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Experts have warned of a surge in the number of ‘super rats’ in Ireland over the winter months because many rodents have become immune to traditional poisons that aren’t having the desired effect.
According to the Irish Mirror, the onset of colder and wetter weather in Ireland in recent weeks has led to a huge increase in callouts for pest control services such as Rentokil Ireland, who reported a 34% increase in call-outs between September and November from the same period in 2014.
Not only has there been an increase in the number of rats in Irish premises, they have been physically increasing in size too, with experts warning that they are feeding off traditional, over-the-counter poisons that are proving ineffective.
Pest controller Trevor Hayden, who works with the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use Ireland (CRRU) is quoted in the Irish Mirror as saying: “There is evidence rats are getting bigger and not being affected by poisons, because they’ve built up a resistance to them.
“There’s not as much natural food around during colder weather, so the population of rats in and around homes and business premises is likely to increase even more during winter.
“But the problem is people who try to tackle the problem themselves could be making things worse, as the rats appear to be growing immune to some poisons, and are increasing in size by feeding off them.”
Hayden said that he is being kept extremely busy dealing with inquiries from the public at the moment, but advised against using traditional poisons as a means of getting rid of the rodents from a premises.
“People are buying poisons from hardware shops and not putting enough down,” Hayden added.
“But our advice is not to put poisons down, because it’s also a roll of the dice where the rats will die, as it can take a couple of days for the poison to work.
“At the moment rats are dominating our business, I’d say we’re getting around 50 calls a day. The colder weather is setting in and the rats don’t want to be outside.
“Some people just ring up for advice, because they don’t know what to do. The preferred method we use is to set traps for the rats and remotely monitor them.”
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