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The Noblest Of Thoughts
In 2014 I wrote this post and published it in hubpages.com.
https://hubpages.com/health/Three-Great-Ways-To-Kill-Rats-In-The-Home
. However four years down the line and I republish it here. The reason for republication is the reason I highlight in this introduction. If we could treat rats like meat rather than pests will be able to eradicate rats wholly. They will become endangered species. We will need to rear them instead of trying to kill them.
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Some experts suggest that farming and eating rodents could be one solution for alleviating the world's hunger and malnutrition problems
The idea of rodents as game or livestock is not just a question of cultural or culinary traditions, however. Some experts suggest that farming and eating rodents could be one solution for alleviating the world's hunger and malnutrition problems. According to FAO estimates, the human population on Earth is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, which will require a 50% increase in food productivity. Rodents could be an important part for addressing this problem, Singleton thinks. “The planet cannot sustain the projected growth in demand for meat protein nor the harvesting of bush meat in forests. They are a pest, but instead of fighting rats as a pest we could welcome them as game”, he said. Rather than using nasty chemicals to control them, harvesting rodents as food would create an ecologically clean and productive business, Singelton added, which could also countenance some of the 5–10% of annual loss rats and mice inflict on cereals and other food staples. This idea is not new, according to a FAO report, at least 11 species of rodents are used throughout Central and South America as sources of meat, and similar number of species are consumed throughout Africa 3
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5341521/
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Caught At Last
As there are many ways to kill a rat,I give here some of the ways you use to rid your home of the rodents.
Poisoning Using Indocid
Indocid contains indomethacin as an active ingredient and belongs to a group of medicines called Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs(NSAID). it is mainly used to relieve pain caused by arthritis,muscles and bone injuries,inflammatory diseases,menstrual cramps and others. Apart from these,Indocid is also very lethal on rats. It has the advantage of being gentle on humans and other animals. Indocid is cheaper to buy than other rat poisons. Dead rats also do not stink very much as opposed to the other poisons. The only disadvantage it has is extracting the powder from the capsule. Method: Just mix the powder that you extracted from the capsules with food that rats enjoy feeding on. Maize flour is very good. Put the mixture at specific places which rats often frequent. Once the rats feed on them they die after a few minutes. Do not be worried that the poison will be neutralized if the rats happen to take water.This method is recommended to rid homes of rats effectively.
Sticky Boards
These are boards are applied with strong sticky adhesive.It is further supplied with bait food like fish or meat. The board is then placed at a strategic place where rats often prowl. The rats often come for the food but to their shock,they find they are stuck. The more they struggle to free themselves is the more they get stuck. You find them stuck but alive.You can unstuck and kill them. Or you throw away the board plus the rats. The cost of the board can be about $5.00.
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Rat Traps
These are traps of different make and type. Their main aim is to trap the rats. Some kill the rats but some just catch them. You often put a bait in the trap.The traps may be made of metal,wires or wood. Some are just woven from raffia. The saying that there are many ways to kill rats survives here.
Perhaps rats are the only travelled animals of our time. They have hoarded in ships and trains. Rats have flown in planes to various countries. The most renowned poems that has beaten the odds of time is The Pied Piper. It tells of a town that was infested by rats.
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Rats are known to live in many different houses. They exist in huts,mansions and bungalows.They abode in palaces all over the world. I wonder whether rats are in the White House! Somebody will lose his job if ever the rats were sighted there. Yet they are in existence there too.
Cats come in handy in killing these rodents. Were the rats eaten by man then they will never be so rampant.Apart from the guinea rats,most of the other rats are not eaten.There may be communities which feed on rats but I may not be aware of them.Volunteering the information may be beneficial to our readers. Also if there are any other methods of killing rats that are more effective;it is prudent if one can volunteer the information.The methods that I will outline here are mostly used in my area and are known to be very effective.
Men all over the world have struggled to rid the world of these deadly vermin.Apart from being very dirty,they also cause diseases like plague. Rats are also known to be kleptomaniacs! They pilfer very many essential commodities from houses.They are known also to feed on a variety of substances.From clothes to grains and finally on meat.They feed on fish as if they know how to fish. They do not spare clothes too. Rats are gnawing animals.
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The rats also know how to play hide and seek.They burrow themselves in holes holes which they dig by themselves.They are very witty when evading a predator.There swift movement can leave the best athlete gazing in awe and admiration.
Rats are also good breeders. They reproduce as if they are told they will become extinct unless they do not reproduce very fast. The babies also become independent as soon as they can move about.
Rats are very destructive. Unless granaries are built with deflectors,rats often enter to create havoc on the grains. They do understand where the nutrition of maize lie-in the eye of the grain. Once they have eaten the eye,they live most of the starch intact. Yet who will buy grains which are eyeless.
People allover the world have raged war on the rodents. The more they do is the more the animals breed. The war almost becomes futile but it rages on. Most of the pesticides used to kill the rats are dangerous to humans and other animals.People have found themselves eradicating other animals rather than the rats they intended to destroy.
Rat are known to be a great attraction to snakes. Snakes in pursuit of rats may find themselves in our houses. This may become very dangerous to the members of the family. One needs to be a snake charmer to rid the house of snakes.
There are some methods though which are safe and very effective to rid our homes of rats. If one effectively uses the right methods to kill rats,we shall soon eradicate them.