One of the most unsettling thoughts about having a rodent in your house is that rodents can carry bacteria that can actually get you and your family members ill. By getting into your food, or even your pet’s food, the rats or mice can spread diseases to anyone who eats after them. Rodents can fit into the most narrow of tunnels and flatten themselves to go under the thinnest spaces to get to food, water, and safety. They have to constantly chew on things like wooden furniture or hard plastics in order to keep their ever-growing teeth filed down at a comfortable level. If you have young children, you know that it is difficult to keep them from putting their mouths on everything. If your child puts a toy in their mouth that has been chewed on by a rat, bacteria can be spread to your child.
Prevention is key
Prevent rats from bringing harmful diseases into your home by following a few prevention tips. Battling a rat infestation can be difficult to eradicate once it is established. Taking some time to rodent proof your home goes a long way. Prevention tips such as:
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Keeping all garbage in trash cans with a good lid
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Wipe down countertops and sweep after each meal
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Seal up potential entry points around your home or roof that are larger than ¼ of an inch
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Remove any piles of debris around your home such as leaf piles or wood stacks where rats often make nests
Rat risks
Rats who are exposed to diseases like hantavirus can then become carriers of the disease, potentially spreading it to people. Hantavirus symptoms start off looking similarly to the flu but lead to breathing difficulties, causing a bigger risk to people’s health. According to the CDC, hantavirus can be spread through the droppings, urine, or saliva of rodents. People can be exposed to hantavirus by eating contaminated food and breathing contaminated dust particles from rodent droppings that could be floating in the air.
Call a rat control professional
In addition to hantavirus, rats can carry other harmful diseases such as Salmonella, Tularemia, and more. If you are worried that you may have a rat infestation or you want to make sure you never have one, set up a regular pest inspection with a pest control company that you trust. A rat control professional will check your home routinely for potential entry points and repair any they find, as well as check for evidence of rodents. If any chew marks or dropping are found, a pest professional will set out bait traps around the exterior of your home so as not to attract more rodents inside while eliminating the problem.
To make sure you never develop a rat infestation that could have health concerning consequences, give San Joaquin Pest Control in Visalia, CA a call today to set up regular inspections and treatments for rats.
