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Florida Gardening

Rats in the garden ID?

3 months ago

Morning all :) Who can ID these rats in my garden? Or maybe you can advice me where to go for that? My hubby wants me to kill them saying these are roof rats but I am not sure. If they are FL native rats I would leave them alone. They live in the thicket of plants in my garden and come to bird feeder. They are very shy so these pictures are from trail camera and they are not of very good quality, sorry.

Thanks!

Featured Answer

carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b

3 months ago

last modified: 3 months ago

I know of no native rats here in FL.

Asian roof rats are the most common pests here. They destroy lots of fruits in my garden, and when they get inside they're nasty - pooing, peeing everywhere and chewing up everything.

Here's some info re: rodent control from the Univ. of FL:

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/DH044

And my city provides rodent control services to residents. You might want to check if that's available in your area.

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Comments (6)

sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
3 months ago
They are probably roof rats. They can get huge! I hear there are also Nutria in S FL. They are also huge but may not be as big of a problem as roof rats which cause a lot of damage and as carolb said, they are just nasty! We have the roof rats in N FL too.
Maria P. thanked sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
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linda_leaf _z10a_southwest_fl
3 months ago
My only solution to the rat problem is to get rid of what is attracting them. You are leaving bird seed out and the rats eat it. If you have fruit trees they will be attracted to the ripening fruit or fruit that falls on the ground. Thin out your plants and they will have nowhere to hide from predators. "Been there done that" Good Luck
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
3 months ago
last modified: 3 months ago
I had roof rats in my barn tackroom and barn itself when we moved here. They were zillions of them and they were horrible! The place had been empty for a yr or so. The rats ate a huge tube of Selenium gel and other medicines that are meant for farm animals, as well as a big case wax tea light candles the previous owner left in there lol! I imagine they will eat anything.

I had to fix a hole they chewed through in the floor and deep clean everything! Then, I brought in the barn cats. Now the rats are totally gone!
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
3 months ago
last modified: 3 months ago
FWIW, they don't necessarily *eat* everything - they're rodents and need to constantly gnaw to maintain their teeth, so they often just chew up stuff for the heck of it.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
3 months ago
well since it was all gone, not just chewed up, I assume they ate it 😅

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