Archive for May, 2010

Rodent Safari: How to Get Rid of Rats

Have you heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet? Seen the precious gnaw marks on precious items? These are some of the first signs that you’ve got wildlife prowling around your very own home. Unfortunately, the creatures that have chosen to migrate into your homeland are not very friendly to the environment. Rats may not carry the black plague anymore, but they do carry at least 10 other diseases and contaminate food stores and cause property damage. When you spot those early signs, you have to go on the offensive right away. All you need is a little equipment and some knowledge about how to get rid of rats.
Know Your Prey

In order to catch your trophy rat, you have to know your prey, understand its behavior, and employ practical methods to catch him. Understanding how to get rid of rats starts here.

A rat can survive on as little as one ounce of food and water a day. They are generally nocturnal, which is why you’ll probably start hearing them run around at dusk. A rat can and will eat any food that humans do, and, between their urine, droppings, and hair, they can contaminate ten times as much as they consume. When you learn how to get rid of rats, this is something you don’t have to worry about any more.

Rats are xenophobic creatures. They are naturally suspicious of any new objects in their environment, which is why many traps don’t work right away. They don’t like going into wide open spaces, so they’re more likely to run all the way around a room, pressed against the wall, than they are to run straight across it.

When you know how to get rid of rats, you can act quickly to stop them from doing some real property damage as well. Rats will gnaw on everything from wood, to plastic, to wires. They can cut through phone, network, and electrical lines, which has been the cause of countless fires.
Track ‘em Down

The next step in how to get rid of rats is to find them. Look for their droppings, listen for noises in the wall or attic, or try to find the remnants of old nests. Because of their xenophobic tendencies rats tend to follow the same paths in their search for food. Look for smudge marks on walls, beams, or rafters, and gnaw marks on the wood. If you’re still not sure, try dusting the area with flour and watch for footprints to appear.
Take ‘em Out

The big question of how to get rid of rats is: what method works the best? There are a few options for you to choose from, some are more effective than others for bagging your trophy rat, and some are better depending on your individual circumstances.

Some people want to know how to get rid of rats humanely; others just want to know how to get rid of rats as fast as possible. Options for a rat trap include: poison, snap traps, single-catch live traps, multi-catch live traps, and glue traps. Poison is generally frowned upon, because household pets or children might get to it, and there’s no guarantee where the rat will die. Knowing how to get rid of rats that died in a wall is a different matter altogether.

You also have to use a little tact when baiting a trap. As stated earlier, a rat is naturally suspicious of anything new in its environment. Many professionals recommend baiting the trap but not setting it. Feed the rat a couple times until it is used to it, and then you can set the trap. Chances are, you’ll be able to catch more than a few this way.
Disposing of Your Trophy

Knowing how to get rid of rats includes knowing how to dispose of them properly. You don’t actually want to keep your trophies from this safari. Always use gloves if you have to touch the rat. Wrap the corpse in plastic and bury it or throw it away. If you have chosen the catch and release method, be sure to check with the local Animal Control to find out where it would be okay to release them so you don’t inadvertently damage another environment.

Andy Eliason is a Web Content Specialist at 10x Marketing. For more information on rat bait, rat traps, and how to get rid of rats at Do My Own Pest Control.
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Bee Stings – Wasp Stings – the Simple Facts and the Cures

What is a Bee Sting: A Bee Sting is caused by the part ‘stinger’ of a creature such as a wasp or bee, that delivers a poison when used to pierce the skin of another animal or a human.

Bee Sting Symptoms: Bee Stings can cause a lot of symptoms, but the most common is first there will be a sharp pain and burning sensation in the area of the sting. To some people this is very painful, a lot worse than getting a shot in the doctors office. The severe pain and buring is caused by the poison in the bee or wasps venom.

Other symptoms of bee stings are a redness or swelling of the local area. I swell up like a pancake near any sting site. Some people develop a rash or hives, and yet others that are very allergic to the venom will have severe problems such as swelling of the lips or throat, swelling around the eyes, throat tightness, wheezing, difficulty breathing, hoarseness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, lightheadedness, or passing out due to low blood pressure. If you start developing any of the severe symptoms, get to a Hospital ER right away or call an ambulance.

Bee Sting Treatment: There are a lot of treatments for Bee and Wasp Stings, and here are just a few. To ease the pain of a sting, take a pain reliever such as acetaminophen (Tylenol). Some people make a mixture of water and meat tenderizer and apply it onto the bite. Papain, an enzyme in meat tenderizer, breaks down the protein in bee venom responsible for the pain and itching. Don’t leave this on for more than 30 minutes, or it can irritate the skin and cause a rash in some people. Apply an ice pack or bag of very cold water for 10 to 30 minutes after the sting, the cold slows down the body’s allergic response.

Bee Sting Prevention: How does one prevent bee or wasp stings ? If you are outdoors in the spring or summer months, you will encounter bees and wasps. Try your best to stay away from these flying creatures if possible. If you are mowing the grass or walking, or picking berries, you will encounter a bee or wasp in time. Do not swing or react violently towards it, to do so, may excite it, causing it to attack and sting. Just try to move out of the way, or slowly react to it in a calm movement. If you see a bee or wasp inside, kill it with a fly swatter or rolled up newspaper. Do not pick up the dead wasp or bee right after it has been killed, the bee or wasps stinger will often move for over an hour by muscle or nerve reactions, making the creature able to sting a long time after it’s dead.

If you encounter a nest of bees outside and if you are sure you can safely kill them, dress for the occasion and wait until night time to spray it from a distance or very early in the morning, when it’s cool and the creatures are in their nest and are not yet active. But be warned, once you spray a nest, soak it completely and fast, it will only take a couple seconds before the creatures may start flying out and stinging, if they are not all killed right away. Once sprayed, do not walk or stand near the nest, because bees that are sprayed and slowly dying will often drop to the ground, and may crawl up your pant legs or get into your shoes.

There is a website that provides cures, facts and great information on Bee Stings and Wasp Stings and numerous other medical conditions, the website is called: All About Health, and can be found at this url:

http://www.rb59.com/medical-health-info

By Robert W. Benjamin

Copyright © 2007

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter, or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.

Robert W. Benjamin has been in the software business on the internet for over 5 years, and has been producing low-cost software for the past 25+ years. He first released products on the AMIGA and C64 computer systems in the late 1970′s-80′s.
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