12 Rat Myths You Need to Stop Believing
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Soda Can Kill Rats
It’s true that rats can’t belch, but the old story that you can use a carbonated beverage, like soda, to kill them is false. There’s not enough carbonation to affect a rodent. Professional exterminators do not recommend using it as a strategy for getting rid of rats. In fact, it can have the opposite effect. Sweet, sugary sodas can actually attract rodents to your house, so do yourself a favor and leave that Coca-Cola in the cooler.
Caffeine is certainly harmful for rats, too, but a rat would have to drink near a full 12-ounce can of soda to have serious consequences. Rodent traps or an exterminator are still the best way to get rid of rats in your home. Here are some of the best rat traps to help you get started with the pest eviction process.
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Major Cities Have a 1-to-1 Ratio For Rats to People
This plays off another thought that people are never more than a few steps away from a rat, which is simply impossible. The myth comes from a study published in 1909 in England. W.R. Boelter conducted the study and came up with a guess that England had one rat per acre of cultivated land. England had 40 million acres of cultivated land and a population of 40 million at the time, so it fit that there’d be one rat to every person.
Recent estimates say that the rat population of New York City is about 25 percent of the human population, dispelling the myth in the Big Apple. These happen to be the most rat infested cities in America and—spoiler alert—New York is not the #1 most rat infested U.S. city.
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