Cats are natural predators of rats but so are snakes and dogs.
Roof rat predators.
Mice and roof rats will try to gain access to your home for several reasons.
Their undersides are often white gray or black.
All rats can show aggression when they feel threatened.
Adult roof rats measure 6 8 16 20 cm when combining their head and body length.
They may bite or chase you.
Dogs usually kill rats by shaking them and breaking their neck.
They belong to the same family mustelid as wolverines otters and badgers and they are in the same genus mustela as ferrets and mink.
Are roof rats dangerous.
Roof rats have many natural predators including.
While other rat species dig burrows roof rats live high above the ground in the yard residents may spot roof rat nests in trees firewood piles shrubs and vines.
These predators have little effect on the control of the black rat population because black rats are agile and fast climbers.
Cats are usually the best option because they re agile and can reach places that dogs and other natural predators may have a hard time getting to.
They can kill the rats in your walls attics cellars or garages.
Rodents construct their nests in sheltered places away from predators.
Whether escaping the frigid cold predators or the extreme heat once you have them inside your house it is important to identify this issue before it is too late.
At the rate that these rats reproduce you may be fooling yourself that the family pet has caught them all and in doing so prolong the problem.
A bite from a roof rat can transmit disease to you including rat bite fever which is spread to humans through a bite or scratch.
They have muscular front legs that make them efficient diggers and they have strong jaws that enable them to seize prey.
Besides causing damage to the home they can spread germs and disease.
Weasels are also natural rat predators.
Keeping roof rats out is therefore a difficult task.
Contrary to popular belief cats and dogs do not maintain control of rats.
Roof rats have soft and smooth fur that is typically brown with intermixed spots of black.
Where do roof rats nest.
In addition to agility the black rat also uses its keen sense of hearing to detect danger and quickly evade mammalian and avian predators.
In less urban settings rats are preyed on by weasels foxes and coyotes.
True to their name roof rats prefer to build their colonies in attics and roofs where they are less likely to be disturbed by people and potential predators such as feral neighborhood cats or barn owls.
