Musophobia? How to Get Over Your Fear of Rodents

On one hand, a person’s greatest fear isn’t so much the problem in itself as it is the imagination: It is your imagination that implants the many possibilities and impossibilities of both rational and irrational fears into your brain, often blowing up the proportions of a situation beyond what it really is.

However, your fears can be grounded on rational thinking, giving a person a perfectly reasonable basis to be afraid, scared, anxious about something.

Rodents have plagued mankind of centuries, spreading disease, grievous bodily injuries and generally just being overall pests. In the dark ages, rodents helped to spread one of the worst pandemics in human history, the Black Plague. This disease ravaged Europe, wiping out large amounts of its population in a matter of years, but advances in medical science as well as personal hygiene methods and pest control techniques have made rodents a lesser evil than ever before.

Understanding Rodents

More than 10 million people have died from rodent-borne diseases and parasites in the 20th century alone. While they are not considered to be major threats to our everyday health, a fear of rodents is perfectly justified because of the potential of disease and parasite transmission. Rodents make for excellent vehicles harboring rapidly spreading diseases by their nature and design.

Unfortunately, rodents have adapted to living in close proximity to human beings. Rats and their parasites literally share homes with us, nesting and sleeping in the homes which humans come to relax, sleep, and store food and clothing, often without even realizing it. Humans have always been extremely vulnerable to the any pathogens, diseases and parasites carried by rodents.

Rodents carry with them a variety of parasites such as mites and ticks which carry potentially lethal pathogens. If not parasites, then rodents can spread deadly germs and bacteria found in their urine and feces, which is produced in alarming amounts at a time.

Rodents produce hundreds more of fecal matter and urine deposits than humans are capable of in a day.

This excrement can be laid anywhere around your home, place of work, or anywhere else for that matter. The pathogens can also be found in a rodent’s saliva and blood. Rodents also shed hair almost daily, losing their entire coat of hair nearly twice a year. Parasites and deadly pathogens can be found in these hairs and can be harder to spot than excrement.

The Black Death was caused by rodents who sailed along traders and other people in boats. Nowadays, rodents can hitch a ride in our cars, buses, airplanes, and any other vehicle we may depend on everyday. Rodents hitchhike with us, along with their deadly parasites and pathogens, making them capable of going from one end of the globe to the other in the same amount of time it takes humans to travel.

Wherever constant supplies of food and water are readily available, rodents will be able to breed. They also breed in large amounts; some places have recorded almost tens or hundreds of rodents living and moving about in a given place at once. Within these populations are the aforementioned parasites, pathogens and diseases which can spread infection to all living things.

Step 1 – Get Rid of the Rodents

While removing rodents from your home or workplace doesn’t eradicate the core issue behind your fear, wouldn’t you agree this is the best place to start? There are many solutions on the market including traps and poisons but these can be harmful, but here is the problem with these methods.

• They’re Unreliable: Spring traps often don’t kill rats or mice the first time they snap.
 • They’re Cruel: Glue traps can delay death up to 5 days.
 • They’re Unsafe: Laying down poison is risky business, especially if your kids or pets are around.
• They’re Unsanitary: All of the traditional methods of killing mice require you to go collect the dead
rodents and throw them out.

Consider FRESH CAB^® – a solution to eliminate rodents wherever you have them in your house, garage, vehicle or more. Just drop a pouch wherever you have mice or rats and watch them clear out.

• Safe and Effective: When used as directed, FRESH CAB, keeps your kids and pets safe. We use 98% bio-based ingredients like essential oils, lavender, fir, cedar, lemon and clary sage. It is the only EPA registered botanical rodent repellent for indoor use.
• Smells Great!: It adds a very pleasant fresh, woodsy scent to your home or business.
• Added Value: Repels rodents and works as a freshener.
• 100% Guaranteed: We offer you an ironclad 100% money back guarantee!

Step 2 – Overcoming Your Fear of Rodent Bites

While the information in this article may have reignited your fears of rodents and their bites, it is important to think rationally and calmly about your situation. The facts can be alarming, but practicing preventive measures as well as steps to overcome irrational fears can make rodents seem like a minor nuisance than the end of the world.

You’re not alone. Known scientifically as musophobia, the fear of mice is common in many people, and even in some animals. A common and proven belief is that elephants are indeed afraid of mice, but even they can be trained to overcome fear.

Stop to think about why you have developed a fear of rats and rat bites. Fears can arise and develop from fictional entertainment such as movies which usually make rodents seem more fearsome than they really are. Take time to learn more about rats on the internet, in a book or in a pet store to see how they are in reality. Rodents are living creatures like cats, dogs, and humans too.

Evaluate your fear of rodents thoroughly. A traumatic experience involving rats which can be embedded deep within you can be tough to break, but you have to ask yourself if the actual danger which rats present to you is real or perceived. A giant, dirty sewer rat that just crawled out of a sewer and across your feet can be a real danger, while a mouse from a pet store or a TV show may cause you to perceive the fear. Rats do, in fact, present some dangers, but modern science and disease prevention has done a lot to prevent any dangers they may present.

A more deep rooted case of musophobia can call for a trip to a therapist. Bad childhood experiences or traumatic events involving rodents can be a tough thing to shake with a lot of people, but thanks to innovations in modern medicine, many varieties of theraputic treatments can be applied to people with a wide variety of phobias and fears, both rational and irrational.

Try to learn more about rodents, as they go beyond the disease harboring street crawler variety. Many people of all ages and walks of life keep and love rodents such as hamsters, guinea pigs and other species which are disease free. While we don’t want the wild variety in our homes or workplaces, enjoying them (or at least tolerating) in a recreational setting will make for you enjoying a more satisfying and empowered life.