With the arrival of autumn, the activities of rodents have gradually entered an active period. It is very necessary for us to know about rodents and master their various habits, as well as for our pest control personnel, managers of enterprises and family members.

The rodents grow rapidly. In the first 2 months of life, young rats mainly live in nests, and then they can follow their mothers' nesting activities. Sexual maturity is early, usually less than three months. 3-9 months of age is the most active period in the life of domestic rodents, and then the activity ability gradually weakens. Individuals at 18 months of age lose the activity ability. The average life span of Rattus norvegicus and Rattus flavipectus is 6-7 months. Only 5% of individuals can survive for more than 12 months, rarely more than 2 years. The life expectancy of mice is shorter, the average life expectancy is about 100 days. The mortality rate of wild mice is more than 20% in summer and higher in winter.

Accordingly, the fecundity of domestic rodents is also very strong, mainly in the aspects of early sexual maturity, short gestation period, immediate estrus after childbirth, reproduction for most of the year and large number of offspring.

There was a significant reverse relationship between the frequency of pregnancy and the number of litter size in the three species of rodents. Rattus norvegicus had lower pregnancy frequency but more litter size. On the contrary, Mus musculus has higher pregnancy frequency but less litter size. The fecundity of Mus musculus is the largest in the whole year. On average, each female rat can breed more than 40 pups per year to join the population.

During this season, the sun's father laughed very happily, but the trees of the earth were also wild with joy. They scrambled for luxuriant branches to shade people.

Two. Feeling


The sensory organs of domestic rodents are well-developed. Understanding the tactile, olfactory, taste and auditory abilities of rodents is of great importance to the formulation of prevention and control plans. It is important to be good at avoiding these sensitive sensations of rats when using various rodent control methods correctly.

(1) sense of smell

Rats use their keen sense of smell to find food, mate, and connect with each other, including recognizing familiar and unfamiliar individuals.

The secretions of urine and genital tract are left on the regular routes of rat activity, and the rats follow these routes with special odors to form smooth rat passages. Using the weak electricity of rodents, we can throw poison bait box on the rat path, and we can get very good results.

(two) vision

The eyes of domestic rodents are adapted to night vision and are sensitive to changes in light intensity but poor vision. It can find moving targets and simple images in darkness, distinguish targets within 10 meters, correctly estimate the depth within 1 meter, and do not miss when jumping.

The rats are color blind. All colors are grey to color blindness. Rodents like

Yellow green, because yellow green is very bright grey for color blindness. Bait and poisonous water with yellow-green dyes can play a warning role on non-target substances and prevent accidental intoxication, but they are somewhat attractive to rodents.

(three) taste

Rodents have a keen sense of taste. According to the test, rats and wild Rattus norvegicus can identify trace compounds contained in bait. For example, 2ppm's estrogen and 3ppm's thiourea. Sometimes they even refuse to eat food contaminated by fungi or rodenticide bait with very low concentration (250ppb). The sharp taste of rodents makes it difficult to kill rodents with poisonous bait. Therefore, the food with poisonous bait must be fresh and clean, and the content of rodenticide should be accurate and even. Otherwise, it is easy to cause food rejection.

(four) hearing

Rodents can judge the direction of sound in darkness and detect the ultrasonic waves of 45 kHz. The rats themselves can also send out ultrasonic waves, and the young rats are able to return to their nests by the ultrasonic waves and echoes emitted.

(five) touch

The rodent has a very strong sense of touch and runs in the dark with its way on the rat's path. The contact between the tentacles and the surface of the bristles and the ground, the walls and the objects will play a role in positioning. Repeated use of bristles and sensory activity of tentacles in dark and complex environments forms a familiar runway. This behavior of rats is called tactile.