What Are Rats Pests?

Academically speaking, rats are merely mammals commonly known as rodents that belong to the subspecies Muridae and the genus Rattus. In the animal kingdom, rats reign as the most dominant species of rodents all across the world. It is broadly considered that the two most ordinary rat types, the Norway (or brown) rats and the black rats, trace their origins back to the Asian continent. These two types of rats have now proliferated all over the world.

Ship Rats

Roof rats (known as Rattus Rattus) are also called black rats & ship rats. These rats are commonly black in color, slender, 16-21 cm long and weigh about 80-300 grams. Their nose & muzzle are pointed, and their tail is longer than the head and body. They are called roof rats because they are climbers. Their paws are built to climb and make nests in higher parts of homes, attics, rafters & crossbeams of buildings.

Brown Rat

The Norway rat is sometimes known as the house rat, brown rat, gray rat, barn rat or wharf rat. It is the larger of the two mentioned here, and one of the best-known species. Rattus norvegicus is their scientific name. They are mostly grayish-brown, with a lighter colored stomach. A fully-grown brown rat is 18 to 26 cm long and weighs between 400 and 600 gm. They have a tail shorter than its body and their nose & muzzle are blunt. They nest in deep burrows and prefer moist conditions.

At around three to four months of age, these rats start to breed. They breed up to 13 times each year and produce up to 22 in a litter. Black rats & brown rats eat about the same things. Their diet typically includes fruits, cereals, meats, seeds, nuts, grains, vegetables and invertebrates. They eat about a third of their weight in food everyday.

Rats are recognized to harbor diseases and pathogens that may put lives in danger, and rats are also recognized to create destruction to property. Some of the illnesses potentially fatal to man that spread through rats are plague, salmonella food poisoning, toxoplasmosis and Weil’s disease.

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