Can rats be harmful or hurt you?

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There are a lot of things out there that can do you harm. Sadly, the rat is one of them. Many people don’t think of a rat as an animal that can do them a great deal of harm, but this simply is not the truth. A rat can actually do quite a bit of damage to you if you are not careful.



Biting - let’s start with the most obvious of these. A rat has very sharp teeth, and uses those teeth to not only protect itself but also to grasp and shoe on food. If you corner rat and it feels that it needs to protect itself, you may find those teeth sunk into your hand, finger, or other part of your body, causing you a great deal of distress.

For those of you who have had rats as pets, you are well aware of the potential damage that a rat bite can cause. Even if you are being quite friendly with your little rodent, they can turn on you and sink those sharp teeth into your hand. This is painful and can even get infected.

But a rat protecting itself is not the only time you need to fear them biting you. If a rat is out searching for food and happens to come across you, that does not mean that it will move beyond you and find another source of food. The rat may decide that you make as tasty a treat as anything else it may locate. This is especially true when you are talking about a group of rats traveling together to search for food. In this case, it may be quite likely that that entire group will descend upon you and start biting you, looking to get some nutrition.

It is for this reason that you need to be a little cautious about the potential of a rat biting you. No one is saying that you need to go into some kind of seclusion, but to just be aware that the potential is there.

Disease - besides being bitten by a rat, these rodents have long been known throughout history as the source of pathogens and pestilence that comes along with them and which can be life-threatening. The great bubonic plagues of the world were started by fleas that the rats were carrying on them. The rats themselves were infected and when the fleas jumped off of these rodents and onto the human beings and bit them, the disease was passed and bubonic plague was spread. This wiped out vast populations of people during their time, and shows how a rat can be a real health issue.

Rats may not always be carrying deadly illnesses like this, but they will carry bacteria and viruses that can be dangerous to the health of you and your family. This is why so many take the dramatic step of hiring an exterminator to remove them from their property, out of fear that something horrible could be spread in their household. For more information, you may want to click on one of these guides that I wrote:
How much does rat removal cost? - get the lowdown on prices.
How to get rid of rats - my main rat removal info guide.
Example rat trapping photographs - get do-it-yourself ideas.
Rat job blog - learn from great examples of rat jobs I've done.