Something furry scurries here

Oh rats!

Kevin Peterson, who has been a licensed pest control technician 30 years and is the general manager of Cascade Pest Control, says La Conner is especially prone to the critters.

In the last 20 years, rat populations have spread themselves from the waterfront, out across the town and even across the channel into neighborhoods like Shelter Bay, Peterson said.

Skagit County has also seen a recent case of Hantavirus, from which the resident has since recovered.

Hantavirus is carried by rodent feces and urine, which can be accidently breathed in or ingested. The Skagit case was the fourth in Washington this year.

La Conner residents should be prepared on how to prevent and remove rodents from their residences.

Town Administrator John Doyle said he has not heard of an increase in incidents for the city, though one resident contacted city hall recently after seeing rats in her home on Myrtle Street. He said the city usually gets a series of complaints after buildings get torn down that were infested or when construction disturbs an infestation.

Doyle said the city does not respond to rat control on private properties. The only rat control the city will do is when it is related to a public building, space, or street, and had an example from 12 years ago when the city and waterfront businesses partnered to hire a pest control company. He said since then there hasn’t been any need to redress rodent activity.

La Conner’s most common rat variety is rattus norvegicus, aka the “Norway rat,” though Peterson says they’re not Scandinavian, but supposedly originated in Asia. The came to the Americas on sailing ships hundreds of years ago.

Rats near water can survive solely on the scraps and burrows of river otters, but here they are mostly dependent on human activity, Peterson said. They look to people for shelter, garbage, inviting clutter, thick plants offering cover, outdoor pet food, bird feeders and even compost piles.

“I wouldn’t discourage anyone from composting,” Peterson said, “But a compost pile of grass on your yard could be up to 160 degrees inside, and the rats can live in that through the winter.”

He especially warns people against feeding wildlife or feeding pets outside.

“It’s wonderful to feed birds, but birdfeeders are just glorified rat feeders,” Peterson said. “There’s been so many times I’ve seen rat-proof bird feeders that have rats in them.”

Anna Borusinski used to live one block closer to the waterfront, where she invaded by no fewer than 20 rats when she first moved in.

“We would hang our garbage above the ground,” Borusinski said. “The rats still chewed through it somehow.”

The rats continued to be a problem until Borusinski adopted two cats. But she said she had other prevention methods as well, including “extreme cleanliness” and peanut-butter-covered rat traps.

The first step to prevent rats is to try to find the holes and cracks in your house where rats and mice might try to get in, Peterson said.

“Rats only need a hole the size of a quarter. There’s a lot of those kinds of holes in a house, but with some patience and diligence you can find the majority of those,” Peterson said.

Peterson also recommends clearing any debris in which the rodents can hide in five-to-ten feet from your home. Food outside should be picked up, including pet food and fruit falling from trees, frequently, as well as pet waste. Garbage should be bagged and have trash cans with tight lids.

When it comes to infestations, Peterson recommends mechani-cal traps over other types of rodenticides.

“Mechanical traps, in a do-it-yourself scenario, are the tested and true,” Peterson said. “Everybody is always trying to build a better rat trap but mechanical is the best.”

Peterson recommends having a professional check your home to discover your risks. He said if you do have an infestation, you should have a professional exterminator check back monthly to monitor the activity around your home.

One thing Borusinski asks is that others don’t use rat poisons. She said rat poison left by neighbors or previous tenants might have been the cause of the death of her pets.

“Please no poisons, it does hurt other animals,” Borusinski said.

Peterson recommends baits should be used with pre-filled stations, if you plan to use poison at all.