Several Rat Types

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By: Steve Pollard
Submitted February 4th 2010 & consists of 371 words.
Located in our collection of business articles.

Rats are the most dominant species of rodents on earth, belonging to the Rattus genus of the family Muridae. There are several species of rats in the world. Most rodents feed upon plants, but some feed upon animals as well. In general, there are 2 basic rat types. They are black or roof rats & Norway or brown rats. Both are believed to have originated in Asia and are now widely spread all over the planet.

Ship Rats

Roof rats (known as Rattus Rattus) are also called black rats and ship rats. They are normally black, have a slender built, 16-21 cm long & weigh about 80-300 gram. Their nose and muzzle are pointed, and their tail is longer than the head & body. They are called roof rats because they are climbers. Their paws are built to climb & make nestles in higher parts of dwellings, attics, rafters and crossbeams of buildings.

Norway Rat

The Norway rat is sometimes known as the house rat, brown rat, gray rat, barn rat or wharf rat. It is the larger of the two mentioned here, and one of the best-known species. Their scientific name is Rattus norvegicus. They are mostly grayish-brown, with a lighter colored stomach. A fully-grown brown rat is 18 to 26 cm long & weighs between 400 & 600 gm. They have a tail shorter than its body & their nose and muzzle are blunt. They prefer moist conditions & nest in deep burrows.

These rats breed when they are three to four months of age. They breed up to 13 times a year & produce 1 to 22 in each litter. Brown rats & black rats eat about the same things. Their diet usually consists of vegetables, fruits, cereals, meats, seeds, nuts, grains and invertebrates. They eat about a third of their weight in food every 24 hours.

They damage structures, contaminate food & carry deadly diseases. Some of the diseases potentially fatal to man that spread through rats are Weil’s disease, plague, salmonella food poisoning and toxoplasmosis.

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Keywords: ant, bed bug, Business, cockroach, home improvement, mosquito, pest control, pests, rat, termite

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