There are two basic types of rats – the black or roof rat and the
Norway or brown rat. European settlers probably brought the black rat
with them as stowaways, while the Norway arrived around 1775 starting
their own revolution by killing off their cousin, the black rat. Today,
the Norway rat has taken up residency almost continent-wide, while the
black rat has chosen the coastal areas of the southern, southeastern
and western United States. In comparison, the Norway rat is slightly
larger in appearance.
Wherever food and shelter are plentiful, that’s where you’ll find
Norway rats. Parks and recreational areas, older industrial areas, rail
yards and back alleys are a real breeding ground for both species.
Sewers, abandoned warehouses and garbage refuges are also places that
rats frequent due to the abundance of food. The Norway rat typically
likes to live in burrows underground or inside walls, whereas the black
rat loves to climb and can be found in upper levels of buildings more
often than Norway rats. Black rats use nests and make their home in
trees or vines.
Rats can reproduce young four to six times a year having litters of
four to ten. Once they have reached the age of three to six months,
they have the ability of reproducing. One female can wean about twenty
young a year. Life expectancy for a rat is about nine months.
Black and Norway rats will consume many different types of plant and
animal foods such as seed that has been spilled from bird feeders or
pet food that has been left outdoors. One ounce of food is all that is
needed in one day for a rat to survive with some access to water.
Norway rats will eat insects, meat refuse, bird eggs, and, given the
opportunity, will devour small mammals and mice.
Rat Problems:
Food contamination by their urine and feces is one of the major
problems humans face with rats. Rats contaminate huge percentages of
agricultural produce each year and have been known to contaminate food
stuffs such as popcorn.
Rats are enormous carriers of many different diseases, and it has been
reported that rats bite more than fifteen thousand people per year
involving very young, old or incapacitated. Some of the diseases caused
by rats are bubonic plague, salmonella, leptospirosis, hantavirus and
tularemia.
Aww Rats!