Ahoy Matey! 3 Barnacle-Bustin' Reasons To Make The Ship Rats On Your Houseboat Walk The Plank
Posted on: 25 April 2017
When your houseboat is invaded by ship rats, it's fun to refer to the rodents using pirate lingo. Unfortunately, that's where the fun ends. When ship rats stow away on your boat, they put the safety of everyone on board at risk. Here are three reasons to send the no-good ship rats sailing away today.
1. Ship Rats Give a Whole New Meaning to the Word "Seasick"
Nausea, dizziness, vomiting — the symptoms of seasickness are dreadful. Floating around on a boat while throwing up is never fun. Fortunately, seasickness is easy to treat using anti-nausea medications. What's not so easy to treat is salmonella poisoning caused by infected ship rats.
Ship rats get into food supplies and contaminate everything with salmonella bacteria. If you eat the contaminated food, you'll become terribly ill for 4 to 7 days.
Unfortunately, while on a boat, salmonella poisoning is easily misdiagnosed as seasickness. And, making matters worse, salmonella poisoning causes dehydration due to constant vomiting and diarrhea. If you're far away from land, this is a nightmare scenario.
Protect everyone on your boat from salmonella poisoning by storing all food supplies in heavy-duty, sealed containers. Additionally, never touch ship rats without wearing protective gloves, and always wash your hands carefully after coming into contact with the disease-carrying rodents.
2. Ship Rats Spread Life-Threatening Viruses
Salmonella isn't the only rat-borne disease to worry about on an infested houseboat. Ship rats also carry and spread Lymphocytic choriomeningitis.
Don't hold back the urge to shout "Blimey!" after hearing that absurdly long, fear-inducing virus name. The disease sounds scary — and it is scary!
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis causes severe health issues:
- Drowsiness
- Paralysis
- Seizures
- Kidney damage
- Liver dysfunction
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis is potentially fatal if left untreated. The virus is spread to humans through contact with ship rats' fecal matter and urine, which is another reason why it's so important to boot the stowaways off your boat.
3. Ship Rats Start Electrical Fires
Floating far away from land is a serene experience unlike any other. But serenity quickly turns to cannon-blasting panic once an electrical fire starts. Unfortunately, ship rats like chewing on things, especially wires. One chew too many, and an electrical fire is bound to occur.
The reason ship rats chew wires (and other inedible objects) is because they have four teeth that never stop growing. Consequently, the rodents have to chew on objects day and night to maintain normal-sized teeth.
If your houseboat is infested with ship rats, stay calm and float on. Weather the storm by calling a rodent pest control expert today.
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