Poison bait may require pre-baiting to get them used to accepting handouts before the poison bait is introduced. Trapping…but rats are suspicious of anything new in their “home” and may require a long time before getting trapped. Eliminate protective cover when the are out. Primarily feed after dusk and before sunrise.Ĭontrol: Exclusion most effective. Keen senses except vision and are colorblind. With no natural predators in an urban setting survival rates are high. And gestate in 3 weeks, weened at 4 weeks, 4-6 litters per year, 6-8 young per litter. They like routine and will stay in an immediate area unless conditions change prompting their moving.Ĭan have population explosions if conditions are favorable. They are usually not found on the ground or in the open. They are found in the upper stories of buildings. They can also burrow into the ground next to plants if no trees are present. They are great climbers and prefer to live in trees (where they can threaten birds). It is now found throughout the sunīelt states of the USA and throughout Mexico. In competition with its brown rat competition ( R. The thinner and leaner roof rat prefers warmer habits and fares poorly Can be several color forms besides black including gray, brown and tan, whitish belly. Feed on birds and insects.ĥ-8" long excluding its 7-10" tail which is longer than rest of body. While thought to have originated in Indomalayan area, it has spread to all continents of the world.įirst discovered in Arizona in the east Phoenix’s Arcadia area in 2002.Ī very generalist omnivore. The black rat (common name) aka Rattus rattus, is a common long tailed rodent. But they do have some experience with rats in trees: They will strip a particular citrus cultivar they find tasty, but then why strip the fruit yourself if you care? I think it is mainly the residents don’t like the image of rats on their property. Why? I have no idea the rats chew on electrical wiring insulation, but that is a self eliminating problem. We’d probably adopt a cat or two if there were more squirrels.Here is my cut and pasting for roof rat control that freaked the populace of Phoenix so much they destroy their citrus crops annually to control them. Places without natural predators present a more difficult situation, I’m sure. Our various raptors apparently keep their numbers in check. Let me hasten to add, though, that we don’t have much of a squirrel population here. The varmints don’t need to steal fruit from people to survive. Neighbors who care about their gardens do what we do neighbors who don’t, don’t. I don’t think that we’re exporting our problem onto our neighbors the presence of people is the real problem. There are plenty of other places for them to go around here, both settled and wild. This has effectively solved the problem for us, without anyone having to kill the varmints. Ten years later: no varmints whatsoever molest our trees, if you don’t count the gophers. When we started an orchard and ornamental garden, we put up a six-foot perimeter fence to give our two rescue dogs (who have a dog door) free access to the whole place. We live in an area next to a national park, and we have a large and varied population of varmints here - deer, raccoons, opossums, foxes, coyotes, badgers, etc. I have to say that my experience differs on this. If you can do the dog/cat thing, great! That is not a solution to the problem, unless they kill the varmint.
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