How To Identify Roof Rats

The shape of the upper first molar is different in both rats.

How to identify roof rats.

Two primary species of rats inhabit north american homes. The roof rat and the norway rat. Quick roof rat facts. But when you start looking for a few.

Regardless of the name they have smooth black or brown fur and are about 40 centimetres long and have earned some notoriety as carriers of serious diseases. If you see rats near water it s probably not a roof rat as they are poor swimmers. Roof rats can grow to be 16 inches in length including their tail. Gnawing or scratching noises in the attic or walls gnaw marks around the home s roof or eaves spotting them running on tree limbs power lines roofs patios and in fruit trees hollowed out fruit if you have fruit trees gnawing damage to electrical.

Four ways to identify roof rats 1. You may have already noticed evidence of the rats chewing away on wood or wiring in your attic or. They do however have extremely strong senses of hearing smell touch and taste. Because they prefer to be high in the air these rodents may climb on power lines or tree branches to get on the roof.

The key ways to differentiate between the roof rat and the norway rat are. They have smooth fur with hairless scaly tails that are longer than their heads and bodies. The roof rat looks like the norway rat. But what they lack in swimming prowess they make up in their climbing abilities.

Norway rats sometimes called brown or sewer rats are identifiable by their stocky gray brown bodies. Their tails are shorter than their body length and their ears and eyes are small relative to their body. How did i get roof rats. Other signs of a roof rat infestation include.

Roof rats are dark brown or black in color with a contrasting lighter underbelly or black underbelly. The black rat has a slender body compared to the norway rat. They have large ears a tail that is longer than their body and a pointed nose. These rodents have long tails large ears and eyes and pointed noses.

Roof rats can be black or brown. At first you might think all rats look the same. Roof rats can fit through holes as small as one half inch in diameter. Ranging from six to eight inches in length not including their tails roof rats are colorblind and have very poor vision.