In 2023, Anticimex, which, among other things, engages in pest control, caught a total of 1,020,409 rats in Sweden, which was an increase of just over four percent compared to the year before.
– The main reason is that the cities are growing and densifying. In an urban environment, there are many places where the rat can hide and plenty of food among the trash we humans leave behind, said the Anticimex biologist Thomas Persson Winner stone in a press release earlier this year.
READ MORE: That’s how many rats Anticimex caught in 2023
Source: Anticimex
Photo: Erik Simander/TT
In addition to having captured over a million rats, Anticimex received, via digital traps placed around the country, close to 800,000 alarms about rat movements.
In order to combat the rats, creative methods have been used in several locations to get rid of the rodents. In Malmö, during the spring, ferrets were used to flush the rats out of their hidden passages, and in Vallentuna, birdhouses specially adapted for barn owls, which usually catch one rat per day, have been placed.
Photo: Johan Nilsson/TTPhoto: Knut Mathias Rekve/TT
– We are making an attempt to get rid of rats through this method. We also have electronic traps but if we get barn owls they are much more effective, have Johan Carselindstreet and park manager in Vallentuna, previously told News24.
READ MORE: Here, rats are fought with birdhouses
The rats find their way into houses and homes during the autumn
While during the summer the rats can find food at outdoor restaurants, parks and in other public places, it becomes all the more difficult when autumn arrives.
As it gets colder outside, the rats start moving towards warm and dry places in search of food and protection from autumn and winter debris. This means that homes and holiday homes can receive an unwelcome visit from the rodents, who can leave droppings and other damage behind.
READ MORE: Mistakes attract the rats into your home: “Chewing through”
Photo: Maja Suslin/TT
But it is not only homes that can be affected by rats, but also parked cars. Both Home & Rent and SVT Örebro have, in recent months, reported how the animals gnawed and built nests in vehicles.
For Nyheter24, Thomas Persson Vinnersten at Anticimex has told about how the animals move to get into the standing vehicles.
– They probably get up from below through the engine compartment. Maybe it is possible to climb up via the wheel arches as well?
Once inside the car, the rats can do both.
– In addition to getting dirty, they can of course gnaw on the wiring, with electrical cables and liquid-filled wires
READ MORE: How rats get into your car: “Climbing up”
Photo: Stella Pictures Does the insurance cover damage to the car caused by rats?
But what really applies if you get a visit from rats or mice in your car and they cause damage to the vehicle? Nyheter24 asked Sofia Ulriksson who is a lawyer at the Consumer Insurance Agency.
Sofia Ulriksson. Photo: Press image/Kusumernas Försäkringsbyrå
Source: Consumers’ Insurance Agency
– It is not too unusual for rats or mice to gnaw on electrical cables in a car. The attacks can lead to the car’s electronics being knocked out and the car unable to be driven. Some insurance companies compensate damage to machines and electronics caused by rats and mice if the damage affects the car’s function, explains Ulriksson and continues:
– However, there are insurance companies that expressly exclude machine and electronic damage caused by animals. It is therefore important that you review how the insurance applies.
If it concerns damage inside the car, which is caused by animals, it is in principle always the exception, according to Ulriksson.
– This applies to all animals, not only if rats or mice have gnawed the seat. Damage to the inside of the car caused by, for example, pets will probably not be compensated either.
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Photo: Christine Olsson/TT
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This is how you can protect your car from mice and rats
Does it matter how you store your car, for whether you can get any compensation through the insurance?
– We have not come across that the insurance companies impose any care requirements on how the car should be stored in relation to avoiding damage from, for example, rats and mice. If you park the car in a garage or outdoors, the size of the premium can sometimes be affected. Some insurances also offer a lower deductible if the car is damaged in a locked garage, says Sofia Ulriksson and continues:
– But the storage itself usually does not affect compensation in case of damage. It should possibly be if the car has been left unattended for a long time in a directly unsuitable area and you can be considered to be grossly negligent.
Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT
Special vehicles, such as enthusiast cars or motorcycles, may have care requirements regarding storage.
– It could be, for example, that they should be locked in a garage at night. If you do not follow the due diligence requirements, the compensation can be reduced. A “regular car”, on the other hand, usually does not have such extensive storage requirements.
Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT
Sofia Ulriksson further notes that neither the car nor animals feel good about living in and gnawing on the vehicle. For that simple reason, it can be beneficial to act as damage prevention.
– In autumn, there may be a greater risk of mice or rats seeking shelter inside vehicles. Damage prevention measures can be to clean up around the car so that there is no organic material such as overflowing garbage cans or fallen fruit nearby that attract the animals.
– It can also be good to move the car from time to time or at least go in and start it so that any mice that are thinking about settling are disturbed. If you know that there is a high risk of mouse or rat attacks, there are also electronic mouse and rat deterrents that make the animals avoid your car.
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