Roof Rats

Characteristics, Habits, and Geography

Roof rats, alternately known as black rats, ship rats, house rats, or old English rats, are nocturnal rodents that are approximately 13 to 18 inches in length, including their tails, and weigh between 1/4 and 3/4 of a pound. They have long, scaly tails, large ears and eyes, and range from black to light brown in color. Their abdomens are usually lighter in color than the rest of their bodies. Roof rats are poor swimmers, but they make up for their lack of swimming ability with their remarkable agility and adeptness in climbing. When chased by predators, they will flee upwards if possible.

As omnivores, roof rats will eat grains, meats, fruits, vegetables, and invertebrates, and even paper. They prefer to nest above ground, and can commonly be found outdoors in hollow trees, woodpiles, plants, and garbage. They can be found indoors in attics and hollow walls, and on rafters, pipes, wires, and crossbeams. They can enter houses through openings as small as an inch in diameter.

Roof rats prefer warm habitats, and can be found in most countries with mild weather.

Damage Signs

Roof rats are known carriers of disease, and can transmit bubonic plague, typhus, trichinosis, and other pathogens. Once inside homes, they can also eat and spoil human food, create holes in walls, and gnaw through pipes and wires. They have even been known to start fires when chewing through wires. Signs of roof rat infestation include sounds of chewing and scuffling in walls, oily marks from rat footprints, cylindrical droppings approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch in long, and round one inch wide holes in fruit.

Control

Homeowners seeking to prevent roof rat infestation should mend torn screens in windows, seal small openings or holes, especially in attics, through which the rats could enter, keep tree limbs trimmed so that they are a minimum of four feet from the house, firmly seal garbage cans, and clean up lawn debris. Homeowners who find roof rats in their homes may consider trapping or poison baits to remove the rats. Homeowners who find a large number of rats in their homes may also wish to call in professional pest removal companies.

Sourced from: mypestprevention.com