Characteristics of the Wood Rat

Wood rats are also known as pack rats or trade rats. Their names refer to their habitual collection of different materials that are used to construct their nests. There are approximately 22 different species of wood rat in Central and North America. Wood rats are extremely attracted to agriculture farms and gardens and can become a serious pest for farmers.

  1. Physical Description

    • Characterized by large round ears and reddish brown fur with a white underbelly, wood rats range in size from 8 to 20 inches in length. Their tail is slightly furry, which easily distinguishes them from city rats and is around 3 to 9 inches in length. They look much different from city rats, which have the smaller ears, a dark fur coat and hairless tail.

    Habitat

    • The wood rat is found in North America and Central America and is capable of surviving in a variety of inhospitable environments, such as jungles, high altitude mountains and deserts. They prefer to nest in areas with access to dead plant debris, which they used to construct their nests. In deserts they make their nests around cacti and in forests or jungles they build them in or around trees. Their nests are usually made above ground and are easily visible.

    Diet

    • As a scavenger, their feeding habits depend on what they can find around their nest. Wood rats spend a good part of their day foraging for food scraps around their nest and storing it to consume later. They are not picky about what they eat and will feed on spiny cacti, bark, berries, seeds, green vegetation and any nuts they can find. Their diverse diet makes them well suited to many of the inhospitable environments they inhabit.

    Reproduction

    • Similar to other species of rats, the wood rat is particularly well adept at procreation and is capable of delivering up to five litters of young per year. Wood rats typically have three to four infants in each litter. The infant wood rats open their eyes twelve days after birth. Many wood rats are sexually mature after 60 days and are polygamous, mating with different partners through the mating season.