Heading For Rat-Astrophe! – QK Pest Control – Ealing Ltd

Residents of Ealing are facing a nerve-wracking future if something is not done about the rapidly deepening infestation of vermin in the London Borough, with the prospect of disease, destruction of property and even terrifying attacks on humans and their pets being increasingly likely if the rats and mice are not dealt with immediately. Pest control in Ealing seems to be taking a turndown based on the level of activity in vermin hotspots.

The ongoing rat and mouse problem in the area, which borders with the likes of Harrow, Hounslow and Brent, is now completely out of control with local business owners and residents desperately seeking a solution to stop these disease-ridden critters in their greasy little tracks. When you are faced with some of the most adaptable creatures on the planet whose talents include being able to tread water for 3 days and even live to tell the tale after being flushed down the toilet, then you know you have a real problem on your hands. Fears are growing over the likelihood of these beasts, which are becoming more and more used to people as time marches on, physically attacking them, their children or their beloved pets.

Vermin have always been closely linked with the spread of deadly diseases, not just in towns and cities but rural settings also. These furry friends are known carriers of many different illnesses including leptospirosis, causing flu-like symptoms and requiring treatment by antibiotics, and toxoplasmosis, which can lead to miscarriage in pregnant women. Furthermore, as many as 10% of leptospirosis cases can go on to develop into something far more serious, Weils’ disease! Anyone who is unfortunate enough to contract this could suffer chest pain, swollen limbs, meningitis-like symptoms, coughing up blood, and in extreme cases, organ failure, internal bleeding and death.

If knowing about the trail of urine, faeces, bacteria and viruses they leave behind them isn’t enough, there is now an even more shocking reason to control these rodent populations- They’ve started attacking!

As the number of rats in a built up area increases, so are the chances that they are going to come into contact with humans. The more human contact that an animal has with humans, the more used they get to them and the less fear they have, simple! A quick search on YouTube will throw up some pretty shocking and harrowing pieces of film showing this very behavior.

Picture the scene: It’s a beautiful day, and the streets are quiet, so you and a friend decide on a relaxed saunter down to Ealing Town. You are enjoying the sun on your face, the breeze in your hair and stop regularly to look in the windows of the local shops. There is a quiet back street that comes out up at the local park so you turn the corner to take this shortcut. All of a sudden you and your best friend are met with the sight of an enormous rat chewing on some discarded chips in the middle of the pavement! The rat is startled (as are you), but he’s not leaving the precious food that he has found. In his determination for survival he leaps at you without warning! He has lived among humans so long that he has no fear. Before you know what’s happening, his sharp saliva-coated teeth are embedded into your arm. If you’re lucky, the rat might, at this point think better of his actions, let go and scarper. On the other hand he may continue in a squealing frenzy until he reaches your neck, which is where he knows the most damage will be caused. On the way home from your afternoon stroll and in the coming weeks and months you and your family will be beside yourselves with worry over the diseases that you may well have picked up. You may escape with just having to have a tetanus jab, or perhaps your life will be changed forever due to the physiological trauma of the event. Totally unrealistic you may scoff, but actually there have been worst cases then the one I described.

While mice are lacking the size of their ratty counterparts, they are certainly no less dangerous. Their small and velvety bodies are perfect for slithering into buildings, cupboards, lofts, etc. Unless a premises has strong and solid mouse-proofing then they will find a way in, and cause incredible damage and danger! Even the smallest of gaps in a buildings’ structure (an air vent, a space under a door, or even hole that has been drilled to allow a cable into a building) can allow mice to enter. This smallest lapse in vermin proofing can be devastating for many businesses. Examples of the effects include: loss of electricity or internet, loss of vast quantities of stock and structural damage. All of the afore-mentioned are caused by mice doing what they do best; gnawing! The worst consequence of allowing mice to enter though is undoubtedly disease! Leaving a continuous trail of urine and mouse droppings as they crawl over anything and everything in their way in order to find something edible is obviously going to cause extreme danger to anyone who is touching and handling the good afterwards. It goes without saying that the results of even a small number of mice in say a restaurant or any other type of food-based enterprise, can be catastrophic for both the customer and the owner.

Typically, rat and mice populations are tackled by the use of poison. But given the frustratingly slow rate at which new poisons are being created, the alarming rate at which the vermin are reproducing (a single female rat can have up to 15 litters of young, leading to as many as 2000 descendants in a single year), and the fact that many of these poisons have been unchanged for decades now, this method of control simply isn’t working as well anymore and there is now an air of fear and real desperation surrounding this ever increasing pest control problem in Ealing and many other areas in the UK.  The Londonuim population as a whole are hoping for a very decisive course of action to be taken, and fast!