Roof Rat Citrus Damage Pictures

Roof rats are especially fond of avocados and citrus and they often eat fruit that is still on the tree.

Roof rat citrus damage pictures.

Roof rats are a health hazard being one of the oldest transmitters of diseases. From rat bites and scratches to saliva and urine rats can cause many diseases. This rat is the same species that carried the bubonic plague around the world and is also the reservoir host for murine typhus. Install rat guard around the trunks of the citrus trees.

Roof rats are frequent visitors to yards and homes across the country. In nut orchards roof rats often nest around the base of trees. Such pests including the citrus rat cause significant damage to crops and can spread disease such as the bubonic plague. The damage to citrus crops by these rats gave rise to the common name.

The roof rat rattus rattus a k a. Adult roof rats measure 6 8 16 20 cm when combining their head and body length. Roof rats have soft and smooth fur that is typically brown with intermixed spots of black. Other identifying traits include their pointed noses hairless ears and dark fur with light colored underbellies.

Citrus rat fruit rat black rat or gray rat is an introduced species of rat native to southern asia it was brought to america on the first ships to reach the new world and has spread around the world. As climbers roof rats are more likely to cause structural damage in homes as they chew on wood and wires. Roof rats get ferocious and tend to bite or scratch when threatened or cornered. In livestock feed yards and barns roof rats often burrow.

Like norway rats roof rats eat a wide variety of foods but they prefer fruits nuts berries slugs and snails. Fruit rats or roof rats as they re commonly called thrive in warm fruit bearing areas. Roof rats are food hoarders stashing supplies of food such as seeds and nuts. 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.

These bites or scratches can cause what is known as rat bite fever or even tetanus. 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. Roof rats are long and thin rodents that have large eyes and ears a pointed nose and a scaly tail. Their bodies are seven or eight inches in length though their bald scaly tails add up to ten more inches.