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72
in workrooms—in any place which, in spite of its closeness to us, provides a minimum of
danger from that source and a maximum of convenience in their raids upon our properties.
The vermin breed prolifically, the period of gestation being about twenty-one days, the
litters from five to twelve or more. The rat reaches sexual maturity at about three months
of age.
The rat must of necessity live in dirty, unattended places in our buildings, but it would
not, it is suggested, be correct to describe it as a naturally dirty animal. Actually, rats
sit on their haunches and clean and preen themselves for long periods. Many have been
seen, just killed, with livestock on them. Many more, particularly live rats, have been
examined whose fur and skin is remarkable for its cleanliness, where even the operation of
combing with a fine tooth comb has failed to show any living creature, or abundant dirt in
the fur. Rats have an offensive smell, which, if they are present in numbers in a building,
can be detected. In colonies they appear to be great hoarders of food, laying up a store
against the day when their supplies may be cut off. It is a point of interest that, during
one investigation, an inspection of the hollow cavity provided by a false ceiling showed
a large quantity of lump sugar, each piece having been carried separately from the sugar
basin and deposited in this "safe" place. No indication can be given as to how much had
been eaten, but certainly no attempt had been made to consume this very neat and orderly
pile. This discovery was interesting, because it provides some indication of what happens
to solid poison baits, which are usually made in a size comparable to a piece of lump sugar.
The disappearance of poison baits which have been laid about in buildings does not mean
that those poison baits have been consumed.
Rats are excellent climbers, and this applies particularly to the Black Rat, which, to
reach an objective, will scale seemingly impossible climbs. Having once found a safe run,
the rat will always reach its objective by that run. By living in obscure places, usually
inaccessible to man, and therefore dirty, and by climbing lift ropes and negotiating lift gear,
the feet and tail of the rat pick up a great deal of dirt and grease, and this, together with
the natural exudations of the body, supplies us with an indication of their runs. The fact
that the same run is used consistently accentuates the dirty marking, and so, in infested
buildings, the experienced eye can rapidly pick up the trail. It has been noted that the
majority of people do not associate these markings with the rat, even in those instances
when the grease and dirt from their tails and feet has left a deposit in the run sometimes
a sixteenth of an inch thick, and when one bannister upright is black from this cause, and
the others still retain their painted or polished surface. Invariably these markings have
been noticed, but are assumed to be ordinary deposits of dirt. These runs are to be kept
in mind during any trapping operations.
The reaction of the public to the problem generally may be summarised by saying
that the rat has come to be regarded as an unavoidable evil. This has brought about the
feeling that the rat is far too clever for us, and the problem has long since ceased to receive
the logical treatment it should. There can be little doubt that the rat succeeds rather
because of our apathy than by its own superiority.
Occupiers of property complain frequently of their rat-infested premises, but usually
because of the financial loss caused. The proprietor of a business is vitally interested from
this point of view. It may be considered natural that this view-point rather obscures the
aspect of danger to public health ; further, it might be said that, as both view-points lead
to one ultimate aim—the riddance of the pest—it does not much matter. Yet there is
a difference, for the financial loss is to the minority in business houses. If the public generally
could be made rat-conscious solely from the more important aspect of public health, great
strides could be made to solve this problem, for then we should have a majority interest,
with every one showing more care in their conduct. The proper disposal of waste food
and other accumulations in business houses and restaurants ; greater care shown by the
biggest offenders, the indiscriminate eaters of apples, oranges, and other fruit, who throw
the waste into some inaccessible corner, which is not cleaned, or behind or under some
fitting to which the same remarks apply, but where the rat can easily get ; the closing of
this window and that door, not because the employer suffers financial loss, but because
the presence of this pest means danger to employee and employer alike. That should be
the aim, and its establishment would spell doom to the rat. Because of the lack of this
majority interest, the best method of repression—the consistent removal of attractions—
is lost, and we fall back on the trapping and poisoning methods of destruction, carried out