Roof rats hunt for food and shelter above ground.
Roof rat vs norway rat droppings.
They climb across utility lines and branches to access roofs and enter houses grocery stores and restaurants.
Tail shorter than.
Once inside they nest in attics drop ceilings and wall voids.
This is different than roof rats that nest in higher elevations such as your eves roofline or ridge vents.
Norway rats tend to look more well fed and rounder than roof rats with small eyes close set ears and a shorter tail.
The most common home invading rodents norway rats and roof rats can be identified in several ways.
About seven to ten inches long.
While roof rats excel scaling your roof norway rats are powerful swimmers.
Roof rats live in trees or vine covered fences landscaped residential and industrial areas parks with ponds or reservoirs riverbanks and streams.
Because norway rats tend to be larger their droppings are also larger about 3 4 inch long whereas roof rat droppings are usually about half an inch.
More widely distributed than roof rats norway rats burrow into the ground along streams and rivers under buildings and in garbage dumps.
Also their dropping are roughly 3 4 long with blunt ends compared to the droppings of roof rats which are roughly 1 2 long with pointed ends.
Facts about rats roof rat or black rat.
People refer to rats by many names brown rat vs.
Distinguishing norway rats from roof rats.
Given that a norway rat can expel over fifty droppings in a single day they are not going to be too difficult to spot.
Additionally the roof rat typically has a much longer tail.
Apart from the smaller sizes roof rat droppings differ from those of norway rats in that the ends are pointed rather than being blunt.
Black rat for example without realizing that many describe the same two species.
Adult roof rats measure about eight inches in length while norway rats can be up to ten inches long.