What harm are there from rats?
Every year, economists record colossal losses caused by rodents to agriculture. Rats cause harm by gnawing grains and root crops in the fields, as well as gnawing fruit trees. They often eat newly planted plants right out of the ground. On livestock and poultry farms, eggs and newly born young animals are destroyed, and adult animals are frightened. Warehouses containing food supplies often become home to rats. Rodents not only eat finished products, but they also mercilessly spoil the rest.
In America, they conducted a bold experiment: they gave a rat family a food warehouse at their full disposal for two months. The damage was fantastic. They ate and irrevocably ruined 14 tons of flour, 200 tons of sugar, several hundred boxes of pasta and bags of coffee. They damaged everything - along with cardboard and sackcloth packaging. And this is only for two months in one separate warehouse. What then happens on a planetary scale.
There are legends about the pasyuki's ability to gnaw even inedible objects. They easily chew through materials such as wood, plastic, rubber and brick. What can we say if it is absolutely true that even such heavy-duty structures as concrete walls and bridge supports are susceptible to rat teeth. Therefore, no ultra-modern shells electrical wires will not save the wiring, home household appliances and industrial equipment.
Why are they dangerous to humans?
For a long time, these animals have brought and continue to bring trouble, misfortune and suffering to humanity. By settling next to people, adapting to their habits and manners, and learning to avoid set traps whenever possible, these rodents can make a person’s life unbearable. Although many people often underestimate the danger posed by them.
What diseases can rats transmit?
People experience the greatest harm from rats, as pathogens and carriers of dangerous diseases that can result, including fatal. Pasyuki are omnivores, they literally sweep away everything that is in the slightest degree suitable for food. They hunt small animals, often infected, pick up waste in which a lot of bacteria live, and do not disdain carrion with corpse microorganisms. And the pasyuk subsequently shares all this harmful set with the person.
Many bacterial and viral infections are transmitted through food and water contaminated by rats. The most dangerous: cryptosporidiosis, leptospirosis, giardiasis, listeriosis, tularemia, hemorrhagic fever. And also no less serious diseases - hepatitis, tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis, salmonellosis, tapeworms, fungi. In addition, animal waste products can cause allergic reactions and asthma attacks in people with weak immune systems.
Can a pasyuk attack a person?
It is common knowledge that gray predators attack small domestic animals. Rodents eat hamsters and turtles, kittens and puppies. They also attack larger animals, horses or cows, driving them away from food. If they manage to get into a pigsty where piglets have recently appeared, most of young animals may lose their tongues, a favorite rat treat.
The situation is not so clear regarding the attacks of these rodents on humans. Despite the fact that these inhabitants of garbage dumps and basements are very careful and will not contact a person again, there are cases when they attacked a person. True, they prefer a weaker opponent - the sick, the infirm, children. Facts have been recorded in history when rats attacked babies in cradles, motionless old people, and prisoners in cells.
Why does a rat attack a person?
The most obvious motive for a rat attack is simple hunger. These pests generally have difficulty withstanding malnutrition. Severe hunger can prompt a rodent to eat its own fellow tribesman, which contradicts all the laws of nature. What can we say about representatives of other, unrelated species. A starving animal will immediately attack a person to get at least some food.
If this insidious beast is literally driven into a corner, so that it is not possible to escape, out of fear and hopelessness the pasyuk can attack a person. As the population increases, rodents become bolder and behave more and more brazenly. If at this time they do not have enough food, or a person begins to fight pests more actively and tries to drive them away, they can move on to active hostilities.
It is also not uncommon for rabid rats to attack a person. One of the stages of rabies is characterized by increased aggressiveness. If at this time a person gets in her way, the possibility of an attack is very high.
As a rule, before an attack, she takes a fighting stance: she rises on her hind legs and opens her mouth with a grin. The rat’s attack itself occurs in a swift jump; it digs into the victim with sharp teeth and claws.
Statistics on rat attacks on people.
Bleak statistics: in a large city, where the number of these insidious rodents is approximately equal to or greater than the population, there are from 500 to 700 cases of attacks on people every year. And these are only those episodes when the victims sought medical help. And how many cases of bites remain unaccounted for?
Rules for first aid for bites.
Typically, aggressive animals bite into the arms or legs. Moreover, the moment of the bite itself may be unnoticed, since sharp teeth They instantly pierce the skin, and painful sensations arise after a few seconds. Rat bites to the face and neck are especially dangerous. In these places, the skin is thin, the blood vessels are located close, so the pathogen penetrates the body very quickly. After a rat attack, it is necessary to provide first aid to the victim: wash the wound, apply a bandage and consult a doctor.
If from a wound there's blood coming out, don't try to stop it right away. Harmful bacteria are released along with the blood, which reduces the risk of contracting dangerous rat diseases. Then the wound should be washed thoroughly, preferably with laundry soap. The alkali contained in soap perfectly neutralizes the rabies virus. For superficial skin damage, treatment of the bite should last at least 5 minutes, for deep damage - up to 10 minutes. It is a good idea to wash the wound with a strong stream of soapy water, such as from an enema, to wash away all the bacteria from deep in the wound.
After washing with soap, the bite site is additionally treated with an antiseptic, furacelin or hydrogen peroxide, and iodine is applied to the edges of the wound. Then an antibiotic ointment is applied to the wound site and secured with a sterile bandage.
The next mandatory step is a trip to the emergency room or clinic. It does not matter whether the wound is extensive and deep or minor skin damage. It is not uncommon for simple wounds to develop into serious illnesses. This is because small rodent bites are not given due attention, and medical institution not visited. After examining the wound, a qualified doctor will prescribe treatment and, if necessary, vaccinate against rabies and tetanus.
Can a person die from a rat attack?
Deaths from rat attacks are rare, but do occur. Typically, fatal bites occur when a person is unable to provide at least some resistance to rodents, or when there are a huge number of attacking animals.
What harm do mice do?
Do not think that mice are less harmful and more friendly to humans than rats. The harm they cause in agriculture and private households is enormous. The least harmful thing that mice can do in residential buildings is their night noises and characteristic odor. But there are more significant acts: eaten and spoiled food, mutilated furniture, damaged wiring and household appliances.
In agriculture, mice cause damage to equipment in production workshops, eat up crops, and destroy great amount grains in warehouses. Pest mice do not eat even more food, but contaminate it with waste from their vital activity.
Here are just some interesting facts:
- In Moscow, more than 600 rat bites are officially registered every year;
- In the United States alone, rats bite more than 14,000 people each year;
- The number of rat attacks on people around the world reaches 3.5 million per year;
- Diseases transmitted by rat bites kill more than 2,000 people worldwide every year.
At a minimum, this means that rats attack people quite often - much more often than an ordinary city dweller, familiar with rats only by hearsay, might think. On the Internet you can even find videos of such attacks, although in general videos with real, dangerous attacks are extremely rare.
As for the cases when these animals bit a person to death - in such documentary evidence we are talking about people who could not move or were unconscious. Yes, a rat can attack a person, it is even capable of doing this on its own initiative, and not just in self-defense, but such an attack is always limited to only individual bites, even serious ones and fraught with infection.
Pictured is a rat bite:
Agree, it is difficult to imagine that an animal (or even several animals) of a relatively small size could kill a person who is conscious and able to move.
However, those who like to tickle the nerves are actively spreading rumors about giant mutant rats from the subway that can kill a person, as well as stories about the invasion of cannibal rats and the corpses of people allegedly found in the sewers, gnawed by them. In these myths, the danger of rats is greatly exaggerated, but this exaggeration is not always obvious to the person to whom such a story is told. Many people readily believe in stories and cannot distinguish truth from fiction.
So how can a rat attack on a person actually end? And why, in general, do these animals attack? Are they only trying to protect themselves and their home, or do they really view the person as a victim? Are there, after all, true cannibal rats capable of attacking a person en masse and killing him?
Let's find out...
Why and when do rats attack people?
Almost all cases of rat attacks on humans occur for two reasons:
- The rat attacks in defense of itself or its offspring. This usually happens when they try to remove the animal from a trap, destroy its nest, or try to catch or kill it during a direct encounter indoors (often by driving it into a corner);
- Much less often, an animal tries to bite off a piece of skin or even meat (from a child or a sedentary person in general) in order to satisfy its hunger.
In Russia, rats extremely rarely consider people as food, since they can easily find a sufficient amount of food over in safe ways. And they have to attack a person only when he poses a threat to their life (or it seems to them that such a threat comes from the person).
On a note
According to some data, rats bite 1.2 people out of 100 thousand annually, that is, approximately 90-95 thousand rat attacks on people occur every year around the world. Another statistic states that only 1 in 36 people report such bites, meaning in reality the number of rat attacks on humans could reach up to 3.5 million per year worldwide.
In third world countries, in slums and poor areas, where there are a lot of rats, against the backdrop of a general lack of food sources, these animals often gnaw at the heels of sleeping people and even try to bite the soft tissues of the body. On the other hand, here many poor people catch rats for food, and with such a hunt, bites by the animals are inevitable.
But even here we cannot talk about rats that want to kill or tear apart a person - these are simply rodents that bite on the sly (evaluating a person as food), or as part of self-defense.
The outcome of such an attack usually depends on the purpose for which the rat attacks.
How do rats attack?
The vast majority of rat attacks occur to some degree unexpectedly to humans. Typically these animals attack people in one of two ways.
More often, rats rush at people from a distance, making a jump and trying not so much to bite as to scare a person (they often squeak, almost squeal). This type of attack usually occurs when the animal is scared, cornered and forced to defend itself. An example of such an attack is shown in the video:
In more rare cases, a rodent climbs onto a sleeping person and bites him on the open area bodies. The video below shows an example of such an attack:
As a rule, attacks of the first type are the most dangerous. With them, the rat deliberately strives to inflict the greatest damage on the offender, biting hard and more than once. And if a person is confused (for example, a child), he can be bitten quite badly.
By the way, rat bites of sleeping people are often not felt: for example, rats gnaw the skin on people’s heels very carefully, without causing pain. As a rule, a person does not even wake up during such an attack.
It should be borne in mind that when a rat openly rushes at a person, it, first of all, seeks to scare him in order to be able to escape. And if the situation is not in your favor, then it is best to let her do it rather than try to continue to catch her, receiving new bites.
On a note
There is no documented evidence that rats alone or in packs can pursue a fleeing person for a long time or attack him from a hiding place. It is difficult to imagine a cannibal rat weighing about 300 grams that would try to chase and kill a 60-kilogram person.
Dangers of Rat Attacks
However, for whatever reasons, rats attack people, the main dangers of these attacks are always the same: when an animal is bitten, there is a high risk of contracting serious diseases, primarily sodoku and tetanus.
Sodoku is relatively easy to treat, but without therapy it is deadly (its mortality rate in an untreated form is 10%). The disease is accompanied by severe muscle pain, high temperature, anemia and exhaustion of the body.
The dangers of tetanus are well known: among its consequences are paralysis, nervous disorders, pneumonia, and in severe cases - death. Even with the use of modern medicines, the mortality rate of the disease is 17-25%, and in remote areas it kills 9 people out of 10 cases.
On a note
Other diseases, for example, various fevers, leptospirosis and typhus, can be transmitted not even through bites, but simply through contact with wild rats or their corpses. For example, if you throw a rat out of a trap, you can easily become infected. And the same typhus or plague is even carried by rat fleas - for infection it is not necessary to have contact with an animal at all.
In tropical regions, when attacked by a rat, there is a high risk of contracting various fevers - Lassa, Argentine, Venezuelan. Lassa fever, for example, causes more than 5,000 deaths annually, with a mortality rate of 30%.
The photo below shows a rat bite:
If the tetanus pathogen gets under the skin during a bite, then the development of the disease is likely.
Meanwhile, rats cannot tolerate rabies, and infection with sodoku or tetanus from rodent attacks occurs relatively rarely. In general, the probability of contracting any disease from a rat bite is about 2% - this is a sufficient reason to avoid such an attack, and after it, see a doctor.
Another danger of rat bites is, in fact, injury. According to statistics, after attacks by these animals, victims are left with:
- Damage to soft tissues characteristic of rodent bites - in 61% of cases;
- Lacerated wounds - in 14% of cases;
- Abrasions - in 12% of cases;
- Bruising without damage to the skin - in 6% of cases;
- Hematomas - 5% of the consequences of bites;
- Finger fractures - 2%.
Often, during one attack by an animal, a person receives several different injuries at once.
Statistics were collected based on an analysis of about 500 rat attacks on people. At a minimum, it shows that these animals are quite strong and can leave serious wounds on the human body.
The photo below shows a girl who was attacked by a rat:
This is interesting
Using measuring equipment, scientists tested the bite force of an ordinary gray rat: the animal can create a pressure of 500 kg/cm 2 with its incisors. This allows him to chew through metal wires and deal with the bones of dead animals, nuts and seeds. Rest assured: to bite your finger to the bone, the rat won’t even have to strain hard...
All these injuries may not seem so significant compared to those that a person receives when a rat deliberately tries to chew off a piece of his flesh. In particular, there have been documented cases where a rat bit off a child’s nose or earlobe, and for many drunk people, animals even chewed off the phalanges of the fingers. In addition, stories are described when rats killed a person who was unable to move and defend himself.
“A schoolteacher in the Italian town of Bari had just put her three-year-old daughter Simone to bed and went into the next room when she heard a loud, piercing scream from the nursery. Running into the room and turning on the light, she saw a garbage rat scurrying across the room with a piece of a child's ear. The screaming girl was sitting on the bed and holding her head with her hand covered in blood..."
What is known today about cannibal rats?
As noted above, there are quite well-known and frequent cases where rats gnaw off the hardened skin on a person’s heels. This usually happens when the victim is sleeping, and often the attack ends in serious trouble - the animals get to the soft tissues, and the wounds here do not heal for a very long time due to constant restlessness when walking.
When the rats realize that a person cannot harm them, they calmly gnaw off more and more pieces from his body. It was rats that killed a huge number of prisoners in prisons and captives in military camps in the Middle Ages: people were tied up, their ability to move was severely limited, and hungry rodents boldly (and competently) gnawed at them, leaving bleeding wounds. A person usually died either from blood loss or from blood poisoning.
If a person is paralyzed or unconscious, they may suffer the same fate.
“This incident took place in Naples. 77-year-old Vittoria Chipula has not appeared in public for several days and has not responded to phone calls, and one of her friends decided to visit her. In the house, he saw a terrible picture: a woman was lying on the bed, and her body was completely nibbled by rats. It is not known whether the woman died before the rodents attacked, or whether they bit her while she was alive...”
Angelo Maria Perrino, Panorama, Milan, 1979
There is information about the terrible torture that guilty prisoners were subjected to in Stalin's labor camps: a person's hands and feet were tied, after which he was put in a large barrel, into which hungry rats were released. A few days later, corpses with their stomachs eaten away were taken out of the barrels. There were other options for torture...
And yet, we cannot talk about specialized cannibal rats. These animals are omnivores and eat any meat: the rat, if possible, eats entrails and gnaws bones, and if it finds the corpse of any animal or person, it will bite off pieces of that too. The animal may not notice the difference between a corpse and an unconscious person.
That is, by and large, real cannibal rats are the most ordinary rats, eating everything, but by chance they simply found themselves next to the motionless body of a person and did not disdain to feast on it.
But rats that feed exclusively on human flesh are not known to science today. Moreover, there is no evidence that these animals can attack healthy people and bite them to death. Even an invasion of rats in certain areas never leads to human casualties. For example, from different Russian cities, rat infestations are reported with varying frequency, but no tragic cases follow these events.
On a note
The largest rats on the planet are completely safe for humans. These are African marsupial rats and Bosavi woolly rats, reaching a length of more than half a meter and weighing several kilograms. They never attack people. The former are specially trained and used in military units to search for mines, the latter are very rare, and when meeting a person in nature, they do not pay attention to him and do not show any aggression.
Ironically, the most aggressive rats are the small basement animals, accustomed to the fact that the basement is their territory.
Do rats attack pets?
But rats are much more dangerous for domestic animals than for humans. At a minimum, because they boldly attack birds and mammals of comparable size to themselves, be it a mouse, a hamster, a duckling or even an adult pigeon, and always during such attacks they expect to kill and devour the prey.
Moreover, in pursuit of prey, rats can demonstrate amazing strength and agility. For example, they can catch ducklings in the water, climb walls into bird nests, and fearlessly bite the paws of large birds.
And when confronted with a cat, the rodent often boldly attacks it, hoping to stun the enemy with a daring attack, gain time and escape. The video below shows a rat attacking a cat:
On a note
The famous zoo owner Karl Hagenbeck's rats killed three elephants in one night. They gnawed the giant animals' feet very badly, and the elephants developed blood poisoning.
In countries where rat infestations occur with varying frequency, these animals can completely ruin small farms.
In the wild, rats are also very aggressive. They attack albatross chicks in their nests, destroy mouse nests, and eat tadpoles, small frogs and lizards.
The video below shows a unique case in which an adult rat boldly attacks a snake, saving its young:
Do pet rats bite?
Of course, homemade pet rat can also bite a person. If you tease her, try to take away her food, abruptly wake her up, or unexpectedly pick up her baby, then there is a high probability that the animal will bite her finger. Such attacks are carried out without any “malicious intent” - the animal is simply trying to communicate to the person in a way accessible to it that it does not like something.
If a rat is tame, then it will definitely not try to bite off its owner’s nose or gnaw his heels.
On a note
Therefore, by the way, stories about Afghan man-eating rats, which were allegedly brought to Russia under the guise of decorative dachshunds, kept as pets, but which, they say, could at any moment remember their aggressive rat nature and attack the owners, cause serious skepticism.
So, a short summary: rat attacks on people are indeed quite possible and, moreover, happen quite often. In most cases, rodents attack people in self-defense, but sometimes they may consider sedentary prey as a potential source of meat. However, there are no real man-eating rats in the world: there are no huge rats-mutants capable of tearing apart a person alone, and there are no rodents that attack people in large groups and specialize specifically in feeding on human flesh.
This means you shouldn’t be afraid that rats will attack you somewhere and want to bite you or, moreover, devour you. If you don’t get into trouble yourself, don’t stay overnight in dubious places and don’t try to kill a running rat, you won’t be at risk of being attacked by the animal at all.
An example of a rat biting children while they slept
Cat and rat fight
Throughout history, rats have been perceived as pests and enemies of humans. The damage caused by rodents is incredibly high. And it's not just about the products in warehouses. Rats' vandalism of electrification wires has repeatedly led to fires and large economic losses. In the late 70s, Americans conducted a study and calculated the damage caused by critters. The amount of damage exceeded one billion US dollars.
The species that are most dangerous for farmers are identified. They mercilessly eat poultry, can feast on eggs, and some breeds are even capable of killing small piglets.
The obvious “dislike” for rodents is also caused by their ability to carry all sorts of diseases. During the “plague”, it was these animals that served as the main distributor of the “Black Death”. Such a list of damage and risk is quite enough to declare an enemy, but how realistic are the attacks of these animals on people?
Characteristics of the lifestyle of rats
Tailed teeth represent a family of mice. The habitat is incredibly large - they live almost all over the planet. They exist both alone and in flocks. There are gregarious patriarchy - led by a dominant male, or matriarchy with dominant females. One colony can occupy an area of 1.5 to 2.5 thousand square meters. Rats lead both solitary and group existences. 
In America, several hundred years ago, nothing was even heard of rats. Tailed animals were brought on trade and resettlement ships. IN present time The two most common types are known: gray and black.
Can a rat attack a person?
There are many stories about rodents attacking people in their sleep. Beneath these legends lie true facts. There are not many officially recorded cases, but they do occur. Statistics indicate that rat bites account for about 3% of bites from the total number of injuries caused to humans by animals. Causes of a rat attack on a person
More disadvantaged sections of the population are at greater risk, so people sleeping on the streets, in basements and slums are more likely to be attacked. 
There are rumors and legends around, according to which tailed pranksters have saliva with an anesthetic property and a sleeping person may not even feel the bite. But this is just a scary fairy tale. Of course, there were no anesthetics in the animals’ saliva, and there could not have been. Every pet lover who has owned this animal knows firsthand that the bite is quite painful and it is simply impossible not to feel it.
The occurrence of stories about the insensitive perception of the bite is associated in large part with the state in which these people were attacked. The alcoholic oblivion in which most people sleeping on the streets find themselves did not allow them to react in time to the painful sensation.
Animal attacks are most common during acute hunger and lack of food, as well as when forced to protect their own lives.
Can a rat attack pets?
Reference! It also happens that rodents attack pets. An adult rat can easily harm and even cause death to a cat, and when the number of rats exceeds 5-7, an adult dog may already be in danger of life.
No matter how scary it may be, but attacks only happen in self-defense. There is plenty of food for rodents in modern megacities, so they will not hunt pets. The only exceptions are rats infected with rabies. Their attack is causeless and is caused by a state of blood poisoning.
It is believed that bites to the face and neck are the most dangerous. In these areas the vessels are very close to skin, and infection can occur quickly. Since the infection contained in saliva directly enters the circulatory system, the victim of a bite must take immediate action.
Are attacks on people dangerous?
One or a few bites from a tailed rodent are unlikely to cause significant injury human body. Most often, the worst thing is not the attack, but its consequences, because rats are carriers of the most unpleasant viruses and diseases. In many civilized countries there are entire pest control services. They are engaged in trapping and baiting. The times of the plague have sunk into summer, but the memory of this terrible epidemic forces people to be wary of small inhabitants garbage containers and landfills.
Today, tailed animals can carry about 15 infections, some of which can lead a person to fatal outcome. One of the rare diseases that rats can get is sodoku. About 12% of people die when infected.
Nature has endowed rodents with two types of teeth. This is the only weapon for chewing food and for fighting. The bottom row of teeth is the most dangerous, as it is sharpened like a blade. These teeth can easily bite right through a finger. This phenomenon is very rare and is mainly associated with the struggle for life. After all, in order to close its teeth and bite through human flesh, the animal makes remarkable efforts. The threat to the lives of the cubs can also be a stimulus for a desperate attack. 
In other, less aggressive attacks, the bites are not as bad, but very painful. Saliva, rich in all sorts of infections, can instantly spread throughout circulatory system person and cause suffering. Deep wounds remain on the skin from which blood flows for a long time.
Important! Start off drug treatment should be done even with a small bite.
Housing office workers, who often have to climb into attics and also carry out repair work in basements, are more likely than others to encounter rodents. Therefore, they undergo special instruction and training necessary actions when encountering pests, as well as the basics of first aid for a bite.
Rat bite treatment
A set of deadly infections contained in saliva can cause “rat disease”. It is also called streptobacillary fever. Manifests itself in the form of elevated body temperature, vomiting, and dermatic lesions. The rash appears the next day or two after the bite.
Timely assistance to someone who has been bitten can save his life and also prevent a long recovery. Guarantees that pet at the time of the attack he was healthy and there are no poisons in his saliva, no. Therefore, it is imperative to take preventive measures. It's another matter if you were bitten by a wild rat. In such cases, it is recommended to immediately contact a specialist, undergo all tests and pass the appropriate tests.
Step by step. We provide assistance:
- the injury site must be washed and treated with an antiseptic
- after 10-15 minutes, rinse the wound with alcohol
- treat the wound with iodine or brilliant green for several days
If after a rat attack you have muscle spasms, swelling of the affected area with purulent discharge, as well as redness of the skin, this means injury Urgently need to see a specialist doctor. These signs mean the risk of the occurrence and development of infectious processes in the body. But the main symptom of the disease is elevated body temperature. You can’t put off a visit to a radiologist. You may already need treatment with antibiotics.
Wild rat bite
People have long moved to cities - places with the largest concentrations of rodents of all breeds and stripes. Tailed animals have chosen garbage containers, basements and attics, warehouses and entrances. Well, city dumps have become a real haven for them, abundant in food. Although attacks are not so frequent, prevention and population control still need to be carried out to avoid the spread of infections. 
It is impossible to clearly identify the category of people susceptible to attack. The pest can attack both a child in the sandbox and a person sleeping on the street. The attacks are caused by one of the most ancient instincts - self-preservation of themselves and their young. When the teeth of a wild rat penetrate the skin. The likelihood of catching some kind of infection increases tenfold in comparison with a pet.
Providing first aid to the victim is not difficult. The injury site should be thoroughly washed with clean water, treated with alcohol or solutions of iodine and brilliant green, and then bandaged with a sterile bandage. After this, you can go to your local outpatient clinic for qualified help.
Diseases transmitted by rat bites
Rodents carry a huge list of various infections and diseases that enter the body through blood vessels. Some of the most serious are:
- Yersiniosis. Terrible poisoning in which the entire stomach is at risk. Throughout the illness, a person feels weak and nauseated. Vomiting can be so frequent that it causes loss of consciousness and general impotence. Seeing a doctor in advance will help you avoid the most unfavorable consequences.
- Leptospirosis. A viral attack occurs, which damages the tissues of the renal system and liver. Death occurred in 15% of cases. But the statistics are based on those who refused medical care or did not seek it in a timely manner. Symptoms: increased body temperature, debilitating heaviness and pain in the legs, weakened body functions. These signs of the disease appear 2-4 days after an attack by a toothy rodent.
- Coxiellosis. Loss of appetite, acute spontaneous pain in the back, constant cough, as well as insomnia, this is what characterizes this disease. The temperature rises and the person may begin to feel feverish. Such an infection is difficult to cure and in most cases remains in a person forever, manifesting itself from time to time in acute forms.
Reference! Elephants are most afraid of rats and mice. Cases have been recorded where several rats gnawed the feet of the majestic animals and they soon died from infection.
The threat of a rat attack is perfectly acceptable. However, it should be remembered that rodents attack only in situations that are dangerous to their own lives. A motionless and sleeping person on the street can be considered by a rodent as food, but such cases are very rare.
You are not in danger of being attacked by an animal unless you try to kill it or decide to spend the night in a dubious place under open air. Well, if you happen to come under attack, then remember that timely health care will help prevent unwanted consequences.
Amazing creatures - rats - have been living next to humans for thousands of years. These animals are dexterous, cunning and very tenacious. We have tolerated them side by side for thousands of years, watching the damage to things and food. But rats also turned out to be carriers of infectious diseases that killed millions of people. Yes and Agriculture a lot has suffered from gray rodents. It is no coincidence that rats are a dangerous enemy for humans. This image has been formed in us since childhood.
Rats cause disgust, disgust, fear and disgust. These creatures are endowed with the most bad traits character, which is only possible. Rodents are considered greedy, thieving, bloodthirsty and aggressive. So prejudices became myths and were passed on from generation to generation. And who was interested in checking the veracity of rumors and convincing others?
Only about a century and a half ago, people began to tame rats and even keep them at home as pets. And although these animals not only have become much closer to us, they help in scientific experiments, they still cannot radically change their image. Some myths, let's be honest, were not born out of nowhere. Nevertheless, let's try to figure out where the truth is and where the lies are. And can all myths also apply to domestic rats?
Rats can survive in any conditions. They say that these creatures are almost the most important ancient disaster of humanity. And rats appeared in nature many millions of years before us. People have been fighting these rodents for thousands of years, but there has been little progress. After all, the rat is capable of fantastic adaptation to different conditions, survive in wild and harsh environments. Smart rodents are not afraid of radiation, temperatures, lack of food, and they are not afraid of bait. Scientists say there are no modern methods, which could be used to kill rats. And it’s all about their innate wariness towards everything new, especially unusual smells. So the danger of poisoned baits to rats quickly becomes clear. In the rodent society there are even special testers, creatures who are ready to risk their lives to test the taste of new food. So the adaptability of rats is not a myth at all.
Rats attack humans. There is some truth in this myth. In general, rats avoid people out of fear of them. But there are situations when an animal is forced to defend itself. Then the rat can actually attack a person. Villagers can tell how these creatures have bitten and even eaten unattended infants. Rats can also attack domestic animals. There are known cases of eating hamsters, turtles, attacks on kittens and puppies. The reason is hunger, which pushes rats to do terrible things.
A rat can chew a hole in anything. The ability of rats to chew through material is quite high. In fact, only glass and iron cannot resist them. Rats sharpen brick and concrete with some success; wood, plastic, and rubber lend themselves well to them. So electrical cable sheathing and glass wool will not stop the rodent. Rats gnawed through walls, undermined dams and foundations, and undermined bridge supports. Thanks to them, even waterproof ship partitions turned into a sieve.
Rats reproduce very quickly. This statement is difficult to deny. In rats, pregnancy lasts only two weeks. And already three days after giving birth, the rat is ready for new fertilization. Rats spend a month in the nest, and already at 3-4 months of life they reach puberty. As a female ages, her fertility only increases. As a result, depending on the amount of food around and living conditions, the female brings offspring several times a year. There are usually 8-10 cubs in a litter, but sometimes this number can reach 16. The female takes care of her offspring, keeping the nest warm and clean. And rats' milk is very nutritious.
The rat is an ancient laboratory animal. Laboratory experiments have indeed been carried out on rats for a long time. These are very unpretentious creatures, the maintenance of which is simple and inexpensive. It is on rats that people test medications, cosmetics, and vaccines. We are afraid of rats, but it is to them that many people owe both beauty and life.
Rats carry various diseases. On the one hand, this is true, but it most likely refers to wild species kind. Rats do carry diseases such as rabies, tularemia, and toxoplasmosis. But we ourselves are also carriers of various diseases. What happens - anyone you meet must necessarily be a dangerous infectious source? Dogs also carry diseases, including those dangerous to humans. But no one refuses to get a puppy for this reason. As for rats, even wild specimens are not necessarily infected with a particular disease. And there’s no need to talk about ornamental animals. How can they get terrible diseases, if they initially grow in an artificial environment (at home or in a store), and have no contact with their wild relatives at all? And such rats don’t appear on the street. Oddly enough, but for pet rat man represents great danger than she is to him. So, if you have to worry about it, it would be wild rats, not decorative ones.
Rats are evil and dangerous creatures, the bite of which immediately causes blood poisoning. Owners of pet rats can tell a lot about how affectionate and gentle their pets are. These creatures can feel sorry for their owners when they Bad mood, rats even lick tears. These rodents adore affection and appreciate it. It happens that they are even ready to exchange food for care from their owner; rats ask to be petted first and only then begin to eat. For the development of sepsis, one bite is not enough; certain conditions are also necessary. And blood poisoning as such can occur due to any other damage to the skin. American rat breeders cite this simple fact: over the past 20 years, not a single case of a person contracting an infectious disease after a rodent bite has been documented in this country.
The most evil rats are those with red eyes. In fact, eye color does not in any way determine the behavior of an animal. After all, we do not define a person’s cruelty by this same parameter. And eye color in rats only affects their visual abilities. Those creatures with red eyes see much worse than their black-eyed relatives. As a result, they have to rely more not even on their sense of smell, which also has problems, but on their hearing. As for blood poisoning, in order for sepsis to develop, just a bite is not enough; certain conditions must be present. In addition, blood poisoning can develop from other damage to the skin; infection can enter through a boil, any cut or burn. So you just need to follow the rules of hygiene and treat wounds in a timely manner.
Decorative rats bite just like wild rats. Everyone knows that rats sometimes bite quite hard. The pressure force of the teeth is 500 kg per cm². It is known that an adult creature can not only bite through a finger, but even gnaw through concrete. Bites are a common means of self-defense for wild animals. But for a domestic, decorative rat, a bite means that a person is to blame. The owner just tormented her too much or hurt her. It is rare for a rat to bite only out of fear or in an attempt to thus show its dominant position in a certain pack. Unmotivated bites are quite rare for such domesticated creatures.
Rats have a nasty and cold bare tail. And males have unpleasant cold testicles. Let's talk about the body temperature of these animals. From school course In zoology, we can recall that rats are rodents. They also belong to the class of mammals, that is, warm-blooded animals. Where will they suddenly have a cold part of their body. And those who don’t like the naked tail of a rat have simply never looked at it carefully. This part of the body is not at all deprived hairline, it’s just much rarer on her than on the rest of the body.
Rats are unscrupulous and dirty creatures. Once you watch the rat a little, it turns out that it devotes quite a lot of time to washing itself and licking its body. While in cages, many of these rodents go to the toilet only in a certain corner. But it is worth recognizing that the character of rats, like people, can be different. There are animals that are absolute cleaners. They do not even eat the part of the food that they held with their paws, throwing it away. In their own cage, such rats constantly restore order, keeping an eye on their own cleanliness. But there are also creatures that are not so attentive to dirt. But even among people there are real “pigs”, should we blame the rats?
The dirtiest place for rats is their paws. This is not true, because the dirtiest place on the body of this rodent is the tail. He follows the rat everywhere, picking up leftover food and excrement. And even though the animals constantly take care of themselves and clean their tail, it will constantly attract dirt to itself. If young rats have a light pink tail, over time it becomes dark and spotted. It's all because of the dirt particles that get under the tail scales and stick to the hairs. You can buy a pet rat, but even this is not enough to remove all the dirt from the tail. Then you have to carry out special cleaning using brushes and mild detergents.
Being naked, the rat will freeze. In the cold, decorative hairless rats will, of course, freeze. And the woolly variety does not tolerate frost well; the animal can easily catch a cold and die. But in a warm room, hairless rats feel comfortable, they will not freeze there. These creatures have a little elevated temperature body, which allows you to compensate for the lack of hair. Of course, the thermoregulation mechanisms of rats are not as perfect as those of humans. The rat is not even afraid of high or low temperature, but of its sudden change. The body simply does not have time to adapt to such unexpected changes in the environment, which leads to illness. So rats do not tolerate cold well, but sometimes even heat. At poultry markets one could see rats in cages even at minus 15 degrees; there are known cases of wild rats breeding at minus 20.
Rats - tenacious creatures, they can live up to eight years. If these creatures lived to be eight years old, their owners would be immensely happy. In fact, rats usually live for two to three years, only occasionally a little longer. An eight-year-old rat is either a fantasy or an outright deception.
Huge rats, almost a meter long, live in the subway and abandoned mines. Quite often we come across stories about such monsters. But there is no evidence of this. But such a rat, if found, would undoubtedly attract everyone's attention. The body length of an ordinary rodent of this type, excluding the tail, does not exceed 30 centimeters; only exceptional specimens can reach a mass of more than a kilogram.
Such a vile creature has nothing to do in the house; the dwelling will then have to be consecrated. In ancient times, rats constantly ran around the village huts, but no one went to the priest every time after that. The Church is not against the fact that Christians domesticated animals. The Old Testament discusses the issue of clean and unclean animals in some detail. In the Book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles, the Lord told Peter that there was no such pet that could not be with a person. There are no such creatures in the house from which it would be necessary to free oneself from filth. The New Testament does not say at all that any Living being is bad, unclean. Accordingly, there is no such rule - to re-consecrate a house or temple after it.
Rats should not be fed meat, otherwise they become aggressive and angry. Rats, like humans by the way, are omnivores. But do we become evil after eating meat? Vegetarians claim something similar, but there is no reliable confirmation of this fact. So why would rats become evil?
A rat may well eat food from a person's table. It is worth being attentive to what a person offers to his pet. Alcohol, spicy, salty, pickled, and carbonated drinks are contraindicated for rats. So there is a list of strictly prohibited foods. It is also better not to offer rats sweet, fried or fatty foods.
Rats don’t drink at all; they get enough of the liquid contained in vegetables. In fact, rats need water. This rodent drinks 30-35 milliliters of water per day. And eating wet food simply reduces daily norm up to 5-10 milliliters. It has been experimentally proven that rats can live quite normally if their food contains more than 65% moisture. If this figure is 45%, then after 26 days the animal will die; at 14%, it will live only 4-5 days. In general, a rat can live no more than two days without water; even depriving an animal of fluid for a day can have a bad effect on its health and future offspring.
Rats can live in any conditions and eat anything. That is why special food and mineral stones are just a reason to rip more off their naive owners. In nature, rats eat almost anything they can get their hands on. In urban conditions, they do not disdain either scraps, feces, or slop. wild rat pursues one goal - to survive at any cost. Eventually average duration The life of a wild representative is no more than a year. Do the owners want the same fate for theirs? for a pet? Adaptability is good, but for a rat to live long and be healthy, it is best to give it the necessary nutrients and minerals, and clean the cage on time. If she doesn't have enough food, she may start eating her own excrement.
A rat doesn't need a big cage. Rats are very active creatures. They need constant physical activity. Only in a large cage can they maintain their shape. And don’t forget to arrange ladders, labyrinths, and ropes there. For any living creature, health lies in movement. In the literature on rat breeding there is practical advice for arranging a house. Each individual should have a volume of 0.06 to 0.15 cubic meters. And for one rodent, the minimum recommended size is 36 by 60 by 30 centimeters.
If a rat is released from its cage, it will definitely run away. Do not suspect wild instincts in your pets. Decorative rats easily and permanently become attached to their owners. It is no coincidence that rat breeders use terms such as “couch rat” and “shoulder rat” in everyday life. There are also curious pets who want to explore the world around them. But even such rats quickly learn to return when called by their owners. But what you definitely shouldn’t do is let domestic rats run around in nature, in the countryside. An animal can get so carried away with studying new environment and smells that you simply get lost. Then he imagines contracting a disease, getting poisoned, or even becoming prey to local predators.
To keep your pet rat from smelling, you need to bathe it constantly. In fact, it is recommended to bathe rats only in two cases. A bath is needed if the pet is very dirty. Another option is to prepare the rat for an exhibition. To prevent the animal from smelling, you just need to regularly clean its cage. You can also wipe the rat wet wipe, as a last resort. Decorative varieties Rodents generally do not like water; bathing is very stressful for them. After all, there is a high chance of catching a cold after taking a bath. But even here there are representatives who are not only not afraid of water, but also enjoy swimming in it. By the way, fear of water is not a specific phobia of rats at all, because in nature wild representatives swim very well. It’s just that pets are initially unfamiliar with water. If rats are accustomed to water from childhood, they may well learn to dive and become excellent swimmers. On hot days you cannot do without water, given that rats have worse thermoregulation than humans, water treatments I can be great opportunity cool down.
To prevent female rats from having tumors, they must give birth. And again it is worth saying that there is no reliable information about the connection between tumors and childbirth. Malignant formations can also appear in a female who has given birth, but a nulliparous female may not have them all her life. So in the matter of having offspring, more serious arguments must be taken into account.
Tumors in rats are contagious, so infected creatures must be euthanized immediately. Both in humans and in rats, tumors are non-contagious. There are some viruses that can initiate the formation of tumors, including cancer. But simply having a virus that could begin to transform a cell is not enough. The cell itself must still be ready for such changes, and the body must not interfere with such processes. So if viruses have some significance in the development of tumors, the mechanism here is different from what is observed with infectious diseases. There is simply no evidence of cancer being transmitted from one individual to another. And in rats themselves, most often the tumors are not malignant. It is worth talking about euthanasia only when the tumor causes real suffering to the animal.
Rats must live in pairs - a male and a female. This statement is not only false, but also dangerous. Rats are truly social animals that prefer to live in groups. But keeping creatures of different sexes together is undesirable. Sexual maturity in these rodents occurs early, at two months. But physical maturity comes later, at six months. IN natural populations there are mechanisms that warn early pregnancy females Only for decorative rats they do not work. As a result, a female who becomes pregnant at three months is the same as a human girl who becomes pregnant at 12-13 years old. Is it worth mentioning what such an early birth will mean for both mother and offspring? Even if you put adult rats together, trying to avoid this problem, another problem will appear - frequent births. This will manifest itself in the early aging of the female’s body, the exhaustion of her body, and the deterioration of each subsequent offspring. Even for a male, early mating is undesirable. So if you want a rat to live happily ever after in captivity, you should get same-sex animals. Females and males get along well with their own kind, without suffering at all from the lack of sexual contact.
Rats often eat their offspring. If rats are kept properly, such cases will be very rare. To prevent such horrors from happening, you need to feed your pets well, give them a good nest where they will not be disturbed in vain, and provide them with fresh water. And females should not be bred early, also avoiding weak, sickly individuals. Rats are usually quite caring mothers who tenderly care for their young. Females protect their offspring from strangers, leaving the nest only briefly to eat and rest. Rats even camouflage their nest by hiding their children. It happens that females raise not only their offspring, but also adopted babies. Even males are capable of caring for their children. Eating their own offspring generally occurs among rodents; owners of guinea pigs or hamsters often talk about this. For a rat to eat its children, there needs to be a compelling reason. The main one is stress. It happens that the female does not feel safe, does not have enough food and is not confident in herself. Sometimes she tries to eat one or two of the weakest cubs in order to be able to hatch the rest, saving her strength for them. But it's very rare case, which can be avoided by creating good conditions for a pregnant rat.
They can. This doesn't happen as often as in horror films, but it's not that rare either. Here are the data from special studies. More than 600 rat bites are recorded annually in Moscow. And in the United States, rats bite more than 14,000 people every year. Around the world, the number of rat attacks on humans annually reaches 3.5 million cases. Approximately 2,000 people around the world die every year from diseases carried by rats.
In what cases can a rat attack?
A rat is a small creature. The largest pasyuk is unlikely to reach a length of more than 25 centimeters. It is clear that a small animal can attack more large creature only in in some cases. First of all, a rat can attack a person, protecting itself and its offspring. This happens when they try to grab a rodent and destroy its nest. It’s not for nothing that there is a saying about the courage of a rat driven into a corner. The second situation when a rat is capable of attacking is severe hunger. A rat may try to bite off a piece of skin or even flesh from a person, but only if the person is helpless or immobilized - for example, this Small child or a sick, drunk, tied up adult.
A cornered rat, forced to defend its life, strives not so much to “eat off” a piece from the person attacking it, but to scare him. An attacking rat will usually jump, making a loud squeak. At the same time, she can easily bite and even hurt very much. Scientists tested the bite force of a gray rat: the rodent creates a pressure of 500 kg/sq.cm with its incisors. This jaw strength allows rats to chew through metal wires. So, it doesn’t cost a rat anything to cut your palm right down to the bone. If there is no special task to definitely catch the animal, then when faced with a rat, it is much wiser to let it run away.
Attacks by rats on humans in order to satisfy hunger occur extremely rarely in Russia, since rodents have plenty of food resources in the form of landfills and granaries. This happens much more often in poor countries in Africa and Asia, in slum areas. However, not only in Africa and Asia. In Italy, in poor areas of Naples in the 70s of the last century, rat attacks on sleeping children and the elderly were reported. Rats can attack anywhere low level life and lack of compliance with proper sanitary standards. By the way, rat attacks on people in Africa, for example, are also due to the fact that people there often hunt rats themselves in order to eat them, and with such a hunt bites are inevitable.
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