Rats memorize specific pathways and use the same routes habitually.

Rats can get into your home through a hole about the size of a quarter.

Rats damage structures, chew wiring and cause electrical fires, eat and urinate on human and animal food, and carry many diseases.

Thousands of rat bites are reported each year in the U.S. alone and many go unreported.

Accidental poisonings occur among humans and pets from poorly planned efforts to poison rats.

Within urban areas, rats derive their life supports from waste- management systems and food processing and storage areas.

Rats rely predominantly on smell, taste, touch and hearing as opposed to vision. They move around mainly in the dark, using their long, sensitive whiskers and the guard hairs on their body to guide them.

Rats are cautious, and if their food is in an exposed area where it cannot be consumed quickly, they usually carry or drag it to a hiding place.

Rats have an excellent sense of taste, enabling them to detect certain compounds, including rat poisons, at extremely low concentrations very quickly.

Rats are omnivorous, eating nearly any type of food, including dead and dying members of their own species.

The Chichineca- Jonaz, in the Mexican state of Guanajuanto, were eating rats as part of their basic diet as late as 1950.

Rats continue to be important food items in many countries, and the large grass-cutter rat is caught and raised for market sale in some African countries - much as rabbits are in American and European markets.

The word "mouse" can be traced to the Sanskrit word "musha" which is derived from a word "to steal."

Of all the mouse species that invade human structures, only the house mouse usually becomes a long-term inhabitant if not controlled.

Some scientists speculate that mice developed from rats under conditions where it was less important to be large and ferocious than to be able to get into a smaller hole.

Mice are more acceptable to humans than rats, possibly because of what is known as the "Disney influence."

Mice are capable of being transported for long periods of time in closed containers, such as boxes, trunks or barrels.

The house mouse is found throughout the world from the tropics to the Arctic regions.

There are believed to be about 300 separate varieties of house mice in the United States.

The house mouse has a protective mechanism that responds to environmental stress - excessive heat for example - by inducing a torpor or dormancy that conserves its physiological reserves.

Many fires of "unknown cause" may have been caused by mice chewing through electrical wires.

In six months, one pair of mice can eat about four pounds of food and produce some 18,000 fecal droppings.

Mice feeding on colored crayons will produce droppings based on the color of the crayon they were feeding on.

Mice are not blind but have bad vision and cannot see clearly beyond about six inches.