How Many Roof Rats In A Colony

Roof rats live in colonies and even forage in small groups of ten or so.

How many roof rats in a colony. To prevent a roof rat colony from nesting in your home make sure that all the windows and vents are screened. Because the pests are nocturnal and tend to nest overhead infestations can be difficult to spot. Roof rats will nest in hard to reach places such as underground burrows crawlspaces basements and sewers. The roof rat has a long tail which is longer than the combined length of the head and body.

If you pull the tail back over the body it will reach over its head. Habitat roof rats live in colonies and prefer to nest in the upper parts of buildings. To make an ideal home roof rats need food water and a cozy nesting site so clean out wood piles rake up fallen vegetation and fruit and do not leave pet food or water outside especially overnight. They live in colonies with an alpha or dominant male.

Inspecting roof rat. The size of a colony can be on the order of 100 rats if sufficient food is present to support the population. That being said there are some ways to make an estimate about the size of a rat colony. Although roof rats prefer warm coastal climates they thrive in many regions of the u s.

The fur of roof rat is smooth while the fur of the norway rat is rough and shaggy. Roof rats only live up to one year but have the ability to produce as many as 40 new offspring during their lifetime. Trim all tree branches to further prevent entry. How to prevent a roof rat infestation.

To prevent rats from entering your home seal up any holes or cracks larger than a quarter. The roof rat is very adaptable to many environmental conditions. There are often many nests in close proximity to each other that form a social colony. Being excellent climbers they can easily access any part of the house through pipelines wires blocks of brick or concrete or even branches of tall trees.

The adult roof rat is about 7 10 inches long and weighs about 5 9 ounces. Roof rats can also enter openings in walls eaves and roof from the branches of trees. Roof rat habits life cycle facts. Both norway rats and roof rats use nests to hide and raise their young.