the question is inspired by a recent thread where a fellow Doper asked for help battling a small rat infestation. I have also seen some mice caught on glue traps, but thankfully no rats. If any such were to show up, I wouldn’t even know which Walmart aisle to go to…
Anyway, so are there places in the world where the necessity of battling the master race among the rodents has led to development of effective and decently priced solutions? Is “big rat-resistant cupboard for all food not requiring refrigeration” a widely available necessity good in the same way as fridge is?
Or is rat infestation so uncommon a phenomenon that people just treat its infrequent occurrence with the same resignation as the problem of tornados knocking down homes in Kansas?
Chances are if there is a rat in a cupboard in a 3rd world country, it’s not looking for supper…it is supper.
My old house had steel cabinets, no rat was ever gonna chew through those.
Dude, I lived on a hobby farm as a teen. I’ve seen rats claw their way through six inches of concrete to get at food.
“Rat resistant” only means it take them a couple of extra hours or minutes to get through it.
It’s really going to depend on where you are. In rural areas, traditional granaries and cats will do the trick. In urban areas, a lot of households do their cooking on a day-by-day basis, and there isn’t a ton of food just hanging around. Glue traps and live traps are available around the world.
And in some areas rats are just “wandering meat”.
They are called “Clay Pots with Lids”.
clay pots with lids sound great.
Now, how do they map onto the modern industrial society? Can you line cupboard’s walls with clay? How about with glass? Or are mass produced, conveniently shaped pots of clay or glass the way to go?
Bonus question, could bishop Hatto just barricade himself in a big clay pot? Mouse Tower - Wikipedia
Prehistorically, the rodent-proof property was possibly one of the reasons for the spread of pottery technology into hunter-gatherer societies in northernmost Eurasia. No rats there, just a variety a mouse-size critters easily stopped by a wall of hard ceramic standing between their sharp teeth and stored foodstuffs.
a pet reticulated python in the rafters will exterminate all rats within 2 months.
Go to the aisle with the insecticides. Usually in the household cleanser aisles, or the next aisle over.
My husband has a hobby farm.
Around here, the rats tend to be much larger than the cats. :eek: