Residents Do Battle With Invading Rats

Beverly Burke says she can’t keep the rats out of her Simi Valley home, and she wants city or county officials to come to her rescue.

During the past eight months, the 50-year-old homemaker said, the frisky rodents have left droppings in her kitchen drawers, run circles around her washing-machine tub and gnawed a hole in her living room carpet.

On one occasion, she said, a rat nearly ran over her foot as it scurried into the kitchen then skidded across the waxed floor.

Burke is among dozens of Ventura County residents who have called government officials and private exterminators in recent weeks to complain about rodent infestations. Pest experts say rats and mice have multiplied more than usual this year because of favorable weather conditions and abundant food supplies.

“We’ve been getting an inordinate amount of calls about rodents, countywide. They seem to be very popular this year,” said Gayland Hagy, supervising biologist with the county Agriculture Commissioner’s office. “They seem to be worse in the Simi Valley area, but they are countywide. The climatic conditions are just right, and their population is booming.”

Hagy and other rodent experts said the mild weather and plentiful rain last winter increased the amount of water and wild food available to the fast-breeding animals. In suburban neighborhoods, rodents have been feasting on fruit trees, pet food placed outdoors and uncovered garbage, rat control experts said. The animals hide and build nests in woodpiles and thick vegetation.

Burke believes a regional program is needed to halt the proliferation of furry four-legged critters.

“We’ve had an exterminator,” she said. “It just doesn’t work. We cannot kill all the rats in the county. We have no rat-control program, and I think it’s about time we get one.”

Last week, Burke, her landlord and a local pest control expert took their rat tales to the Simi Valley City Council, urging that an eradication program be launched. City officials said they refer complaints to county officials, who say they don’t have the money or personnel to provide much help.

In 1986, Ventura County offered to provide rodent control services to local cities, but the response was lukewarm, said Robert Gallagher, a manager in the county’s environmental health division. Under this plan, the county would have responded to rat complaints, performed rodent inspections and conducted educational programs.

Simi Valley was asked to kick in $17,600 as its share, but the city offered only $1,000, Gallagher said. Some cities were unwilling to join the program at all.

“We needed a certain amount of funds to hire personnel and do the work,” Gallagher said. “The participation we got was not enough for us to hire even one person.”

Now, as rat complaints skyrocket, city and county officials can only urge residents to hire a private exterminator if the problem is severe.

“We’re getting inundated with calls,” said Joe Barberis, vice president of Most Reliable Pest Control in Simi Valley. He told the council he had trapped nearly 2,000 rats in the Wood Ranch community this summer.

“We’re getting 25 to 50 calls a day, all in regard to rats or mice,” the exterminator said.

Barberis said his crews usually catch the rodents with traditional spring devices or glue traps, in which the animals become stuck to a board as they step toward a piece of bait.

To prevent rats from returning, he and other exterminators remove food sources and cover any holes or vents that might allow a rodent to enter a house.

Rodents can contaminate food and cause considerable damage around a home because they gnaw constantly to keep their teeth sharp, said Randy Smith, an environmental health specialist for Ventura County. He said they commonly cut through hoses, wiring and other household equipment.

The animals also can spread diseases such as rabies and bubonic plague.

“Rodents throughout the world are potential carriers of a tremendous number of diseases,” Smith said. “But here in this county we have not had any of those diseases transmitted (in recent years) by the type of rodents found in suburban neighborhoods.”

Tim Miller, pest control manager for two companies based in Simi Valley and Newbury Park, said he has received a flurry of calls about rodent problems.

“Rats have gone up to some degree,” he said. “But the biggest change is that there are a lot more mice now.”

Miller, who says Snickers candy bars make the best bait, believes rodent intrusions will increase as the season changes.

“I think it’s going to get a little worse when we get cold, rainy weather,” he said. “They’re going to look for dry places to move into.”

Barberis wants Simi Valley officials to hire an extermination firm--such as his own--to curb the problem throughout the city. But he said city and county officials have not responded to his proposal.

“I’m well aware of the problem,” said Ventura County Supervisor Vicky Howard, whose district includes Simi Valley. “This is something that’s cyclical. I was on the (Simi Valley) City Council for eight years, and once or twice we had a mice and rat infestation. It’s nothing new. You have to get everyone to cooperate to put a lid on it.”

Howard said she is sympathetic because she had a distressing personal run-in with a rodent before moving to Simi Valley.

“When I lived in Northridge, I had a rat that climbed a bush and gnawed a hole right into the stucco” to enter her house, she said.

To help curtail the current rat problem, the supervisor said she plans to set up community meetings to teach Simi Valley residents how to eliminate the animals’ food supply and the vegetation in which they hide.

Wide compliance is needed, Howard said, because a single careless homeowner can make it difficult for an entire street to get rid of rodents.

“I talked to one person in Wood Ranch who has in the last month killed 30 mice,” the supervisor said. “It is definitely not something that’s being stirred up by the exterminators. It’s one of those periodic population explosions of rodents that we’ll all have to cooperate and deal with.”

CURBING RODENTS

Ventura County environmental health experts recommend the following steps to prevent or curb a rodent infestation:

* Don’t leave filled pet food dishes outside.

* Trim or eliminate thick, leafy plants such as ivy, where rodents may nest or hide.

* Prune tree limbs and plants at least 18 inches away from houses, fences and utility lines. Rodents often use such branches for travel.

* Remove fallen fruit from the ground and harvest ripe fruit promptly.

* Use metal or hard-plastic garbage containers and keep them covered tightly.

* Store firewood or lumber on a platform at least 18 inches off the ground and 12 inches from a wall.

* Plug holes and crevices that are larger than a half-inch in diameter; install wire mesh over rooftop air vents.