Roof Rat Citrus Damage Pictures

Install rat guard around the trunks of the citrus trees.

Roof rat citrus damage pictures.

Fruit rats or roof rats as they re commonly called thrive in warm fruit bearing areas. These bites or scratches can cause what is known as rat bite fever or even tetanus. Roof rats are a health hazard being one of the oldest transmitters of diseases. 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 rattus rattus a k a. Their bodies are seven or eight inches in length though their bald scaly tails add up to ten more inches. Use a sheet metal or aluminum flashing that is at least 18 inches tall and wrap it around the base of the tree overlapping it by 2 or 3. Roof rats are frequent visitors to yards and homes across the country.

Their undersides are often white gray or black. Such pests including the citrus rat cause significant damage to crops and can spread disease such as the bubonic plague. 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. Roof rats are especially fond of avocados and citrus and they often eat fruit that is still on the tree.

Like norway rats roof rats eat a wide variety of foods but they prefer fruits nuts berries slugs and snails. From rat bites and scratches to saliva and urine rats can cause many diseases. Roof rats are long and thin rodents that have large eyes and ears a pointed nose and a scaly tail. 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 damage to citrus crops by these rats gave rise to the common name. This rat is the same species that carried the bubonic plague around the world and is also the reservoir host for murine typhus. Roof rats have soft and smooth fur that is typically brown with intermixed spots of black. In livestock feed yards and barns roof rats often burrow.

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. Roof rats are food hoarders stashing supplies of food such as seeds and nuts. Roof rats get ferocious and tend to bite or scratch when threatened or cornered. In nut orchards roof rats often nest around the base of trees.