Countless cities in the USA have not-so-kind guests, Florida is not an exception. To be exact, the guests are rats. Rats can influence both psychological and physical side of the family. The disease that they carry is far more hazardous than you thought.
Talking about Rats in Florida, there live three types of rats. If your house has this pest, then, try to collect enough information. It is really valuable to exterminate them effectively. But, if you feel that the rats are way too many, it is much wiser to call professionals immediately.
Identification of Different Types Rats in Florida
Ok, we’re going back to our topic. To help you, we have listed three types of rats in Florida. Furthermore, we share types and method to recognize them.
The Roof Rat
Roof Rat is the most rats you can find in south Florida. They have different names like Fruit Rats, Palm Rats, Citrus Rats, and Black Rats. However, they are mainly well-known and most popular as Palm Rats in Florida. These rats are mostly vegetarian. Well, if they are starving, they will eat anything. The females are rapidly growing at a ridiculous speed. Hence, you have to wipe them out as soon as you find them
Their length is around 32 to 46 cm; they are black or dark brown. Long tails, big ears, and eyes are the next physical sign. If you touch them, they have smooth fur. For the poops, they are around 12 and 13 mm long. They have pointed ends which make them different from Norway rat poops. They love to live on the roof or attic.
The Norway Rat
Largely, you will find these rats outside. Nevertheless, they will go into your house to get food. The rats are omnivores. We classify them as burrowing rats. What does it mean? You will likely find them in the basement. They will show up mainly at night. Their age is up to 2 years. The females are able to reproduce faster than Roof Rat.
You can see that their lengths are up to 9 inches. They have grey or brown fur. It is quite easy to differentiate them from Roof Rat. They have shorter tails than their bodies. Their poops are close to the capsule and larger than Roof Rats.
The Wood Rat
From the two previous types, this is the rare ones. You can find them in north Florida. The most troubling is: they eat food, leave poops and steal small stuff. It is the reason people call them “Pack Rats.”
These rats grow up to 21 cm in length and have the same size as Norway Rats. However, you can distinguish from Norway Rats easily. They are like hamsters and have various colors: black, grey to dark brown.
Extermination
After we know the rat types, we are heading to the next stage: extermination. You have valid arguments in doing this. Some of them are: they damage things and more importantly, they are dangerous for your family’s health. Big Rats in Florida can spread bacteria and viruses. Basically, there are four staged ways to do extermination.
Inspection
Before you do the third and fourth step, you need to check the signs of rats. When you have completed, you will get ideas where you should put the bait and trap. Moreover, you will understand what poison you should buy if you know the exact types. You may observe their poops, traces; biting marks, burrows, urine, live or dead rats and sounds. When you find their concentration point, you can focus on how and where you should prevent them.
Sanitation
The next one is sanitation. It is an essential measure to avoid any pest matters. Surely, they have entrance to access your supply of food and water. You can try some sanitation measures below to diminish them:
Keep your food in strong containers like metal containers, complete with tight lids. You have to exclude plastic bags and vulnerable boxes from your list. Believe us; they can easily tear them apart. If you have dog food or similar food, keep them in a Rubbermaid container.
Mice need the stuff to build their nest. Hence, eliminate clutters like paper, cartoon, cardboard and unwanted vegetation like weeds.
Exclusion
The rats can go into your house through a hole which has a ½ inch diameter. They may also come in through broken doors, screen, windows, and ventilation. For exclusion, you can take these steps:
- Find any holes bigger than ¼ inch and seal them tightly.
- Check your drains and pipes. Their opening should be smaller than 1/4 inch.
- Check your windows, doors, and screens. They should fit strongly in their frames. Repair the broken ones and for a better option, you can cover the screen with a metal layer.
Reducing Population
The previous steps are preventive methods to diminish rats’ growth in the future. Another step to do is reducing population through extermination. The extermination methods are trapping and baiting. These two classic methods have different characters and advantages. Let’s take a look.
Trapping
For indoor, trapping is the better choice. You will have some benefits using this method. First, you are free from poison. Then, you will know the exact rats’ condition. The last, you will be free from bad odor. You can throw or bury the dead rats. However, you can check our expert recommended rat traps here to get the best one.
Baiting
You should opt for this method when you face a large rat population in the outdoor area. It uses toxic substance or rodenticides to invite rats and exterminate rats to kill rodents. The rats will smell the bait and back to eat it continuously until they die. Please make sure that you put a fresh bait until they stop consuming it. Check our expert recommended rat poison and bait station.
Final Words
You can utilize the above tips to identify the types of Rats in Florida (in your home, garden or garage). You may also try the aforementioned methods to overcome rat matters by yourself. For the best solution, we recommend you to call the nearest professional pest control service. Especially if you are in doubt about handling them personally, or even worse, you’ve got rats infestation. Good luck!
