Rodents , their Characteristics, Types and Control Measures

Plant Protection - Rodents, their Characteristics, Types and Control Measures

1. Rodents and their control

2. Rodents R odents are the serious pest of both field and storage condition. They belong to phylum vertebrates . The common rodents found to be damaging are: House rat ( Rattus rattus ) House mouse ( Mus musculus ) Brown rat ( Rattus norvegicus ) Lesser Bandicott rat/ Field rat ( Bandicota bengalensis ) Large Bandicot rat ( Bandicota indica ) Field mouse (Mus booduga) They damage growing crops and post-harvest products.

3. Rodents Biological characteristics of rat and mice Poor eyesight. Nocturnal in habit. Teeth grow at the rate of 0.4 mm per day. Damage caused is almost 5 times of their daily food requirement. Move on the same path. One mature pair can give birth to 2000 offspring in a year. Very good jumper and climber. Like quite dark and dirty places. Life span is 2-3 years.

4. Biological characteristics of rat and mice Reproduce rapidly. Reproductively mature at 10-11 weeks of age. Chew and gnaw almost anything. Come in estrous immediately after birth of delivering of their litter. Causes great losses of field storage. Good swimmer and don’t afraid with water. Gestation period is only 3 weeks. Give birth 4-13 young at once. Rodents

5. Biological characteristics of rat and mice House rat and house mice go to the field during crop harvest time. Field rats and field mice live inside the burrow system in the field. Rodents

6. Rodents are not of one-man. One family problem, they are community problem. Management of household rodents They don’t like clean house so we should clean our house, storage and field. Use of rat proof door. Tree that grow near the house should be cut back so rat can’t jump from the branches to the house. In the household condition, rat can be controlled by chemica l and mechanical means: Methods of management of Rodents

7. Chemical method Fast acting poison Acute poison (Zinc phosphide) Pre-baiting with non-poisonous bait by mixing 45% ground rice, 45% ground wheat, 5% roasted groundnut and 5% mustard oil. Keep 20 gram of mixture where frequent movement of rats and mice takes place in the house at evening. It is done for 2 days. Prepare the poison bait by mixing 98% non –poisonous food and 2% acute poison (Zinc phosphide) Next morning collect the rat and mice and burry them deep underground. Methods of management of Rodents

8. Chemical method Slow acting poison Example: Bromadiolone (0.005% Roban) Requires feeding by rats several days before they die. They continue feeding, it until they die. Methods of management of Rodents

9. Mechanical method Wire trap Potato or sweet potato slices are hang as feeding bait inside the traps. These baits are fixed in the evening where frequently movement of rats occurs in the house. Snap trap and glue traps can also be fixed as of wire traps. Methods of management of Rodents

10. Management of field rodents Chemical control Prepare and use non-poisonous and poisonous bait. Find live burrows of rat and mice. Non-poisonous baiting on live burrows for 2-3 days. Poisonous baiting on live burrows for 2-3 days. Chronic poison, bromodiolane (0.005% Roban). The Roban poison baits should be kept on the running path of rats and mice. Fumigation of live rodent burrows by aluminium phosphide. Place poisonous bait during night and then take out those during the day for safety purpose. Methods of management of Rodents

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