We provide this free safety resource to visitors of the Community Room of SeniorSSuperStoreS in an effort to keep baby boomers, seniors and the elderly informed of matters that can affect their lifestyle.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, rats bite more than 45,000 people each year. Rodent-associated diseases in the U.S. include plague, murine typhus, salmonellosis, rat bite fever, leptospirosis, trichinosis, toxoplasmosis, and hantavirus. The rat population in the U.S. is estimated to be at least one rat for every person.

These safety and health risks are magnified for seniors and the elderly because of their often compromised immune systems and tendency toward infection.

Rats contaminate and destroy enough food worldwide each year to feed 200 million people, according to estimates of the World Health Organization. In the U.S. rats cause between $500 million and $1 billion a year in property and health losses.

Rodents are persistent creatures! Rats can jump three feet straight up, and four feet outwards, from a standing position. They can burrow three feet straight down into the ground; chew through building materials, glass, and cinderblock; swim 1/2 mile in open water and against current in sewer lines; and climb up inside the pipes with diameters between 1 1/2 and 4 inches. A rat's teeth are so strong it can bite through aluminum, lead, and other metals.

A female house mouse gives birth to 6 young about 19 days after mating. She is ready to mate again in two days. She can produce 6 to 10 litters a year. Each of her young is ready to mate in two months. Remarkably, all her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great, great-grandchildren can have offspring in the same year. Two mice starting to breed on New Year's day could theoretically have as many as 31,000 descendents by December 31.

Some 20% of fires of unknown origin are thought to be caused by rodents gnawing through electrical wiring. It takes only 3 weeks for a young rat or mouse to start creating as much damage as their parents. Rodents can enter a building through a half-inch hole. It's important to seal openings and cracks around pipes and wires and to fix damaged screens and doors.

Rats and mice, thus, pose serious health risks, but what can you do to prevent them? Traps and poisons come with a heavy price. Poisons can endanger children and pets while inhumane traps require the handling of potentially disease-bearing rodents. Neither poisons nor traps provide long-term protection since more rodents will likely replace the ones you've killed. It can be an unending cycle.

The Solution

Since 1982, a company has been providing a clean, safe and effective solution. The PestChaserŽ Electronic Rodent Repeller puts the emphasis on non-toxic prevention, instead of after-the-fact toxic intervention. The PestChaserŽ emits high frequency ultrasound waves between 32 and 62 kHz to create an acoustically hostile environment that repels rodents from sound-protected areas, over the long term. It's kinder than traps, safer than poisons, and inaudible to people and non-rodent pets.

Keep in mind that the physical properties of ultrasonic sound prevent ultrasonic sound waves from penetrating solid objects like walls and floors. Therefore, the company strongly recommends the placement of a PestChaserŽ in each room where problems are evident.

What About Other Pests?

Will any ultrasonic rodent repellent do anything about insects and other pests that invade our homes and yards? Sorry! Ultrasonic sound waves do not affect fleas, flies, cockroaches, ants, bees, crickets, moths, wasps, mosquitoes, moles, voles, gophers and deer.

For other non-rodent pests such as skunks, raccoons, birds, moles, gophers and deer, there is no research to suggest that these creatures have auditory ranges above the 27kHz range of dogs and cats. In fact, studies show that the greatest sensitivity response area for deer is around 16kHz, which is clearly in the human hearing range. Rodents, on the other hand, because they are on the bottom of the food chain, have very sensitive hearing (up to 90+kHz) causing them to respond negatively to ultrasonic frequencies.

Moles, voles, and gophers also have no ability to hear or perceive ultrasonic sound. Also, as they are underground creatures, the physics of ultrasound prevents the transmission of sound through soil. Ultrasound will not penetrate walls... nor will it penetrate the sound-absorbing and sound-deadening characteristics of soil.

Consider that there are over 1,000,000 species of insects cataloged, and each year many new insect species are discovered. For any manufacturer to make a claim to affect the all inclusive "insects" is a tall order. The fact is that it would take years and millions of dollars to test the effects of any electronic pest control device on a common household pest group like ants, flies, cockroaches, spiders, fleas, crickets, grasshoppers, bees, wasps,or moths as an example. There are just too many different species in each of those groups.

Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet to protect humans from the hoards of insect pests that plague our lives. Spiders, mosquitoes, ants, cockroaches, fleas and flies are likely to be around longer than we are. For most pest species that annoy us there are specific measures ranging from simple cleanliness to non-toxic pesticides that can reduce the problem.

(Though bats are hated and feared, they may also be the single best controller of the insect kingdom. Bats may eat as many as 600 mosquito-size insects in an hour. An average bat colony may eat 1/2 million insects in one evening.)

Fortunately, as for rodents, there is a proven solution. Ultrasound is an excellent technique for repelling rodents. Rodents hear it; they are annoyed by it, and they leave. It is simple animal behavior modification and it works almost every time. While there are some insects that can perceive the sound pressure created by ultrasonic devices, a predictable repellant effect is not easily demonstrated. For anyone to imply or directly claim that most or all insects can be driven away using ultrasound is blatantly false. When purchasing an electronic pest repeller "Let the Buyer Beware" (Caveat Emptor) definitely applies. You should stick with the company that has been in the rodent-repellant business for over 20 years!

Where can you find this remarkable and proven product to repel rodents? Right here at www.SeniorSSuperStoreS.com! Check out the PestChaserŽ line of products in our Safety Products department.