UK offices set to be RODENT INFESTED

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Now HERE IS something to look forward to in 2021 :eyes:

As somebody who is absolutely terrified of rats and mice, this article is QUITE a sobering read.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...the-rat-race-how-rodent-took-over-our-offices

A shorter cutdown of a few select passages:

“A rat can climb up a wastewater pipe, no problem,” says Andy Tyson of Guardian Pest Management in London. “If no one’s there using a toilet and flushing a cistern, rats can come out.” This is a particular problem in modern office buildings, he adds, where wastewater pipes are usually made of plastic and encased within walls. “Rats can gnaw through plastic. Not often, but they have done it and you can tell. But it’s a real problem finding it and no one I know has a perfect solution to it.”

And once inside, you and your rat family will find the modern office environment has many convenient nesting sites. “You know those horrible ceilings you get in offices – those square tiles that you move and you can never put back straight?” says Rick Young, a pest controller from Manchester. “That’s one of the key locations for rats. Full of lovely wires to chew.” He was once called to a sports shop where a rat had fallen through this liminal zone on to a customer. “Rats are pretty heavy,” he adds, “so you’re going to know about it.”

During lockdown, the British Pest Control Association has reported an increase in rodent sightings of more than 41%. “We’ve had reports of rats and mice infesting empty buildings and it seems that their lifestyle patterns are changing,” says BPCA spokesperson Natalie Bungay.

Since our cities and towns emptied out and there’s less food discarded in outdoor spaces, rats are more tempted to come inside. As one office worker who still cycles in part-time says: “Our office is designed for 500 people and it’s steadily gone down to 50, 20, 10 of us. It’s full of mouse and rat traps now. Recently a mouse scampered over my desk while I was sitting there. And one of my colleagues went into the gents and saw a live brown rat flopping around in the bowl of the loo like a seal. He let out a yelp, pulled his trousers up and shot out in horror.”

Once a week, he says, the cleaners now turn on all of the sinks and showers full-blast to flush out the rats. “It does make you think that when we’re not there, the rodents are all running around making themselves at home.”

“There’s nothing good about rats,” complains Mohammad Hanafi, a technician with Pest Control Service Group. “All they do is mate, breed and cause damage.” He was recently dispatched to a call centre that had been destroyed by rats entering via an air vent from the kitchen. A rat’s incisors never stop growing, he tells me, so they will gnaw through anything to wear them down. “Internet cables. Keyboards. Anything they see. That’s where the word rodent comes from: the Latin word for gnaw.”

Rats are clever, too. Extremely clever. A trap is nothing to the older, more experienced rats, an exterminator told the journalist Joseph Mitchell in his classic New Yorker essay, “Rats on the Waterfront”: “They just kick it around until it snaps; then they eat the bait. And they can detect poisoned bait a yard off. I believe some of them can read.” Young says he once saw a rat pause at a glue trap that had been laid in its path, return to the bin it had just come from, and fetch a crisp packet to stick over it, meaning it could pass with ease. “I think they’re a fantastic rodent,” he says. “Not just because they provide me with a living. But everything tries to kill the rat. When you think about how much they pack into 12 months of life, you gotta have a bit of respect for them.”

But what happens when lockdown finally eases and we have to return to our ghostly offices? Will it be a battle to win these neglected spaces back?

While the guesstimates and warnings of pest control companies should be read with scepticism, clearly the problem is real. “A lot more people are seeing rats when they’re out and about, which is always a warning that numbers are on the increase,” says Jonathan Ratcliffe of Pest.co.uk. “What we’re waiting for is when people do start going back into factories, offices, all the food outlets that have been shut – well, it could be interesting.”

CAN'T WAIT! :disco: :zombie:
 
I don't mind rats and mice AT ALL, I think they're super cute :D Also any animal who can IDENTIFY a trap and find a solution deserves my RESPECT. Just don't go shitting your radioactive poo all over my kitchen.
 
Yeah I never understand why people are terrified of them on I’m A Celeb when I find them so cute :emoji_mouse:

However this has reminded me of the time I was half way through a bowl of Fruit’n’Fibre in work (I left the box under my desk) before noticing some of the little BITS were actually DROPPINGS :emoji_dizzy_face:
 
Mice poo is highly toxic though. As in DIE FROM IT toxic. It can spread HANTAVIRUS which has a mortality rate of up to 38%. Take THAT Corona!
 
Yeah I never understand why people are terrified of them on I’m A Celeb when I find them so cute :emoji_mouse:

However this has reminded me of the time I was half way through a bowl of Fruit’n’Fibre in work (I left the box under my desk) before noticing some of the little BITS were actually DROPPINGS :emoji_dizzy_face:

Well that is the worst thing I have ever read

@Tisch and @Iguana have been preparing for this by working from home
 
Mice poo is highly toxic though. As in DIE FROM IT toxic. It can spread HANTAVIRUS which has a mortality rate of up to 38%. Take THAT Corona!
Seriously?! My colleagues were laughing at me when I was freaking out about it :emoji_unamused:

Well it worked out ok *hantavirus twitch*
 
Now HERE IS something to look forward to in 2021 :eyes:

As somebody who is absolutely terrified of rats and mice, this article is QUITE a sobering read.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...the-rat-race-how-rodent-took-over-our-offices

A shorter cutdown of a few select passages:

“A rat can climb up a wastewater pipe, no problem,” says Andy Tyson of Guardian Pest Management in London. “If no one’s there using a toilet and flushing a cistern, rats can come out.” This is a particular problem in modern office buildings, he adds, where wastewater pipes are usually made of plastic and encased within walls. “Rats can gnaw through plastic. Not often, but they have done it and you can tell. But it’s a real problem finding it and no one I know has a perfect solution to it.”

And once inside, you and your rat family will find the modern office environment has many convenient nesting sites. “You know those horrible ceilings you get in offices – those square tiles that you move and you can never put back straight?” says Rick Young, a pest controller from Manchester. “That’s one of the key locations for rats. Full of lovely wires to chew.” He was once called to a sports shop where a rat had fallen through this liminal zone on to a customer. “Rats are pretty heavy,” he adds, “so you’re going to know about it.”

During lockdown, the British Pest Control Association has reported an increase in rodent sightings of more than 41%. “We’ve had reports of rats and mice infesting empty buildings and it seems that their lifestyle patterns are changing,” says BPCA spokesperson Natalie Bungay.

Since our cities and towns emptied out and there’s less food discarded in outdoor spaces, rats are more tempted to come inside. As one office worker who still cycles in part-time says: “Our office is designed for 500 people and it’s steadily gone down to 50, 20, 10 of us. It’s full of mouse and rat traps now. Recently a mouse scampered over my desk while I was sitting there. And one of my colleagues went into the gents and saw a live brown rat flopping around in the bowl of the loo like a seal. He let out a yelp, pulled his trousers up and shot out in horror.”

Once a week, he says, the cleaners now turn on all of the sinks and showers full-blast to flush out the rats. “It does make you think that when we’re not there, the rodents are all running around making themselves at home.”

“There’s nothing good about rats,” complains Mohammad Hanafi, a technician with Pest Control Service Group. “All they do is mate, breed and cause damage.” He was recently dispatched to a call centre that had been destroyed by rats entering via an air vent from the kitchen. A rat’s incisors never stop growing, he tells me, so they will gnaw through anything to wear them down. “Internet cables. Keyboards. Anything they see. That’s where the word rodent comes from: the Latin word for gnaw.”

Rats are clever, too. Extremely clever. A trap is nothing to the older, more experienced rats, an exterminator told the journalist Joseph Mitchell in his classic New Yorker essay, “Rats on the Waterfront”: “They just kick it around until it snaps; then they eat the bait. And they can detect poisoned bait a yard off. I believe some of them can read.” Young says he once saw a rat pause at a glue trap that had been laid in its path, return to the bin it had just come from, and fetch a crisp packet to stick over it, meaning it could pass with ease. “I think they’re a fantastic rodent,” he says. “Not just because they provide me with a living. But everything tries to kill the rat. When you think about how much they pack into 12 months of life, you gotta have a bit of respect for them.”

But what happens when lockdown finally eases and we have to return to our ghostly offices? Will it be a battle to win these neglected spaces back?

While the guesstimates and warnings of pest control companies should be read with scepticism, clearly the problem is real. “A lot more people are seeing rats when they’re out and about, which is always a warning that numbers are on the increase,” says Jonathan Ratcliffe of Pest.co.uk. “What we’re waiting for is when people do start going back into factories, offices, all the food outlets that have been shut – well, it could be interesting.”

CAN'T WAIT! :disco: :zombie:

That really is the stuff of nightmares for me. My cat used to bring in mice all the time and when she did I would go all -
 
My work building is by the river, so that will definitely lessen the chances of rats and mice. Right?
 
Rats are fantastic as pets. I for one welcome our new rattie overlords and look forward to the next time i phone to renew my car insurance, and a big rat wearing a headset answers.
 
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if London population has shrunk by 10% surely rodents will become more brazen

RECLAIM THE STREETS!
 
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an exterminator once told me that he'd seen how a rat had sent its own spawn to die in the trap so it could get the bait

WORSE THAN HITLER
 

Rats are clever, too. Extremely clever. A trap is nothing to the older, more experienced rats, an exterminator told the journalist Joseph Mitchell in his classic New Yorker essay, “Rats on the Waterfront”: “They just kick it around until it snaps; then they eat the bait. And they can detect poisoned bait a yard off. I believe some of them can read.” Young says he once saw a rat pause at a glue trap that had been laid in its path, return to the bin it had just come from, and fetch a crisp packet to stick over it, meaning it could pass with ease.
This is straight HORROR movie shit.
 
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I love rats.

I mean we're all going to die of WEIL'S DISEASE and THE BLACK DEATH, but think of their adorable little twitchy noses.
 
de8cf2b-db8c56ca-a110-4c73-9f10-f337842a4b4e.png
 
The crisp packet over glue thing is amazing. I'm now convinced they're all former kids TV presenters (the dodgy ones) reincarnated as punishment.
 
The bit about them being able to READ feels more like a charming Disney movie about a rat in a library who just wants to learn...
Nancy I will try and look at it this from a Ratatouille-esque angle like yourself, however, when in 2022 its more PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN-esque remember I told you.
 
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Rats are gross IN MY HOUSE. So gross. Genuinely terrifying.

In their natural habitat cute.
 
We had a rat at work once, Rentokill came and laid those sticky traps which prevents them from escaping once they get caught in it. Suffice to say the next morning was a grim discovery. :gross:
 

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