Roof Rat Citrus Damage Pictures

Their bodies are seven or eight inches in length though their bald scaly tails add up to ten more inches.

Roof rat citrus damage pictures.

By teri carnicelli the overabundance of citrus this winter and spring may seem like a happy circumstance for those who enjoy spending hours squeezing oranges and grapefruits or making tasty desserts with lemons and limes. Ecology of roof rats and native rats. As climbers roof rats are more likely to cause structural damage in homes as they chew on wood and wires. Adult roof rats measure 6 8 16 20 cm when combining their head and body length.

Roof rats are frequent visitors to yards and homes across the country. Other identifying traits include their pointed noses hairless ears and dark fur with light colored underbellies. Roof rats have soft and smooth fur that is typically brown with intermixed spots of black. Roof rats are a health hazard being one of the oldest transmitters of diseases.

Table 1 provides a brief description of the physical similarities and differences among these rodents. Roof rats are especially fond of avocados and citrus and they often eat fruit that is still on the tree. In nut orchards roof rats often nest around the base of trees. Fruit rats or roof rats as they re commonly called thrive in warm fruit bearing areas.

Like norway rats roof rats eat a wide variety of foods but they prefer fruits nuts berries slugs and snails. These rodents prefer to consume fruits sometimes referred to as the fruit rat or citrus rat and nuts although roof rats are omnivorous and will feed on almost anything available to them. From rat bites and scratches to saliva and urine rats can cause many diseases. In livestock feed yards and barns roof rats often burrow.

Roof rats get ferocious and tend to bite or scratch when threatened or cornered. Roof rats are long and thin rodents that have large eyes and ears a pointed nose and a scaly tail. According to the university of california statewide integrated pest management program roof rats are especially fond of avocados and citrus and often eat fruit that is still on the tree. The roof rat sometimes called the black rat is a common vertebrate pest in citrus and nut orchards in citrus it builds leaf and twig nests in trees or it can nest in debris piles thick mulch on the ground or in shallow burrows under the tree especially in hot weather.

The roof rat can appear similar to the norway rat native arizona pack rat neotoma. These bites or scratches can cause what is known as rat bite fever or even tetanus. Their undersides are often white gray or black. Spp or cotton rat sigmodon arizonae.