0>^Ki N jX^^TAT E S 

 'DEPARTMENT' 

 OF AGRICULTURE' 



ORMATION-^ 



WIT?T ui-TCI^l SAIi'S ilATURALISTS * 



S ,^ gaging Tir.ie; 10 Ilinutes 



Rat Control, 



Friday 4 October 25.1929, 



ITOT JOR PUSLICATIOIT 



AiraOUlICEI.IEIE!2; 



UL 



ijYer;^ otlier IVidv/ o^jr "ilds Han gives us Ju^T'iiaLiu",^ 



facts \.'liicii he gathers from Uncle Sam's naturalists.. Todaj^ he oromise: 

 to tell us about his visit v;ith 'x. James Silver, of the United Sta.tes 



Biological Sva"vey Vihat did they talk about 4;w, rats I 



I'll let him tell you about that 



* * * * 



Yes, rats it is. Most of us don't think of rats, especially the 

 com-aon bro',:n or house rats, as :part of nat-are, T7e generally thiiik: of them, 

 in connection -..-ith houses. They £.ire a sort of undomest icated do-sestic 

 animal, -hey seem to orefer to ma,he o-'jr homes, and our barns, and our 

 stables their homes, 



There is a reason for that. V'e treat rats better than their enemies 

 in the o]_-)cn treat them. Hawks and owls, and other such birds of -orey often 

 mal-ce short -.^ork of rats, 



xVnd no wonder they talze shelter in o^jr buildings i As a rule, they 

 are much safer in our places than in the v.uld. The cats vre kee-p don't ::ive 

 us much -protection. Cats of reAl value as ratters are rare. 



Yes, a lot of folks f-arnish food and shelter for rats. And the 

 more food avn,ila.ble, the more rats. Well-fed rats mature quickly, and 

 breed often, anf have big litters. Poorly fed rats, breed less often and 

 have smaller litters. 



In this -part of the world, rats us-^oally avera.ge about ten to the 

 litter, i'or-mally, ratsbreedsix to ten times a year, and start breeding 

 when only three or four months old. Pigure it out for yourself. A friend 

 of mine did. He found that at that tate one pa.ir of rats, all breeding 

 "onint err-aptedly and without losses, would increase in tliree years to nearly 

 260,000,000. 



I v.Qjs> telling another fellow about tiiat , aaid he said: "Yes, that 

 must be the jair of rats that started a fa'nily on my place three years ago." 



He was complaining that rats had ca.used him big losses in chicks and 



