Brown Rats

-


                                                          
 
                                                                                       ( Photo Credit AnemoneProjectors)

Introduction

Since we are only a few days away from Halloween, this week I wanted to write about an animal that creeps most people out, the brown rat.

Brown Rats in my Back Yard

In the mid-2000s I had a small chicken coop. Since owning chickens was something new to me, I made the mistake of keeping the chicken feed in an opened container. A few months after I got the chickens, I started noticing small holes appearing in the chicken coop yard. Soon, I discovered a mischief of rats had made its home underneath the chicken coop. The situation got worse because soon the rats made their way from the chicken coop to my garage. I remember as a kid turning on the garage light and seeing five to seven large rats roaming around the garage. The situation was handled in a few days using rat traps baited with chicken feed, and poisoning the holes they created beneath the chicken coop. After the mischief of rats were exterminated, the chicken and bird feed were placed in plastic sealed containers. The rats have not returned since.
           A more positive experience that happened with a brown rat occurred a few months after the rat invasion. Most mornings during breakfast I would watch the birds eat from the feeder. One day I started noticing a single rat eating some of the bird seeds that fell from the bird feeder. I watched this rat repeat this activity for a few days, and soon learned he was living under an old Christmas tree we had thrown into the forest. Soon my brothers and I named him Scampi, the Christmas rat, and he became sort of an outdoor pet. I would often leave small pieces of food out for Scampi, and watched him eat it from the window. Scampi lived under the Christmas tree for a few years until one day we stopped seeing him. I don’t really know what happened to him. I just pretend he moved away, and is still around to this day.  
                                                                                           Matt Bell 2017. Not Scampi                                                      

Brown Rat Facts

The brown rat is also known as the sewer, street, Norwegian, and common rat. A group of rats is known as a mischief, and baby rats are known as pups. Brown rats are nocturnal animals and good swimmers.
          The brown rat is actually an invasive species that came to the United States in the 1700s when they stowed away on European ships. Actually, the brown rat is an invasive species to Europe as well. The crafty rats made their way to Europe by “you guessed it” hiding on board ships from Asia Minor. The Brown rats is originally from Asia Minor. Today the brown rat is found on every continent expect Antarctica. In Pennsylvania rats are prey species to foxes, bobcats, mink, hawks, owls, and snakes.
                                                      

Weight, Length, and Lifespans

Brown rats can grow up to 20 inches long. Half this length belongs to the tail. Male rats normally weigh 12 oz while females are smaller weighing 9 oz. Normally, a brown rat has dark grey or brown fur, while the rat’s stomach fur is brown or light grey. In the wild the average lifespan of a brown rat is two years. 

 Environment

Brown rats can be found living in almost any type of environment. They can be found living in rural farm areas, busy cities, sewers, near water sources, or in forests. Brown rats create burrows for safety and shelter.
        When brown rats start a new burrow, they normally create it next to a structure. “An example of this would be my chicken coop.” The structure is used as a roof for portions of the burrow that are nearest the surface. Normally these rat burrows have multiple entrances and tunnel levels.

 Reproduction

A normal brown rat litter is around 7 pups, although some litters can be as large as 14 pups. The female brown rats gestation period is 21 days. Females can become pregnant right after giving birth. Females can also care for a litter of pups while pregnant with another litter. Rat pups normally reach maturity in 5 weeks.   

 Diet

Brown rats will eat almost anything including: plants, fruits, grain, and seeds. The brown rat will also eat insects, birds, and even small animals like baby rabbits and mice. Some rats have even been observed climbing bird feeder pole to get to the seeds. "Scampi the rat never conducted such activities."

 Diseases Brown Rats Can Carry

As history shows rats are responsible for many different disease. The rat-borne disease people are most familiar with is the bubonic plague, which killed millions of people in the Middle Ages. Actually, the plague was transmitted to humans by the fleas carried by the rats. So, in fairness rats were not completely responsible for the plague. The fleas should not get a free pass.
Today, rats still carry many diseases which can be spread to humans in many different ways. The urine and feces from rats can spread diseases like Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, leptospirosis, and salmonellosis. Rat-bite fever can be spread from a rat biting or scratching a person. These are examples of diseases that are transmitted directly from a rat. Rat transmitted diseases fall into two categories direct and indirect transmission.
Rats are also a source of allergens. Hair, dander, and feces from a rat can cause allergic reactions in people.
   
                                       









  Brown Rats Super Powers

Rats can chew through almost any type of material, and yes this includes materials most houses are made out of. Rats have been known to chew through wood, bricks, plastic, lead, cement, and aluminum. “The rats got into my home by chewing through the wood on the side of the garage door.”
In addition to being able to chew through nearly anything browns rats can also: 
  • Fall from around five stories without getting injured.
  •  Over generations build up immunity to poisons.
  •  Rats can trend water for three days and even survive being flushed down the toilet. It is also possible the rat can climb back into the toilet bowl. 
  •    Rats do not have collapsible skeletons, but their long and flexible bodies allow them to fit through small holes and tight spaces. 

Brown Rats as Pets

Believe it or not domesticated brown rats actually make very good pets. I had the privilege of interning at a local theater that used live animals in their plays. One of the animals I got to work with was the rats. The rats were very intelligent and loved to cuddle. They were also one of the cleanest animals in the building. The rats would always use the bathroom in the same spot which made cleaning their enclosure a very easy task. 

 Conclusion

Throughout history brown rats have earned themselves a bad reputation, some of these reputations have been earned. Despite being a pest to most people rats are a key food source to many different types of carnivores. Love them or hate them the brown rat serves a purpose in the world, and is an interesting animal to study. Join me next time as we explore wildlife in my backyard and other nature topics.

Additional Resources and Reference Websites

CDC. (n.d.). Diseases directly transmitted by rodents. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/direct.html
D, M. (2017). Top 10 Fascinating Facts About Rats. Retrieved from https://listverse.com/2012/04/09/top-10-fascinating-facts-about-rats/
Pennsylvania Game Commission. (2017). Wildlife in Pennsylvania. Retrieved from

http://www.pgc.pa.gov/WILDLIFE/WILDLIFESPECIES/Pages/default.aspx

Photo References and Credit

By AnemoneProjectors (talk) - Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus)Uploaded by Snowmanradio, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15187853
By MartinHvidberg at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5156789

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April Fools Post Cookie Monster’s Path of Destruction.

-
Image
  Introduction This week’s post is an April fools post. The subject matter has no relevance to nature or animals. This week I am going to write about a question that has haunted me for years and years. The question is how much damage did Cookie Monster do in the episode Big Bird’s Birthday? Like most children when I was a child I watched Sesame Street. The episode Big Bird’s Birthday aired on March 15, 1991 and became a favorite of mine as a child. The main reason I enjoyed it was because Cookie Monster wants to eat Big Birds cake, while mostly everyone else on Sesame street is ice skating. However, he knows he cannot eat Big Birds cake, so he eats many other items on Sesame Street instead. So, today I am finally going to answer the question that has bothered me for years, how much damage did Cookie Monster do?                                             ...
Read more

Corn Snake

-
Image
Introduction This week I wanted to write about one of my favorite animals to work with at the nature center the corn snake.                                                                                                  Houdini  Photo Credit Matt Bell Corn Snakes in my Backyard Unfortunately, I have had very little sighting of corn snakes in my backyard. The reason for this is they are not native to PA. However, I did have one sighting in the early 2000s! Sometimes on warm spring and summer nights I will take a night walk around the creek in my front yard, just to see what I can find. One night I saw a small corn snake at the edge of the small forest in my front yard. The snake retreated...
Read more

Wildlife in My Backyard Introductory Blog

-
Image
                                                     Introduction. Hello my name is Matthew Bell. Welcome to my blog! I write about the different plant and animal life I have encountered around my home and during my travels. I will also write about different topics which includes: pets, ecosystems, creation science, and strange natural phenomenon. I currently hold a B.S. in Environmental Science, and have focused studied in Biology. Why I Started This Blog? I decided to start this blog because I love writing, and learning about the different animal and plant life in our world. So, I thought it would be fun to start documenting the animal and plant life that lives around my home. I hoped this will increase my knowledge of the wildlife in my area, and anyone who reads this blog. My Life Story. I was born in Fort Wayne Indiana on N...
Read more