More Plague and a Few Rat Control Tips

I wrote about the Plague a little while back. But since then, my take on the role rats played in this decimating scourge has changed. I recently read an article in the Guardian that vindicates the vermin a bit. It seems they are not responsible for the lion's share of transmission; that's according to archaeologists studying the Black Death in London in the mid 14th Century. 

It essentially comes down to transmission time. The Black Plague, which wiped out possibly two thirds of the city's population, was not a rat control issue, but more of a people control problem. The scourge moved too quickly to be a flea-related illness. Because the city's population was so densely packed, the infection spread through airborne pathogens, finding purchase in the closest human. 

Mortality rose  throughout the cold winter of of 1349, which debunks the whole fleas on rats theory, as fleas would not have survived the frigid temperatures. Black rat skeletons have been found at many burial sites, but not enough to make a case. 


That doesn't mean I have to start liking the creatures though. I mean, I don't want them in kitchen; or trying on my clothes for that matter. Here a few things you can do to keep them out of your house:

• First, inspect the house for a genuine rat control problem (droppings etc.)
• Then, find out how the rats are getting inside the building, and seal those places up. 
• Now it's time to start trapping
• Set the traps on the rat thoroughfares, where there are droppings, and some trails in the insulation.
• Check them every day, and get rid of all dead trapped rats
• Finally, disinfect the area; rat droppings and remains aren't exactly sanitary