David E. Lantz

“ The value of carnivorous mammals and the larger birds of prey in destroying rats should be more fully recognized, especially by the farmer and the game preserver. Chief among the animals that are useful in destroying these rodents are the fox, skunk, and weasel, and the larger species of owls and hawks. Rats destroy more poultry and game, both eggs and young chicks, than all the birds and wild mammals named combined, yet some of our most useful birds of prey and carnivorous mammals are persecuted almost to the point of extinction. ”

“ The prepared bait should be placed in rat runs, a small quantity at a place. If a single application of the poison fails to drive all rats from the premises, it should be repeated with a change of bait. ”

“ Fig. 1.—Method of baiting guillotine trap.
Wire cage traps (French) also are useful for catching rats, but in the long run the kinds recommended above are much more effective. While trapping, all other food should be removed and the trap bait should be changed often. Rats are very suspicious, and baits and traps should be handled as little as possible. Increased success may be secured both in trapping and poisoning if the rats are fed for a night or two with the kinds of food to be used for bait. ”

“ Trapping, if persistently followed, is one of the most effective methods of destroying rats. 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 to be preferred. Probably those made entirely of metal are the best, as they are less likely to absorb and retain odors. ”

“ Rats may be destroyed in their burrows in the fields, and, still more important, in levees and rice-field dikes, by the use of carbon bisulphid. A wad of cotton or other absorbent material is saturated with the liquid and pushed into the burrow, the opening being packed with soil to prevent escape of the gas. All animals in the burrow are asphyxiated. Fumigation about buildings is not so effective, as the gas can not readily be confined. ”

“ Barium Carbonate.—One of the cheapest and most effective poisons for rats and mice is barium carbonate, or barytes. This mineral has the advantage of being without taste or smell; and, in the small quantities used in poisoning rats and mice, is harmless to larger animals. Its action on rodents is slow, but reasonably sure, and has the further advantage that the animals before dying, if exit be possible, usually leave the premises in search of water. ”

“ An experienced person with dogs and ferrets trained to work together can kill many rats when they are numerous. But the amateur ferreter is likely to be greatly disappointed.
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 [Pg 7] the straw and brush are thrown out over the top while dogs and men kill the trapped rodents. ”

“ The cellar walls should have concrete footings and the walls themselves be laid in cement mortar. The cellar floor should be of "medium" rather than "lean" concrete, and all water and drain pipes should be surrounded with concrete. ”

“ It invades store and warehouse and destroys fur, 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 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 [Pg 4] embankments by burrowing; destroys the farmers' pigs, eggs, and young poultry; eats the eggs and young of song and game birds ”

“ The common custom of setting corncribs upon posts with inverted pans at the top often fails because the posts are not long enough to insure that the lower cracks of the structure are beyond jumping reach of rats. ”

“ It 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 breeds three or four times a year and produces from 6 to 12, and even more, young at a litter. Young females breed when only 4 or 5 months old. The species is practically omnivorous, feeding upon all kinds of animal and vegetable matter. ”