Norway Rat's Biology and Diet

It is important to know about the rats' diet and biology in order to enhance or improve your mechanisms on dealing with getting rid of them. If you know what sort of food they eat, you will also know what kind of things you will have to limit your house with so as to cut off their possible food source. In the same manner, if you are generally aware of their possible behaviors, you will be able to know the way they move around the house, hence be able to install the necessary precautions or deterrents to curb their presence within your territory.

Their Diet

Contrary to what most people would believe that rats like to eat cheese, they actually have a different preference in diet. Rats' diet is mainly based on high protein and carbohydrates. They need these minerals in order to survive. Despite the fact that they are omnivorous and that they could practically eat anything, however, if they eat at a mixing pot of all sorts of food, if ever they would find crackers or peanut butter in it, they would most likely go for those rather than cheese. Peanut butter and crackers are rats' favorite food and they are the ones most ideal to be placed in trap baits. Rest assured you will know that rats will definitely go for them. Most of the time these type of baits work granted in case the traps themselves are properly installed and located.

Norway rat's Biology

Young Norway rats would actually reach their maturity at the age of 2-3 months. Females of these species could provide 4-7 litters in every year with an 8-12 pups in every litter. Adult Norway rats could only live about a year, while living in colonies. Most Norway rats like living in underground tunnels which they themselves dug out at the first place. If they are found in farms, tunnels are dug nearby potential food sources like granaries, barns, livestock buildings, and even hay silos. They would prefer living underground knowing that there is available space in there. However, most rats are known to inhabit human dwellings where food resources are readily available. Typical rats would ferret for food outside, but at night they forage food inside and then they retreat to their burrows. If ever they would need water resources, they could just simply find it in sinks, bowels, rain puddles, or from the condensation in water pipes. Usually, the nesting areas of rats are found in the burrows that go along with the walls of one's house. Eventually, the rat family inhabiting in those areas will grow and more burrows will exist creating an extensive of tunnel networks.

Normally, Norway rats are found inside underground burrows, but in cases where the population has greatly increased they would now be found in attics and in certain ceiling areas.

Usually, the nest of Norway rats is built with soft materials. Materials like papers, grass, twigs, and hay and they will be chewed into small pieces. They can climb on extremely elevated grounds if necessary and they are also very excellent swimmers. That would practically leave out the option of drowning them just to get rid of them.

Rats are very curious animals and they immediately get suspicious whenever there is a sudden shift or change in their environment or even in their food intake. This is the reason why most traps would simply take some days before they could ever get a catch or poison baits to finally get rid of some rats in your house.