Jumping Jack Rat
Posted on 2nd May 2019 at 16:54
Here at Reading Pest Control our most commonly dealt with pest is the brown rat, sometimes called the sewer rat but Rattus Norvegicus or the Norway rat crops up all over Reading and the surrounding areas and without a shadow of doubt it is a fearful adversary.
The rat enters our homes and businesses from underground, through the walls and even down from the roof on occasion.
He or she, and the many offspring, keeps us very busy as rats form around 80% of all our pest control treatments.
It never pays to underestimate your enemy and here at Reading pest Control we grudgingly admire the rat for their tenacity and their adaptability.
Most animals adapt a specialty; think of the giraffe, food was available higher up in the tree canopy so its adapted to become a high level feeder and has a niche that no other animal can compete with.
Rats on the other hand have become the supreme specialist “all – rounder” if that makes sense?
They seem happy living underground in our sewage systems, happy beneath the garden shed and as equally happy living in the loft of your house, how can such a small animal have so many habitats and how can it be so successful?
We recently attended a property where rats were climbing a fir tree and jumping over a metre onto the tiled roof of the house: we know this is the case, as in this instance we had to resort to the use of poison and a dead rat blocked part of the roof drainage system – our rat.
The brown rat can jump well over two feet in a straight up movement; 77 cm to be precise. To put that into context most kitchen base units stand at 80 cm, so you can see how easy it will be for the rat to mount a waste bin or stool and from there onto the kitchen surfaces.
In a horizontal movement the rat can jump 120 cm; that's well over a metre from a standing start. Imagine how it would reach much further with a run up? Again we have found rats jumping from walls and fences onto roofs to gain access into the interior of a property; you can just never underestimate the rat!
Watch the video footage taken from a job in Reading showing a rat jumping from a garden wall and entering the house beneath the roof tiles!
Here at Reading Pest Control we don’t under estimate the rat, we know they’re wily, cunning creatures and we know how they can access our properties, all our rat treatments include a full survey of the building – if you live in a semi-detached house we include your neighbour as rats don’t care about boundaries and ownership.
Tagged as: Rats and mice
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