News from across the country about the constant migration of wildlife and the introduction and proliferation of non-native species into the Florida ecosystem.

What Size Opening can a Rat Get through?

 Most Commonly Asked Questions about Rats

#1 What size opening can a rat get through?

A quarter is just under an inch in diameter (0.96 inches). Not all rats can fit through a hole the size of a quarter. Large rats and overweight rats are too big. But some rats are small enough to fit through — especially juvenile rats.

#2 Can a rat climb up a wall?

The house mouse and the brown rat are common rodent pests. … Rats are efficient burrowers and can burrow for several meters horizontally. Both rats and mice are good climbers and can climb vertical walls if the surface is rough enough, and “shimmy” up between walls and drain pipes.

Rat Trapping and Removal North Sarasota
Rat in a plastic tube

#3 How Does a Rat Get in the House?

Rats can squeeze into amazingly small areas. Evenrats that look very big can almost slide in like jelly into the tightest of gaps and holes – it’s amazing to watch. … How Big Do Rats Get? They can inhabit very small nooks and crannies inside a house, from walls to ceilings, crawl spaces and attics.

#4 What are Signs of a Rat in your House?

  • Rat Droppings. Tend to be found concentrated in specific locations as rats produce up to 40 droppings per night. …
  • Rub Marks. Rats use established routes along skirting boards and walls due to their poor eyesight. …
  • Scratching Noises. …
  • Rat Holes. …
  • Rat Nests. …
  • Footprints.

#5 Do Rats Attack You?

FACT: Some rats, if provoked and cornered, will fight their way out of the confrontation, as will many wild animals. But most rats do not outwardly attackhumans. Young babies, bed-confined elders, and the homeless sleeping in doorways and alleys, however, are occasionally bitten by unprovoked rats.

#6 Do Rats have a Collapsible Skeleton?

No. These are myths.

Rats have a skeleton made of bones connected with joints and cartilage, just like we do.

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Most Commonly Asked Questions about Rats

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Rat Lungworm Confirmed in Maui [News Blog] Lakewood Ranch Rat Removal

The Hawaii Department of Health has been conducting detailed investigations of two additional cases of angiostrongyliasis, or rat lungworm disease, contracted in the state.

The two cases are unrelated and were confirmed by laboratory tests conducted by the DOH State Laboratories Division in March. This brings the statewide total of confirmed cases of the disease to three individuals to date in 2018.

Rat Removal Lakewood Ranch Sarasota
Rat eating

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Snakes Alive! 31 pound Burmese python devours 35 pound white-tailed deer fawn in Florida. – News Blog

NAPLES, Fla. — Patrick Riley, Naples, FL Daily636555228362449747-1---Burmese-python-captured-in-Southwest-Florida-with-large-prey-item-.JPG

For Burmese pythons — one of South Florida’s most notorious invasive species — few meals are too big. But new research by scientists suggests the snake might be snacking above its weight class.

While tracking pythons in Collier Seminole State Park in Collier County, a group of wildlife biologists from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and land managers from the state park stumbled upon an unsettling discovery: An 11-foot Burmese python that had devoured a white-tailed deer fawn weighing more than the snake.

The 2015 finding, which has since been peer-reviewed and is set to be published in the Herpetological Review this month, is believed to be the largest python-to-prey ratio documented to date, with the snake weighing 31.5 pounds and the deer 35 pounds, said Ian Bartoszek, wildlife biologist and science coordinator for the Conservancy.

“It almost did not compute,” he said during an announcement of the findings in the Conservancy’s snake laboratory Thursday.

More: Man crosses paths with two pythons on way to pick up takeout

More: Python hunt fuels fashion for Fla. business

“We were sitting there just trying to process that an animal this size could get its head around what turned out to be a deer. It’s surreal to see that in the field.”

When the researchers moved the snake out of the wild into an open area that day, the stressed python began to regurgitate the deer, Bartoszek said.

But had the snake’s meal been uninterrupted, the python would have eventually fully digested the fawn, which was less than 6 months old, he said. The python was later humanely euthanized.

Burmese pythons, which came to South Florida via the pet trade beginning in the late 1970s and were eventually accidentally or intentionally released into the wild, have had the delicate local ecosystem in a chokehold for years.

But the Conservancy’s recent discovery could spell more bad news for Florida’s already endangered panther population, Bartoszek said.

“White-tailed deer are the primary prey for our state and federally protected Florida panther,” he said. “That’s panther food.”

TO READ OUR POST ON THE 4 NON – NATIVE VENOMOUS SNAKES THAT LIVE IN  FLORIDA CLICK HERE 

snake-removal-siesta-key-FL
Rainbow Boa Constrictor

With Burmese pythons capable of reaching near 20 feet in length, finding a relatively small specimen successfully devouring a fawn heavier than the snake was “jaw-dropping,” Bartoszek said.

“It showed my team and myself what we were actually dealing with out tFrom left, Kathy Worley, director of science, Ian Easterling,here, what this python is capable of,” he said.

To be sure, Bartoszek said, the pythons, which are apex predators, have been known to swallow large animals, including alligators. What stunned the scientists was the predator-to-prey ratio, he said.

“We know that they’ll take adult deer now and then,” Bartoszek said. “If they’re tapping into young deer, then that just makes me a little bit worried that there will be additional impacts that we haven’t even considered yet.”

 

 

During a news conference on Thursday, March 1, 2018,

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials don’t keep records of python predator-to-prey ratios, said Carli Segelson, a spokeswoman for the agency’s division of habitat and species conservation.

“Pythons pose a concern for all native wildlife in Florida,” she wrote in an email. “Although infrequent, pythons are known to occasionally take a fawn or small deer, and this has been well documented previously. However, pythons are not believed to be a significant predator of deer.”

 The Conservancy’s python program, which launched about five years ago and is funded by private donors and the Naples Zoo, has researchers radio-tag pythons and then follow them to other snakes during breeding season to remove them from the wild.

As of last month, the Conservancy’s team has removed hundreds of adult Burmese pythons with a combined weight of more than 10,000 pounds in Southwest Florida.

Parallel to the Conservancy’s efforts, the South Florida Water Management District launched a python elimination program last year, sending python hunters into district-owned lands in Miami-Dade, Broward and Collier counties to track down the snakes and remove them.

 

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Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/opinion/ci_31652011/snakes-plane-emotional-support#ixzz56YvYuSUv

WORRIED ABOUT SNAKES? Call 1-866-263 WILD!

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 Nuisance Wildlife Removal, Inc. is very well known in the community as the GO-TO expert with the highest experience level in solving difficult insect and pest infestations efficiently and easily. We employ advanced technology such as thermographic cameras and Go-pro technology. This reduces the amount of damage to your structure and this will reduce the overall cost of your project.  

Nuisance Wildlife Removal Inc
1329 10th Street East Palmetto, Florida 34221
(941) 729-2103

 

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