Roof Rat Burrow

When foraging outdoors roof rats prefer yards with fruit or nut bearing trees.

Roof rat burrow.

Check along walls and grass for runways. They can also chew through electrical wires water pipes and cause other damage to your home. Rats create underground pathways or burrows from their nest to food sources and to escape predators. The last way to kill a rat is to use the protection of the burrow against it.

Once you have identified that you have roof rats you can work to eliminate rats from your property in the following ways. Major cities like chicago have started utilizing this approach by filling the entrance of the burrow with dry ice. Burrows in the ground are a good indication of norway rats. These rats are about 16 inches in length including the tail and grayish brown in color.

Roof rats can be dangerous they carry disease. Typical rat burrow the first distinct sign of a rat hole is the size of the entrance. However in a hot dry environment roof rats burrow in shallow cavities beneath concrete slabs sidewalks or tree roots. Norway rats like to live at ground level or underground so they commonly dig holes.

Roof rats are a health hazard being one of the oldest transmitters of diseases. Check along walls and grass for runways. Pet and laboratory rats are a variety of norway rats. This sets them apart from their burrowing or nesting counterparts who are more likely to be found in basements.

These burrows are often located under bushes or other types of dense vegetation. These burrows are often located under bushes or other types of dense vegetation. Roof rats are darker in color and better climbers so they typically nest above the ground. From rat bites and scratches to saliva and urine rats can cause many diseases.

Roof rats get ferocious and tend to bite or scratch when threatened or cornered. These bites or scratches can cause what is known as rat bite fever or even tetanus. Rats create underground pathways or burrows from their nest to food sources and to escape predators. In homes they can be found in attics wall voids and other elevated areas including roofs.

Rat burrows usually contain a main entrance and 1 or 2 exit holes away from the main entrance. The norway rat digs tunnels to nest because it prefers to be on ground level. Roof rats also called black rats prefer to nest far above ground yet will dig holes in the ground when other homes aren t available. The entrance will be roughly 2 4 inches in diameter and smooth and compacted from the rodents going in and out of the burrow.

As the dry ice melts it releases large volumes of carbon dioxide which fills the burrow and suffocates the rats. If residents find a rat burrow near the home it most likely belongs to a norway rat not a roof rat.