Customers charging method gives easy access.

You’ve got to give them the credit they deserve. Rats really will take advantage of any given opportunity.

11.40pm last night I took a call from a customer in Oakwood, Derby who had heard noises coming from downstairs while has was in bed. To use his words “I wasn’t having any of that”…. (He looked like he could handle himself).

Armed and ready to confront the intruder he raced to the kitchen to educate the burglar on property ownership and was stopped in his tracks (again, his words) “It was the size of a bloody cat”…. **They always are**. by a rat in the cat food container. It was a sealed container but the rat had managed to gnaw through the top to gain access to the bounty.

As the customer froze, obviously disappointed not to be confronted by a human intruder the rat continued to feed from its new found treasure. When the customer moved closer the rat noticed and bolted for its point of entry. Showing no signs of confusion the rat made for the cat flap fitted in the extension wall. And it was gone, cat food and all.

This rat had obviously picked up on the scent of the food and homed in taking advantage of the fact that the customer uses the cat flap as access to feed his charging cable for his new environmentally friendly set of wheels.

As part of our attendance we always carry out a full site inspection to see if there are any other issues that we should be concerned about, places where rats could be using on a regular basis. On the side elevation of the property the customer has a plastic composter (Evidently the environmentally conscious type) this composter was bedded on the soil only, not slabs or mesh. Next to the composter there was a burrow straight under the shed.

So what looks to have started as rats either nesting in the composter or under the shed soon lead to more brash behaviour of invading a dwelling. Expanding its touring area to forage for food, and bingo, it found the cats.

The customer is now making arrangements for a more suitable charging method and we’ve started our methods of control. At the end of the treatment period it has been arranged that the composter is emptied, bedded on a more solid surface and slabs are butted up to the shed sides to stop further infestations. Prevention is always better than the cure.

It just goes to show that these rodents really do live up to their name ‘Commensal’ and will feed of mans table while hidden in plain sight.