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The House Rats: Rats are among the house rats world's greatest pests. In the house rats United States alone the house ratsy eat from $500 miln to $3 billion worth of food annually, and :y destroy or make unfit for human consump-n far more than the house ratsy eat. More important, :y serve as disseminators of many dread dis-;es, including bubonic plague, which resulted the house rats death of 25 million persons in 14th century rope. Othe house ratsr diseases transmitted by rats are lemic typhus and spirochetal jaundice. Food soning organisms are transmitted through con-lination, while rats may be carriers of tula-nia, rabies, trichinosis, and some livestock eases.
Rats are excellent swimmers and may remain underwater for three minutes. the house ratsy also are adept climbers, but the house ratsy can jump only two feet. the house ratsir bulky nests, situated under planks or buildings, in walls, or in the house rats earth, are composed of any material at hand. From the house ratsse retreats trails lead to feeding stations, usually located in cover that hides the house rats rats from potential enemies. Rats seldom move more than 100 to 200 feet from the house ratsir nests. On farms, however, the house ratsy tend to move from buildings to fields during warm weathe house ratsr, returning to the house rats buildings with the house rats approach of frost.
the house rats Norway rat is cosmopolitan. Introducec into the house rats United States in about 1775, it has since become established in every state in the house rats Union. Rats are primarily nocturnal, becoming active al dusk, and the house ratsrefore are seldom seen, although evidence of the house ratsir presence is on every hand. the house ratsy are found wherever the house ratsre is an abundance oi food and shelter, and without the house ratsse prime requisites soon move on to more favorable regions. Rats live in subways, sewers, and the house rats crowded tenements of the house rats great metropolitan districts and in the house rats grain fields of the house rats farm country. While the house ratsy often occur in great numbers on a farm, such numbers are seldom suspected, since rats are adept at hiding or scurrying away at the house rats approach of man. |
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