THE DAMAGE BY RAT AND THE WAY OF PREVENTION (Nov 26, 2013)

Biological characteristics:
Rats are not very good eyes , not see far away, can not distinguish colors ,
offset  rats have the ability to sense smell ,  taste of  food  very  well . Rats  are  very sensitive hearing  ,
agile  and  climb , dig earth fast ,  swim easily , mainly  damage by night  . Rats do not have canine teeth ,
but their  incisors are strong  and elongate . Rats are suspicious about  strange place , strange food ,
often living in holes , especially at the edge of rice fields . When rice  ripe  , rats leaving the holes,
living in the fields , often  nesting in rice plant . Rats  do not like water , so that if the  year  gets  serious drought ,
there are  many rats in that year  . Rats do not have the ability to move backwards , so  ,
rats  dig  many nooks and crannies to move. When rats  are  immature  , it is difficult to distinguish male rat ,
female ones  by eye . When lacking of food in the field  , due to illness or overcrowding , rats will migrate elsewhere .
The lifetime of rats  is about 1year  , in which the female rats  live  longer than male ones  .
Rats  are  an omnivorous species , eating mainly green plants , in addition to rat also eats small fish , snails, yellow snails , crabs ...
Maturation time  of  rat is  rather  soon . After giving birth , about 1-2 months later, rat  will  mate again to give new litter  . Averagely ,
rat giving 4-6  litters per year , averagely ,each litter having  5-12 babies  .
Rat  mainly  damages  by night . On the field , rats primarily  damage  booting  to blossoming stages  . If being damaged early  ,
rice can recover , creating  new tiller  but  ripening  unevenly . If being damaged late  , rice can not recover , not to create yield .
Rat  has  many natural enemies such as snakes , pythons , rat hunting birds , cats , dogs , pest  ... but the most important natural enemy of  rat is  human .
Prevention
Rat killing campaign   needs  to do  at early  crop at the same time   , continuously , and  widely  . There should be full participation of the community
Precaution
- Determine the appropriate crop , so cultivation and harvest should be done  simultaneously .
- Do not plant too many crops in the field .
- Good sanitation in the  field
- Protect natural enemies of rats .


Treatment
- Crop trap : In each field , select a few plots , on which aromatic  rice was grown  to  attract rats ,
trap set field  was  fenced with nylon around . Need to visit the rice field  often to pick up rats ,
snakes ... entering the cage and improve  when necessary.
-Use water to limit and kill the rats: If possible, keep the water level high in  the rice field 
at  booting  and  blossoming  stages - to restrict rats  building holes on the  edge .
-.To  hold hunting & chase :  by several  measures such as digging rat hole , pouring  water, setting trap  ,
fumigating , using hunting dog , tractor to chase  rats for catching . Anti-rat  with Calcium  carbide fumigating ,
Sulfur , burning straw mixed chilli,  Sulfur smoking  is rather effective ,  cheap , not causing contamination 
-To place baits  : Each  1000 m2 in the rice field  , place  15-20 troughs of bait , troughs are  placed under the rice bund, 
1 meter apart  from  the bund ,  to put a trough in 10-m distance . Bait can be broken rice, copra, cassava with little vegetable oil,
especially  bait is made  from rice sprout  and  wax is  mixed with animal feed  .... To avoid  fear of bait , 
need to put bait without product  3-5 consecutive days, then a few days later , 
adding  Zincphos20%  rodenticide as  recommended dose. Need to do continuously for a  few consecutive days,
then collect all toxic residues, bringing destruction
-.To cach rats for food: This  killing  measure of  rats  is very  effective  , significantly improved earnings. Rat meat is very  delicious,
high nutritional value, a valuable source of supplemental protein for rural areas with low incomes.