Some people say that there are fewer rats in the countryside because of the large amount of rodenticide used, which sounds like some truth. But if you think about it, this statement is still incomplete. Why?
Under normal circumstances, rats can breed 6 to 8 times a year, tropical and subtropical regions can breed about 10 times, each time can give birth to 5 to 10 small mice, small mice can be bred after 2 months, each pregnancy time is only 21 days, and can be blood mated, a female mouse can breed thousands of offspring in a lifetime. In the northern region, because the winter temperature is too low, the small rats often freeze to death, so the reproductive ability of the rats is slightly lower than that in the south.
Because rats have such a strong reproductive ability, why have rats disappeared in most areas after many years of high-toxicity rodenticides? Obviously, rat poison is not effective in eliminating rats, but can only reduce the number of rats in a short period of time. On the contrary, because of the heavy use of highly toxic rat poison, after the rat dies or is poisoned, it is eaten by the natural enemies of owls, snakes and other rats, and the natural enemies of these rats have low reproductive ability, resulting in the endangerment of wild animals such as owls.
The natural enemies of rats are reduced, and the remaining rats will multiply rapidly and only need a few months to return to their original numbers, while the natural enemies at the top of the food chain will decrease, and the number of rats will grow rapidly.
Since the decrease in the number of rats is not caused by rat poison, what are the reasons for the decrease in the number of breeding rats?
1. The food of rats in the plot is reduced, and the rats are not enough to eat, and the reproductive ability of the rats is reduced.
Because the price of grain is too low, the price of agricultural production materials has risen, it turned out that one side of the water and soil can not support one side of the people, and now it can only be poorer and poorer at home, most of the rural labor force goes out, the family is closed and locked, leaving only the left-behind elderly and a very small number of left-behind women, resulting in some land being deserted, the vast majority of two-year-old, three-ripe become one-year-old, the wild brown family rats and other food sources have become less, and the population has declined.
Originally, farmers will plant food crops at the same time, but also plant sweet potatoes, peanuts, soybeans, peas and other grains, mountain areas also in order to improve food production for intercropping, rats in addition to the winter need to store some food, most of the time can be in the farmland foraging, now most of the time, rats in the farmland can not eat food, the number of rats is inevitable to reduce.
2. Farmers changed their habits of storing grain, and rats had no food source in the village.
Before the land contract was contracted to the household, although the peasants did not have enough food to eat, but in the case of frugality, there was still surplus grain at home, and when the peasants processed the grain, there would be bran, rice bran, etc. to allow the rats to survive. After the reform and opening up, the grain problem was basically solved, how can the hungry and frightened peasants also store a year's rations before selling excess grain, some families have stored tens of thousands of kilograms of grain are reluctant to sell, they use earthen warehouses, wooden cabinets, wooden cylinders, porcelain jars to pack grain, and some even use ammonium bicarbonate, urea, phosphate fertilizer and other packaging bags, snakeskin bags, etc. to pile up in the hall house, leaving a large amount of food for rats, rats do not flood it.
After the transfer of rural labor, farmers, fearing the harm of rats, sold surplus grain one after another, and even left no rations. Buy a little rice, flour, etc. every New Year's Festival, and at the end of the New Year, pat your ass and leave, and the rats will no longer have any food to steal.
3. Farmers are prohibited from raising pigs, chickens, etc. in village courtyards, reducing the food source of rats.
Farmers often say: "The rich do not leave the book, and the poor do not leave the pigs." In the original, every household of farmers will raise 1 to 2 pigs, 3 to 10 to chickens, and some families will also breed cattle, dairy cows, goats, dairy sheep, etc., which can not only improve life, but also increase income, but also accumulate farm manure, which is conducive to increasing crop yields.
Since the beginning of the construction of the new countryside, it has advocated changing water, changing toilets, and changing circles, and then directly Linzhi raised pigs and chickens in the village courtyard, and every household used tap water, environmental sanitation has improved, the quality of life has improved, but rats have no drinking water, and there is no livestock and poultry feed to eat, rats in the village, can directly be described as worse.
4. Brick and wood houses, roads hardened, courtyards hardened and no pens were lost, and rats lost their living space.
Rats' nests are underground, or in shady places, rural new rural construction and infrastructure are perfect, cement roads and cement floors are everywhere, village courtyards are clean, there are no haystacks and all kinds of garbage, there is no possibility of rats burrowing around farmers, and there is no place for rats to hide. The house has changed from the original thatched house, stone house, stone slate house, and earthen house to a pure reinforced concrete structure, the original wooden door panels and windows have become iron doors and aluminum alloy windows, and there is a layer of iron screen windows outside, and it is difficult for rats to enter the interior no matter where they come from.
The living habits of rats are difficult to change, they can no longer adapt to today's rural life, they cannot continue to reproduce, and they can only be eliminated.
5. Soil pollution and water quality pollution, resulting in serious pollution of rat nests, can not drink clean water, leading to population extinction.
It is undeniable that most of today's rural rivers are polluted, and rats who want to be in the river will gradually be poisoned and reduced fertility.
Rats spend most of their time underground, facing contaminated soil, and their entire body is in a polluted environment, which will not only get sick, but also shorten their lifespan and reduce their reproductive ability, and even lose their reproductive ability.
Rats have no food source, no adequate drinking water, no shelter, how can there be many? It is believed that many years later, cats will also degenerate, because after several generations, they have long lost the ability to catch mice, and they can only be reduced to pets, and they have no other use.
Owls eat mice as their main food, and without mice, where are so many owls?