Rodent Management

There is no exaggeration that rats and mice are universally known on earth and these tiny rodents became part of household everywhere. However, they pose problems of nuisance value, loss of stored food grains, and damage to domestic objects and also transmit few major common ailments to residents. As they are well known to everybody, their control is also known universally killing them individually, trapping, using poison baits and off late non-poisonous sticky traps. Whatever method is used, their management is taken casually and serious effort to know the actual result of management is not made. This is also due to a psychological thinking that they are the animals that would coexist with humans. However, this has led to increase in the rodent related problems along with human population growth.

This increase the awareness of their activities and losses inflicted including human disease burden like salmonellosis (food poisoning), allergies, rat bite fever, scrub typhus, leishmania, plague etc. In addition, climate change, global warming with other vector/reservoir species led to more disease burden on globe. A review of the control / management measures of these commensal rodents co existing with humans showed that simple methods those could be effective to bring successful rodent control are being ignored and chemical control is resorted most often leading to more pesticide related residues including plastics in the environment.