Rat Infestation in Gauteng Province: Lived Experiences of Kathlehong Township Residents
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design and Setting
2.2. Study Population and Sampling
2.3. Data Collection
2.4. Data Analysis
2.5. Ethical Considerations
3. Results
3.1. Participants’ Information
3.2. Themes
3.2.1. Experiences of Rat Infestation by Residents
Sensing the Presence of Rats in the House
“When there are rats in the house, you will hear noises, when they get into the house, they bring their smell.”(32-year-old female)
“At night they make noises, sometimes in the bed. [Then] you feel something smelling and then you can’t sleep, because they are walking on the bed. You will see droppings, [a sign] that there were rats in the house. You will even see their footprints. You [will] see them running around outside in the yard. [You will also find] the rat faeces in the yard and on the toilet floor when you wake up in the morning. When you open the car bonnet you [will] also find faeces there.”(33-year-old female)
“When sleeping during the night, they walk around the house, as if they are the owners. Their footsteps sound like two men walking in the house.”(43-year-old female)
“We hear the sound of the rat when it tries to get in and then we know it is there. [Then] your shoes get eaten and some little fluffy papers around the corner or near your things; your bag, or your t-shirt with a hole. Such happenings make you know that there was a rat [around]. When you are sleeping you hear funny noises, you hear something sounding and you wonder if it was a thief or a rat, and it is always a rat.”(31-year-old female)
Fear of Rats
“I don’t feel good because they are scary. I am scared of rats; kids are also scared of the rats. They are big and scary, since I was born, I have never seen such huge rats.”(38-year-old female)
“I am not talking about small rats, but big ones as big as a cat. I become frightened because I am scared of rats. Actually, I am very scared of them.”(26-year-old female)
“I used to be scared of them before, but as I said, I grew up with rats around me. So, I’m not scared of them anymore. When I see it, I just see a rat, but I have that [feeling in me] that I need to scare it away, so it won’t enter the house because if it does, it damages a lot of things.”(29-year-old female)
“We live with them [and] we don’t have a problem. What annoys us is that they damage propert.Iif they were not causing any damage, we would live peacefully with them, you know.”(34-year-old male)
Feelings of Disgust
“I feel disgusted when I see a rat, because where there are rats, [then that place] is not clean.”(24-year-old male)
“So, when I see them, I get angry because I know that something is already damaged in the house; it’s just a matter of time for me before I check and realize that definitely something is not right.”(30-year-old female)
“I just scream and jump, not that I’m afraid. [It is] just that it is irritating. It is really irritating [that] they are everywhere; they always cross [over] from the garage to my room. We used to put the dustbin that side [at the garage] and I would step on them [rats].”(31-year-old female)
“I feel disgusted, [as] I am sure that when I see it, there will be damage [of household things]. When you see it, you must try and locate where it got in, and try to close the hole. You even find them in the toilet, [as] they dig a hole in the ground and come in. They can dig through cement. So here, because it is an informal settlement [with no cemented surfaces], they do as they please.”(48-year-old male)
The Troublesome Rats
“They are troublesome, and they are [so] fast, [that] you can’t catch them. I can say that they are troublesome, but we are used to it now. We try to fight them but there are always more”.(48-year-old male)
“They are very troublesome, [as] they make a mess of everything in the shop and then even in the house, even the power lines and even the children”.(32-yearold female)
“They are troublesome; they destroy anything they come across. They bother us because they eat our things.”(38-year-old female)
“They destroy; they enter the house and eat our things like mealie-meal. They just make a lot of mess.”(18-year-old female)
Dirty Rats
“When there are rats, the place can’t be clean. It’s not safe here, because this place is not clean. They take dirt outside and bring it inside. There are places that look like squatter camps, the dumping site is closer to houses.”(24-yearold male)
“Rats love dirty places, if we can just agree as people to keep the place clean, they won’t have a place to live. It’s the dirt that invites them. Let me also just say [that] anywhere [where] there is dirt, is an attraction for rats.”(30-year-old female)
“Rats like dirt, when they move from the dumping sites, they enter our homes.”(27-year-old female)
“[The] problem with the rats is that they also make our clothes dirty, because everywhere they walk is dirty.”(36-year-old female)
3.2.2. Reasons for Rat Infestation
Lots of Rats in the Area
“They are so many and troublesome. It’s so big and like a dog.”(43-year-old female)
“There are a lot of rats in this area. They were re-blocking the shacks, [as] there were a lot of rats that went out.”(26-year-old female)
“There are so many rats, it’s not even nice.”(27-year-old female)
“There are too many rats here; I started seeing them from the time I was still growing up till now. They are still here.”(29-year-old female)
Poor Waste Disposal
“I think it is because they get food from our dustbins [that they exist]. If there was no food, they would find other places [to go] and they would not be much here. They are growing because new ones are born from time to time. We kill them, but we still have them, so we cannot say we have killed all of them and they no longer exist.”(33-year-old female)
“They come because of dirt or food that has been thrown out in the yard. They also like watery places and they therefore, like to come where there are drains, especially close to kitchens. In those drains they normally find food particles because when we wash, maybe rice or any other food or veggies in the kitchen sink, it goes through the pipes and maybe, land on top of the drain. So, they like such places because they get food and water.”(50-year-old female)
Entry of Rats into Households
“In my house they once entered the roof and stayed in the ceiling, we couldn’t sleep at night because they were running all over the roof and making funny noises like cats. It only got better when I found someone to come and close off the place that had a hole in the roof. Here in the garage, sometimes the door would not be properly closed, and the small rats will enter. Those ones are very problematic [because] you just see them running around. They used to come in numbers into my roof at night. They would run around in the roof.”(50-year-old female)
“They create holes on our doors, and the other problem is that you do not see how they come in. You just discover that they already inside the house. I think that any small space that it finds, it creates a way to enter [through it].”(34-year-old male)
Frequency of Sewer Problems
“Sometimes it lasts up to 1 week. I don’t know whether the problem of sewage blockage been reported or not.”(38-year-old female)
“It leaks and after some time it stops. I think there is somebody who reports the sewage problems.”(43-year-old female)
“Yes, it happens frequently, almost every month. There are always blockages. We do not know where to go or who to report it to, so [that] it can be fixed.”(21-year-old female)
“We call the municipality. It takes days. They do come, but after a long time.”(24-year-old male)
3.2.3. Management of Rat Infestation
Barriers Created to Prevent Rats from Entering the House
“I use the black rat poison [which] I mix it with food, and I put that food where I know they will come and eat it, then they die. I then smell the bad odour of the dead rat inside the house. They are a problem because sometimes they die in a place where you cannot even reach easily. You have to search the whole house to find it. So, they are a problem dead or alive, but I do kill them.”(33-year-old female)
“Most of the time we use glue that’s yellow inside. We open it [and] smear it somewhere and put food [as a bait] for them to come and eat. That is what helps us, but we cannot catch the big ones. There is nothing I can do, except to buy things that will chase them out, like the glue, rattex and aliphirimi. But because I have kids in the house, I prefer glue because it is safer than the others.”(30-year-old female)
“The door needs to always be closed and on top of that, I need to put an old rug underneath to prevent them from coming in. It is not easy because [we need to make sure that] the poison that we use to kill them, is not easily accessible to children.”(36-year-old female)
“I bought the glue to put inside the house, to catch the small one that would sometimes come into the house. I sprinkled some chilies all over and after doing that I never saw the rats there again. Chilies is number one [rat repellent] though, because you can also use it in cars that are parked in the yard. You can sprinkle it in the engine area and anywhere else the rats could enter. They will never go close to the car again.”(50-year-old female)
Strategies Used to Patch up the Excavated Holes by Rats
“I broke the bottles and [used them] to fill the holes dug by the rats.”(38-year-old female)
“I sweep the sand, fill the holes with stones.”(43-year-old female)
“I have to get rid of the soil and replace it with rocks so that the hole is closed, because the rat can dig where there is cement.”(24-year-old male)
“Other people say that when they dig holes, you need to crush bottles and put them into those holes, and then they will not come again.”(50-year-old female)
Removal of Waste
“Yes, they do come to collect waste. If they did not come, I just leave the waste inside the dustbin. [For] the one that is created when I do gardening, I throw [it] in an open space in my area.”(34-year-old male)
“There is no other place where we can dispose the waste, except to go to the no-dumping areas. That causes dirt to increase and then rats will also increase there.”(18-year-old female)
Response to Sewer Problems
“If you report the problem, it might take 2 days maybe for them to send someone to fix it.”(33-year-old female)
“The last time we had a problem, their service was poor, but they did eventually come. They came after many of us had to call and report the blockage, so we had many references. But before then, they used to come after being called by one person.”(50-year-old female)
“Yes, we do report, and they come with the truck to fix it”.(29-year-old female)
“I do report it because I am part of the committee for the infrastructure. Yesterday, I went to the office to ask them to open the water, because there was no water here. If someone reports sewage problems, they do come and help. They respond quickly as long as it is reported.”(48-year-old male)
4. Discussion
5. Limitations of the Study
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | Frequency | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Gender | ||
Female | 16 | 80 |
Male | 4 | 20 |
Age category (years) | ||
18–35 | 13 | 65 |
36–49 | 5 | 25 |
>50 | 2 | 10 |
Employment status | ||
Employed | 8 | 40 |
Unemployed | 9 | 15 |
Student | 3 | 45 |
Number of members in household | ||
2–4 | 11 | 55 |
5–7 | 8 | 40 |
8–10 | 1 | 5 |
Home language | ||
IsiXhosa | 10 | 50 |
IsiZulu | 6 | 30 |
SeSotho | 1 | 5 |
SeTswana | 1 | 5 |
XiTsonga | 2 | 10 |
Themes | Sub-Themes |
---|---|
Experiences of rat infestation by residents | Sensing the presence of rats in the house |
Fear of rats | |
Feelings of disgust | |
The troublesome rats | |
Dirty rats | |
Reasons for rat infestation | Lots of rats in the area |
Poor waste disposal | |
Entry of rats in households | |
Frequency of sewer problems | |
Management of rat infestation | Barriers created to prevent rats entering the house |
Strategies used to patch up the excavated holes by rats | |
Removal of waste | |
Response to sewer problems |
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Chelule, P.K.; Mbentse, A. Rat Infestation in Gauteng Province: Lived Experiences of Kathlehong Township Residents. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 11280. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111280
Chelule PK, Mbentse A. Rat Infestation in Gauteng Province: Lived Experiences of Kathlehong Township Residents. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(21):11280. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111280
Chicago/Turabian StyleChelule, Paul Kiprono, and Ayanda Mbentse. 2021. "Rat Infestation in Gauteng Province: Lived Experiences of Kathlehong Township Residents" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 21: 11280. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111280