Vermin!!!! There is no place in any place for these. I don't care what form. They carry disease and devastate any kind of stored foods, whether the food is for human or animal. We live on a farm, many different forms of life and no vermin is welcome. That includes the squirrels, (the big black ones or the cute little Douglass squirrel). Even when these enter my yard, I sic the dogs after them. Our dogs never even come close to catching them, but they scare the daylights out of the squirrels and they stay away for awhile.
I think that we have cats that live in the barns, they help to keep the vermin under control, I know that.
This reminds me of a story. Yup, a story comes our way.
A few years ago, when I operated my small flower nursery, it was a hot, late spring day. We have quite a large area behind one of my greenhouses that has been filled with road mulch, to make parking easier for the clients. Alongside the periphery of the gravelled area, I saw a dead rat. It must have dehydrated in the hot sun, and being in a rather obsure place, had flattened down to very thin.
I was looking at this flattened, rather large rat, and it moved. Impossible. It was dead and flat. Of course, me with my curious nature, picked up a stick and touched the resurrected vermin. It felt as dead and flat as it looked. I flipped it over. EEEKS!!! On the underside of this flattened, disgusting hunk of junk were 3 or 4 rather large orange and black coloured bugs. These insects didn't even move when I lifted the rat. I was disgusted and got a bag to put this rat into and disposed of it. I presume the bugs ran home.
To this day I do not really know what was going on with these obviously very strong bugs. I suspect that they were going to piggyback this wonderful meal to their home, wherever their home may have been and feed their family. They obviously were in this catch of food together, a family event.
That was the only time I have ever seen this species of insect. I wish that in those days I would have had my digital camera, I would have taken a picture with great pleasure, to examine the insect further and with any luck, identified it. Oooh, the bugs, gotta love them. Best of days. Cindi