Do Richmond Rats Bite Humans During Their Sleep?

Wild California rats have a natural habitat that is often around farms, sewers, garbage dumps and buildings. Wild rat bites are not a common thing. However, if threatened or cornered they may show aggression and bite. Never attempt to pick up a wild rat. Rat bites are rare, but this however may be because the bites are under-reported. People of all different ages have been bitten but the biggest amount seems to be children. Rats tend to bite while the person is sleeping, and they tend to go for body parts that are exposed such as face, hands and feet.



Rodent bites are not usually severe but if you suspect a rat bite it is best to see a doctor due to the many diseases Richmond rats have been known to carry. Rats that live in sewer dumps, garbage dumps and farms carry out their searching and destruction during the night when everyone is sleeping. It has been thought that if a rat is near a foot or hand and the person moves or rolls over it may startled the rat and it turns to bite due to being scared. Other times it has been thought that people bitten by a rat may have been eating in bed and had food near their foot or mouth or they could have spilt something on their foot that the California rat can smell and believes it to be food.

Infections from bites
Rat bites are not severe and only around a 2% mark of people bitten have contracted an infection. Washing the wound immediately is a common practice with some sort of antiseptic wash. Some say rats carry rabies this has not been confirmed but we cannot be too careful with no evidence to prove this. Rat Pox may be transferred from an infection to the individual from a Richmond rat bite. Saliva from a rat can contain diseases such as hantavirus and leptospirosis all which require medical attention as soon as possible. A rat bite can be a single puncture or multiple punctures, bleeding is normal with both a shallow bite or a deep bite injury.

If a child comes down with flu like symptoms and a bite mark which includes redness and swelling with pain this could indicate a rat bite. If you see a pus-filled wound appear several hours or days later this could indicate a secondary infection and medical attention is needed straight away. While again it is quite uncommon for California rats to bite it is certainly not unheard of. Keep an eye on children common down with a temperature, joint pain, vomiting, persistent headache especially in areas prone to rats and get them medical attention even if you aren’t sure it is a bite better to be safe than sorry. Deterrents like sprays, ultrasonic defuses and keeping your house clean and tidy with no warm moist areas will help to keep the rats away from your home and backyard helping to ensure no one has to suffer a rat bite.

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