 cents. + + Pocket Gophers as Enemies of Trees. (Separate 506, Yearbook 1909.) + Price 5 cents. + + The Jack Rabbits of the United States. (Biological Survey Bulletin + 8.) Price 10 cents. + + Economic Study of Field Mice, genus _Microtus_. (Biological Survey + Bulletin 31.) Price 15 cents. + + The Brown Rat in the United States. (Biological Survey Bulletin 33.) + Price 15 cents. + + Directions for the Destruction of Wolves and Coyotes. (Biological + Survey Circular 55.) Price 5 cents. + + The California Ground Squirrel. (Biological Survey Circular 76.) + Price 5 cents. + + Seed-eating Mammals in Relation to Reforestation. (Biological Survey + Circular 78.) Price 5 cents. + + Mammals of Bitterroot Valley, Montana, in Their Relation to Spotted + Fever. (Biological Survey Circular 82.) Price 5 cents. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of House Rats and Mice, by David E. Lantz + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE RATS AND MICE *** + +***** This file should be named 35542.txt or 35542.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/4/35542/ + +Produced by Erica Pfister-Altschul, Larry B. Harrison and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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