Toulouse: why composters make rats proliferate in the city
Éric Savary, manager of the 31-year-old Dardard company, specializing in rat and insect control, explains why rats have invaded cities and how to limit their proliferation.
Éric Savary, manager of the 31-year-old Dardard company, specializing in rat and insect control, explains why rats have invaded cities and how to limit their proliferation.
More and more systematically, we see rats in town, is this normal?
Rats leave their dens only to look for food and normally do this at night. If we see rats during the day, this is explained by their multiplication. They are more and more numerous and are also getting used to the human presence. Lacking space, they then prospect to find places to settle. Normally this rodent is fearful and frightened in the presence of predators.
What explains their proliferation?
Clearly, a rat is omnivorous. It adapts very easily to our diets. Egg shells, vegetable peelings, the rat eats everything. Our new lifestyle habits favor the proliferation of rats. The general insalubrity in town is also a vector. With the reduction in the number of weekly collections, the bins are overflowing, and again, this is an opportunity for rats. The recent strike did nothing to help this phenomenon. Waste is a real canteen for these rodents. You should know that the lack of food for these animals is a contraceptive. This means that when there is nothing to eat the rats do not mate and their population does not increase or even decrease. Conversely, when there is plenty of food, they reproduce. Under optimal conditions, a female can have around 100 babies per year. In a normal situation, at this time of the year, you should not see rats in town.
Where are these food places?
Let’s take the example of composters, moreover it is a good thing chosen for the environment but the way in which they are manufactured poses a concern. Indeed, the rat infiltrates it very easily either by digging from below or by nibbling the lid. In a particular, I trapped four in a short time. For this animal, a composter is blessed bread, a veritable pantry. In Toulouse, at the Jardin des Plantes, there were installer composters a few years ago. this, they are faced with the proliferation of rats. Even chosen for chicken coops. Chicken owners often make the food available and for the rats it is a place to feed additionally. With the development of this mode, mechanically, it increases the population of rats.
What are the solutions ?
It’s simple, you have to cut out all possible food sources. People are surprised to see rats in town, but that’s not surprising. Overflowing trash cans, food near restaurants or supermarkets, all this their development. Today, everyone is affected by rats. It is also necessary to have a real policy on the proliferation of these rodents. One thing is certain, in recent years, requests for deratting have increased. Currently, I shoot with about ten a week.