Tim Collins/Contributor

Greater Victoria is blessed with a famously temperate climate, and that fact alone serves to attract people from across the country, and in fact, the world, to relocate to our fair city.

Still, this is Canada, and we do experience winter. Certainly, our winter is nothing compared to the bone-chilling temperature that much of the country experiences, but the weather does get cooler and staying indoors where it91裸聊视频檚 warm and cosy becomes far more attractive.

It should come as no surprise, then, that we can find ourselves sharing accommodation with uninvited furry companions who, similarly, are looking for a warm, safe, cosy place to spend the winter.

Specifically, we91裸聊视频檙e talking about rats.

Victoria recently squeaked its way to being labelled the fourth rattiest city in the province and it91裸聊视频檚 a trend that has Noel Erickson and his staff working overtime.

Erickson operates a Victoria pest control company named Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control.

91裸聊视频淲e tend to concentrate on securing the building envelopes to keep rodents out of the house as opposed to using a lot of traps or poison,91裸聊视频� said Erickson.

91裸聊视频淥ur process is to find out where they are getting into the building and then put in one-way doors at those points and work with the homeowner to 91裸聊视频渆vict91裸聊视频� them by removing or securing food and water sources. They leave the building to get food and when they try to get back in, they can91裸聊视频檛.91裸聊视频�

Sounds easy enough, but Erickson explained that rats are very smart and well-adapted to survive so the process can be difficult.

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How difficult? Well, let91裸聊视频檚 consider some rat facts.

First off, rats are smart. It91裸聊视频檚 been estimated that they have an IQ of about 105. (That91裸聊视频檚 five points above the average human so just think about what they could do with opposable thumbs.)

They are resilient, too. They can climb trees and wires and can walk away from a drop of 50 feet. They can also jump vertically up to 48 inches.

Water doesn91裸聊视频檛 scare rats. They can tread water for up to three days, hold their breath for more than three minutes and have been known to swim their way up sewer pipes and into toilets.

They reproduce in about 20 days and will release pheromones to attract other rats to hospitable surroundings.

Rats have rib cages that dislocate and shift to allow them to fit through any hole that can accommodate their skull.

And finally, their teeth never stop growing and they can chew through just about anything, including concrete.

91裸聊视频淩ats are very good at digging as well,91裸聊视频� said James Garry, one of Skedaddles staff. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 almost like dealing with water. If they are determined enough, they91裸聊视频檒l find a way in. We just try to make it too much work for them to get in, so they go elsewhere.91裸聊视频�

And while Erickson recognizes the desire of homeowners to rely on poison to deal with the rodents, he said that it isn91裸聊视频檛 all that easy. To begin with, B.C. banned the use of most rodenticides as they were having inadvertent impacts on the predators of rats, killing owls and other wildlife.

91裸聊视频淎nd it91裸聊视频檚 not easy to get them to take poison in the first place,91裸聊视频� said Erickson. 91裸聊视频淭hey are very sensitive to environmental changes so if you put a bait box down in place, they will get up to it, recognize it as something new, and back away.91裸聊视频�

Of course, even when poison was in use and rats would occasionally take it, they had a bad habit of going into walls to die and decompose with predictable olfactory results.

The best option, said Erickson, is to evict rats as soon as you notice them and secure the building as well as possible. His company offers a lifetime guarantee on pest-proofing a structure and will return to deal with any new incursions.

91裸聊视频淭here91裸聊视频檚 always the chance that they come back and chew a new hole somewhere, but we can deal with that,91裸聊视频� said David Wong, another Skedaddle staffer.

Still, the battle goes on, with pest control companies using motion-activated cameras, drones, metal-infused gaskets and other tricks in their battle with rats.

91裸聊视频淭hey91裸聊视频檙e tough to deal with. They91裸聊视频檝e been evolving for millions of years to survive but we keep finding new ways to beat them as well,91裸聊视频� said Erickson.

The battle continues.