Orange Tree Full Of Roof Rats

In florida they breed year round with peak breeding activity in spring and fall.

Orange tree full of roof rats.

Each year rats destroy approximately 20 of. If there is shelter available in your yard or near your roof then rats may climb trees to get at the nuts and fruit from the tree. The litter of 5 to 8 pups are born after a gestation period of 21 to 23 days. The adult roof rat is about 7 10 inches long and weighs about 5 9 ounces.

Roof rats are most active between dawn and dusk which is most likely when they will be heard if you have an infestation. Roof rats rattus rattus are the most common rat pests of orange trees. Roof rats have soft and smooth fur that is typically brown with intermixed spots of black. A female roof rat can have 4 or 5 litters per year.

Their undersides are often white gray or black. If you pull the tail back over the body it will reach over its head. At the same time they also love cabinets stacks of boxes or piles of wood surrounded by dense shrubs. The fur of roof rat is smooth while the fur of the norway rat is rough and shaggy.

Rat guards will get rid of rats in trees. Rats found in trees are often known as roof rats as they may jump from a roof into the tree. Control of roof rats is not an easy task. Roof rats weight in at approximately 5 to 10 oz.

Rats carry more than 40 harmful human diseases and rat borne diseases are thought to have taken more human lives in the last 10 centuries than all the casualties of all the wars and revolutions combined. You can make them yourself or purchase rat guards at a home and garden store. The university of florida ifas extension office suggests using a piece of sheet metal 18 to 24 inches wide and as long as the circumference of the tree plus 2 inches attach the sheet metal to the tree without damaging the bark. Adult roof rats measure 6 8 16 20 cm when combining their head and body length.

Rats also find their way up roofs and trees when there are vines to climb up. They like sheltered and covered environs such as a dense forest with luscious greenery and numerous fruit trees. Roof rats are long and thin rodents that have large eyes and ears a pointed nose and a scaly tail. These rats also referred to as black rats are thin in appearance with pointed faces black thin tails long ears and white or gray abdomens according to the university of california ipm online.

Inspecting roof rat. Capable of squeezing into spaces smaller than half an inch these nocturnal critters love to nest in trees attics roof lines and ceilings as they prefer living more than four feet off the ground where they build leafy. Roof rats reach sexual maturity at 3 to 4 months of age. Roof rats are also capable of making nests on top of trees.