The rodents were caught using a live trap. This live trap has no brand made from wire 34 cm length, 20 width, and 15 heights. Each house had two live traps installed over two consecutive days with a total of 128 houses (16 houses in Kembangan District, 10 houses in Grogol Petamburan District, 24 houses in Cengkareng District, 18 houses in Kebun Jeruk District, 30 houses in Kalideres District, 12 houses in Palmerah District, and 18 houses in Tambora District) and 512 traps (64 live traps in Kembangan District, 40 live traps in Grogol Petamburan District, 96 live traps in Cengkareng District, 72 live traps in Kebun Jeruk District, 120 live traps in Kalideres District, 48 live traps in Palmerah District, and 72 live traps in Tambora District). The bait used was salted fish, which was changed every day during the capture process. In each house, as many as two traps were installed in the place where small mammals are suspected of passing by, evidenced by signs of rodents such as footprints, rat droppings, the smell of rodents, bite marks, digs/earthen holes, and the sound of small mammals. The traps were installed in the afternoon between 15.00 and 17.00 WIB, and the rodents were collected in the morning between 07.00 and 09.00. The traps managed to ensnare rats on the first day were taken and replaced with new ones. Trapped rodents were then labeled by name, serial number, head of families (head of household), district, community neighborhood (RW), neighborhood unit (RT), date, and the day the rat was trapped. The rats caught on the first and second days were collected and stored in the respondent's home to be collected the next day by the researchers. The rodents were put into white sacks and their traps and then taken to the Tanjung Priok Class I Port Health Office (KKP) for identification.
The presence of rats in an area depends on ecology, vegetation, food availability, and predators' presence. Also, the presence of rats also correlates with the number of tree species; their number will tend to increase in areas with high tree diversity ( Madden et al., 2019). However, in this study, the level of tree diversity did not affect rats' presence, as the habitat of those caught was in homes and gutters. Moreover, Cengkareng Timur sub-district is not an area that has a diversity of trees. Seasons also have an important influence on rats' presence; house or commensal rats will be more common in the dry season ( Panti-May, Hernández-Betancourt, Ruíz-Piña, & Medina-Peralta, 2012). In this study, the rats were found in densely populated areas, and the process of catching them took place in the dry season so that more would be caught. In the dry season, the availability of rat food is higher, especially leftovers from processed household products, as well as from some home industries in the Eastern Cengkareng sub-district.
Serial Number Pes 6
In this study, the rat species most commonly found was Rattus rattus (black rats). This species was commonly found because catching the rats and setting traps was commonly found in participants' homes. Rattus rattus is a species whose habitat is forests and homes ( Csurhes, 2012). The species can also be found in natural and semi-natural habitats ( The ICUN Red List, 2017). It is an arboreal animal that can climb. Rattus rattus favors lowlands that are less than 250 meters above sea level ( Isnaini, 2008). The environmental conditions greatly affect the presence of Rattus rattus in the ecosystem, for example, the availability of food sources. Food, organic waste that is not stored or properly disposed of, gardens that are not well managed; and the presence of pets and livestock can affect the number of rats, including the Rattus rattus species ( Feng & Himsworth, 2014).
A similar study of mine conducted in scrub typhus endemic areas in India showed higher numbers of ectoparasites belonging to mites, fleas, and ticks. Since this study showed very few ectoparasites only belonging to fleas, an extensive study should be planned to be undertaken in these areas to collect/record more ectoparasites. This study can be taken up as a pilot study for future in-depth studies (P. Philip Samuel, R. Govindarajan, R. Krishnamoorthi, and V. Rajamannar A study on ectoparasites with special reference to chigger mites on rodents/shrews in scrub typhus endemic areas of Kerala, India Entomon, 45: 4; 2020 1 ). 2ff7e9595c
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