RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Research Uncovers Empathy in Rats

As charges of greed and self-interest fly in these hyper-partisan political times, humans might do well to look to rats for lessons in kindness and caring.

A University of Chicago experiment to determine how much empathy rats have for each other had some surprising results, which were published Friday in the research journal Science.

In laboratory studies, a rat was restrained in a small cage that could be opened only from the outside. A second rat, seeing the predicament of the trapped rat, immediately began tirelessly trying to find a way to free his fellow rat.

Eventually, the second rat taught itself to open the cage door, freeing the restrained rat, leading to what strongly resembled a triumphal celebration between the two. Even when faced with an alternative choice of chocolate chips, the free rat would not be deterred from helping its caged fellow rat.

As simple as it sounds, the experiment is being hailed as a new paradigm that will help scientists trace the development of emotion in mammals back through the evolutionary tree.

Previously, scientists thought that empathy and pro-social behavior to help others were unique to humans, said Jeffrey Mogil, a researcher at McGill University in Canada who has done similar studies on mice.

“This study shows the roots of human empathy didn’t just appear but evolved,” said Mogil, who was not connected with the University of Chicago study. “It is very impressive, showing really robust and conclusive evidence that rats show pro-social (helping) behavior. You can argue why the rats are doing it, but you can’t argue anymore that the rats are doing it.”

The experiment is the work of University of Chicago doctoral student Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal; her adviser, Jean Decety, a professor of psychology and psychiatry who studies human empathy; and Peggy Mason, a neurobiology professor who studies pain modulation and relief.

Decety said it has been proved in past studies that rats also experience a primitive form of empathy called emotional contagion — the sort of thing where if one baby in a group of babies begins to cry, they all break out in tears.

“Ben-Ami came to my lab to do her Ph.D. with an idea of using an animal model to study higher forms of empathy,” said Decety, who enlisted Mason for a study that wound up taking three years.

The team first paired rats of the same gender for three weeks.

Then they placed one of the pair in a small, Plexiglas restraint cage, locked by a door that could only be opened from the outside. The cage was placed in a larger enclosure where the rat’s partner roamed free.

By means the researchers aren’t sure of, the caged rat seemed to communicate its distress to the freed rat, and the freed rat sprang into action.

“The free rat jumps on the restraining cage immediately, pushing it, biting at it, touching its nose and whiskers through the openings in the restraining cage with those of the trapped rat,” Mason said. “Clearly it wants to help out the trapped rat.”

After about six days, the free rat would accidentally open the door and from then on quickly learned how to deliberately open it, and then excitedly interact with its now-free partner as they raced around the enclosure.

“I can’t say that they are celebrating,” said Mason. “But sure looks like a celebration.”

Because rats love chocolate, in some experiments the scientists placed two restraint cages in an enclosure with a rat that already knew how to open the cage door. One cage contained a rat, the other five chocolate chips.

“We wanted to ask how much the free rat valued being able to liberate the caged rat,” Mason said. “They like their chocolate chips, but the free rat would open both cages in no particular order.

“The free (rat) could have done all manner of things to monopolize the chocolate chips, but on average it always left one and a half chocolate chips for the liberated rat. That’s impressive — a hard thing for primates to do — showing it puts equal value on chocolate and freeing its partner.”

Eventually rats that did not know each other were used, and the free rat still worked hard to liberate the stranger from the cage.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Man Contracts Rat Lungworm Disease in Hawaii, Paralyzing Ailment Caused by Microscopic Parasite

Eric Reinert, 22, lost 50 pounds, suffered pain, numbness and nerve damage, but says 'I'm getting better every day'

A microscopic parasite turned a man’s trip to tropical paradise into a medical nightmare.

Eric Reinert, a 22-year-old Minnesota man, has had to learn to walk all over again after contracting rat lungworm disease in Hawaii.

The rare and revolting bug lives in the bodies of rats and turns up in their feces. Snails and slugs often eat the droppings and lay eggs, contaminating water sources.

Rat lungform, or eosinophilic meningitis, can cause permanent nerve and brain damage.

Reinert, who was in Hawaii’s Puna district to learn about organic farming, told WCCO that the illness began with stomach cramps.

Things got worse quickly when the pain spread, leaving him bedridden.

“Just staying as still as I could on my back was the only way I could be at peace for a little bit,” he said.

After a few days, he was unable to cope with the agony and went to the hospital.

Luckily, a doctor figured out that Reinert had rat lungworm, most likely from eating fruits and vegetables that weren’t properly washed.

“A lot of people in Hawaii don’t know this exists, I didn’t know it existed,” said Reinert. “I wasn’t told about it because I’m sure the people I lived with didn’t know it exists.”

The diagnosis was good news but Reinert was still in big trouble. He had to stay in the hospital for nearly a month before being allowed to continue convalescing in his home in Watertown, Minn.

He had lost 50 pounds, experienced the numbness and nerve damage associated with the disease, and relies on a wheelchair.

Still, he’s making progress and his friends have raised $3,500 to help him pay his medical bills.

“Every day it gets a little better,” Reinert said. “It’s kind of a roller coaster with the pain, but overall, that’s what I tell everybody. Overall, I’m getting better every day.”

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Scary Food Facts: Insects & Rodent Hairs In your food? The FDA Says It's OK

Scary Food Fact No. 1: FDA Allows Rodent Hairs And Bugs into Peanut Butter, and Beetle Eggs in Canned Asparagus

When dealing with produce that has been harvested from the field, it’s pretty difficult to ensure that every teeny tiny critter that may have hopped onto a leaf or a stem, or nibbled their way inside of a tasty fruit is removed before the produce is processed and sold to the consumer. And after all, if you eat a little maggot, insect larvae or even a smidgen of mammalian excreta, you’ll probably be just fine.

In fact, the FDA is so certain you won’t suffer any adverse effects from ingesting minuscule amounts of insects, or “excreta” or rodent hairs (well those rodents, they do get everywhere) that it has published a little booklet called the Defect Level Handbook that advises food manufacturers as to what amounts of contamination from (harmless) foreign material are acceptable. When it comes to frozen or canned asparagus, the maximum level of contamination is “10% by count of spears or pieces {that} are infested with 6 or more attached asparagus beetle eggs and/or sacs.”

With frozen broccoli, come in under an “average of 60 or more aphids and/or thrips and/or mites per 100 grams” and it’s all good. As for cinnamon bark, more than an “average of 1 mg or more {of} mammalian excreta per pound” will get you in trouble. And when it comes to peanut butter, manufacturers can turn a blind eye to an “average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams,” but no more.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

One of the first things I was taught when I first became a “PMP” (Pest Management Professional) back in the 70’s was to always look up! Come to think of it, we were “Exterminators” back then.

In many situations this holds true for keeping rodents out of your home.

Mice are excellent climbers and our native mice (White-Footed and Deer Mice) are exceptional climbers. I remember camping once and I woke up at 1:30AM to attend to some business. As I exited the camper with my trusty flashlight (PMP’s always carry quality flashlights) I observed a White-Footed mouse climb the truck of a large Eastern Hemlock onto a large branch and disappear into the dark woods!

If you want complete mouse proofing, seal everything larger than 1/4” all the way up to and including the gutter line. Our company has always struggled to be competitive in offering this service to our clients due to the cost of enormous amount of labor and it’s tedious nature. We do offer it though if anyone is interested in it.

John Stellberger
President - Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

We run into to many situations every year with clients that unknowing strand the young of an animal they wish to evict from their home.

It is important to understand some basic breeding biology when you attempt to remove the adult(s) parents from your home or other structure. These animals usually have distinct breeding seasons. If you remove the attending parents, these young animals may die or wander into your home in a final attempt to survive.

We get many frantic calls every year when customers hear cries from these stranded animals or worse, the animals die and an odor or fly infestation develops.

Please remember this when you set a trap for a mammal or seal a dryer vent after shooing out the adult nesting birds.

Either research their habits and breeding biology or call us at 877-507-0698!

John Stellberger
President - Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

We often see many of our clients unsuccessfully attempt to solve the squirrel problem in their attic by performing tree pruning and even removing a valuable shade tree! Not only can this be expensive, but it very rarely works. While it’s good to trim back branches and vegetation that may touch your home to prevent some moisture and insect invasion, especially Carpenter Ants I have never seen it keep squirrels from accessing the openings at the roofline.

Tree squirrels are very good climbers and quite adept to solving access obstructions. Elizabethan style collars installed around electric and utility lines (with the owning companies permission) does work in some instances to keep them from “Running the Wires” to enter but I have personally witnessed a Gray Squirrel tip the upper portion of a collar down enough to jump over the collar to the wires on the other side. Squirrels can gain easy access to the roof by climbing on your gutter downspouts, utility and A/C lines. These adept climbers can also run directly up the wooden shingled siding, easily obtain grip to brick and stucco to run directly up any side unaided by gutter downspouts, conduits, vines, etc.

While it IS possible to prevent these expert climbing rodents from getting to the roofline, the process and cost of modification may far exceed the expense associated with simple evacuation and reinforcement to vulnerable areas with stainless steel mesh or other permanent materials.

John Stellberger
President - Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Rat Bites Subway Rider at Station

New York transit workers said a rat bit a subway rider on the foot while she was waiting for a train at a downtown station.

Transit sources told the New York Daily News the woman, who was described as in her 20s, was sitting on a bench at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station at about 9:30 a.m. Monday when the rodent ran up and bit into the flesh of her foot.

"She was pretty frantic and upset," one transit worker said. "You could actually see the bite."

Authorities said the woman was treated at New York Downtown Hospital and released.

Officials with Transport Workers Union Local 100 said rats are becoming more common at stations because of infrequent garbage collection and poor seals on trash storage rooms.

City transport officials declined to comment, the Daily News said.

Source: DailyNews.com

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Research Examines Why Insects Give Us an Itchy Feeling

Why is it that seeing, discussing, or even just thinking about creepy crawlers makes us feel itchy all over? It turns out the experts aren’t sure, according to a story on MSNBC.com titled "Spiders! Ants! Did that make you itchy? Here's why”

University of Pennsylvania neuroscientist Dr. Wenqin Luo places the blame for phantom itch on memories of an itchy past. Thinking about bugs, she explains, might prompt memories of previous experiences – “itchy associations.”

Why, then, doesn’t thinking about injuries prompt our bodies to feel phantom pains?

Dr. Luo offers the following theory: “Compared with itch, pain is a serious protective mechanism that triggers avoidance behavior. Thus, the threshold to trigger a pain sensation may be much higher than that of itch.”

Basically: If our brains registered pain (a danger) as easily as they do itch (an annoyance), our bodies would be sent into constant states of false alarm.

Dr. Glenn J. Giesler, Jr., a neuroscientist from the University of Minnesota offers a slightly different guess as to the phantom itch culprit: Maybe our skin always experiences the tiny sensations capable of causing light itch – but we only notice them when we’ve already got itch (or its creepy crawly causes) on the brain.

“It is amazing to me how easy it is to induce itch in others,” says Giesler. “Whenever I give a talk on the topic, I am amused at the percentage of people in the audience who start scratching.”

“Perhaps,” he guesses, “the threshold for sensation of itch is lowered by thinking about it.”

Dr. Gil Yosipovitch is a professor of dermatology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina. He’s also the founder of the International Forum for the Study of Itch.

Source: MSNBC.com

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

EHS Staff Entomologist George Williams Jr., A.C.E. to appear on the TV show Infested! on Animal Planet. Infested! Episode 7 is titled “Spreading To Fast” and airs Friday February 10, 2012 at 9PM EST on the Animal Planet channel.

Environmental Health Services, Inc. is highlighted in this episode for successfully winning the war against rats that invaded a residential home in Jamaica Plain, MA a suburb on the outskirts of Boston. EHS is highlighted in this show because of their creative thinking and genuine concern for the customer, basically going above and beyond what is expect to solve a serious pest issue. In the episode EHS works closely with John Meaney, Principle Health Inspector, City of Boston, Inspectional Services Department and the Boston Water & Sewer Commission as rats are suspected of entering through the city sewer system.

EHS Vice President Sabrina Key stated, “This cooperative effort with city agencies highlights the working relationships we have and shows how diligent we are at solving even the most difficult pest problems.” EHS President John Stellberger added, “We are delighted to be featured on such a respected educational channel as the Animal Planet. Their commitment to quality television programs is universally respected.”

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Mouse Scurries Around Bag of McDonald’s Hamburger Rolls: Employee Catches Rodent on Cell Phone Video

A former fast food employee says mice ran rampant in the Philadelphia McDonald’s where he worked, and he caught it all on tape, Fox News reported.

Video shows a mouse scurrying around inside a plastic bag filled with hamburger buns at the McDonald’s on Stenton Avenue in the West Oak Lake section of Philadelphia, where Karrium Demaio, 29, worked.

Demaio says he frequently saw mouse droppings, and was told to brush them off the bread and serve them to customers.

“There hasn’t been a time when we couldn’t go in the back and see mouse droppings on the bread,” he said.

He told Fox News he revealed the video, which was shot in November, because he wanted to warn customers.

“That wasn’t the first time. That was about the sixth or seventh time,” he said. “That’s what made me like, I got to get video of this.

“I was going back there to get something else and I heard some rustling, so I turned around, and I look, I seen a mouse inside the bread. Not on top of the package, but inside of the package.”

Demaio worked at the store from October 2010 to January of this year, when he was fired for skipping a shift.

He told Fox News that he’s worked at two other McDonald’s, but had never seen something like this.

The McDonald’s is “not in satisfactory compliance,” according to the Philadelphia Health Department, but inspectors did not cite evidence of rodents.

The store says it will address concerns the video surfaced.

“After viewing the video, we are going to continue to investigate this claim to make certain we have all the facts,” McDonalds owner and operator Ken Youngblood said in a statment.

“I want my customers to know that I am taking this matter seriously and will immediately address any issues that may exist. Therefore, if necessary, we will work with the appropriate authorities to get the facts.”

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA