Those Teeth! - Update

Those Teeth! - Update

If you read the post Those Teeth! from February 17th, 2014, you may recall this tidbit of information:

... those incisors (teeth) never stop growing. 

 ...they must gnaw everyday to keep their teeth from growing to too long.

In fact, the text books say, if a rodent can't gnaw their teeth can grow right up through the skull of the rodent killing it.  This is something I never thought I would see in the wild, because why would a rat not gnaw dooming itself to an ultimate death?

Recently I trapped a live rat who would not let go of the bars on the trap.  Upon closer examination I could see why.

This poor rat was missing a lower incisor.  The two teeth on the right (viewing the picture)  kept each other the proper length and were razor sharp.  Without a lower tooth to gnaw against, the upper tooth on the right just kept growing way too long and was actually curling up towards the roof of the rat's mouth.  

The tooth had not penetrated the rat's skull, but if the rat had lived it easily could have in a few more weeks.  As it was the rat was obviously malnourished and sickly.  This rat was humanely euthanized and put out of its misery.

Pack rats and all rodents have amazing teeth.  Below is a picture a rock that I found in a pack rats nest.  The rats had actually been gnawing on the rock.  

The rat managed to take off about 1/8" of rock in a 3"x 5".  Maybe chewing on a rock was how the rat I trapped broke off its lower tooth?

Rodenticide Ban Enacted

The city of Malibu has recently banned the use of anti-rodenticide poison baits based on "science backed up by State Parks biologists. It is believed that the rodenticides work their way up the food chain, eventually harming and even killing larger local wildlife."

See the article here: 
Malibu Rodenticide Ban Enacted

And for more details on the efforts and reasons behind the ban:
Malibu Group Works to Break Rodenticide ‘Chain of Death’

Some excerpts:

National Park Service (NPS) studies have shown that rats who ingest the harmful chemicals can take several days to succumb to the poison, and often in the interim larger birds and mammals hunt and eat them.

“They’re wandering around with poison in [their] system, which can make them more of a target for prey animals,” NPS spokesperson Kate Kuykendall said, “so the prey animals could be more likely to eat them and then get the poison in their system.

“It’s a horrific death and no animal should have to go through that,” added Fuchser, who said that his own dog was a victim of rodenticides and died after eating a poisoned rodent. “I know pests are pests, but I think there are other ways of dealing with them and poison is just a lazy way out.”

The use of poison bait is a crude and ineffective way to deal with rats. Poison only deals with the symptoms of a rat problem - rats and not the cause - a situation that attracts and promotes rats.  

Must See Pack Rat Video!

Must See Pack Rat Video

Pack rat issues? This short video is the best place to start. In two minutes you can gain a basic understanding why pack rats do what they do and how to best stop them.

I hope you find it enjoyable and informative. If you like the production values and think your business could benefit from an "explainer" video be sure to check out Pendulum Swing Media.

Peppers for Pack Rats

I recently was called out by a client who had seen pack rat droppings on her back patio. She had put out poison, but the droppings continued. I saw she had a small bar type cabinet on the patio.

When I pulled the cabinet away I could see chewing, wood chips and immediately knew the source of the problem.

The cabinet had two sliding doors in the back that were closed , but there was a hole above that the rats had nicely enlarged to gain access to the space below.

I opened one of the doors to below to see where the rats where going and said to the customer, "you must have a string of peppers somewhere". She  said she did and pointed to the wall over her shoulder and we both saw this:

What had been a full string of chili peppers was now just a string. The pack rat had climbed the wall and removed the peppers one by one and stored them inside the cabinet.  

Underneath the peppers was a thick layer of acorns. Looking inside on the far left was a few more peppers and a nice nest.

I trapped a nice big pack rat that night and the next day began to clean out the debris and the nest. Under the peppers and mixed in with the acorns was some of the poison the customer had put out.

Poison bait (green pellets) in food store.

I also found the body of a dead, now mummified, poison rat in the lower corner of the cabinet.

I filled a large trash bag with all of acorns and peppers in the nest and it weighed over 40 lbs!

Lessons learned:

• Pack rats are adept climbers and can go right up a brick wall
• Pack rats can easily chew though wood
• Pack rats love enclosed spaces
• Pack rats store far more food, including poison, than they consume
• If one rat is poisoned another just moves in and takes over

In the end the cabinet was cleaned, disinfected and rat-proofed.  I told the customer to keep the cabinet at least 12 inches away from the wall to discourage other rats from investigating.