House Rats and Mice

by David E. Lantz

The common brown rat breeds 6 to 10 times a year and produces an average of 10 young at a litter. Young females breed when only three or four months old.

At this rate a pair of rats, breeding uninterruptedly and without deaths, would at the end of three years (18 generations) be increased to 359,709,482 individuals.

For centuries the world has been fighting rats without organization and at the same time has been feeding them and building for them fortresses for concealment. If we are to fight them on equal terms we must deny them food and hiding places. We must organize and unite to rid communities of these pests. The time to begin is now.

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HOUSE RATS AND MICE.

CONTENTS.

• Page.
• [Destructive habits] [3]
• [Protection of food and other stores] [5]
  • [Rat-proof building] [5]
  • [Keeping food from rats and mice] [9]
• [Destroying rats and mice] [11]
  • [Traps] [11]
  • [Poisons] [15]
  • [Domestic animals] [18]
  • [Fumigation] [18]
  • [Rat viruses] [19]
  • [Natural enemies] [20]
• [Organized efforts to destroy rats] [20]
  • [Community efforts] [21]
  • [State and national aid] [21]
• [Important repressive measures] [23]

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DESTRUCTIVE HABITS OF HOUSE RATS AND MICE.