Norway Rat / Brown Rat
More Details
Rats have evolved over years into an intelligent and most adaptable animals having great agility, acrobatic and swimming skills. They are prolific breeders and can rapidly multiply provided they have favourable feeding and nesting conditions.
Rats can enter your premise through open drain pipes, rough surface of walls and even trees near the buildings. There incisors can gnaw through wood, plastic, insulations on electric cables etc.
They are carriers of diseases and are known to introduce other pests, such as lice and fleas, causing additional damage.
Brown rats live in large, hierarchical groups, either in burrows or subsurface places, such as sewers and cellars. The Brown rat is also known by many names like common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat and Norway rat.
Its head and body is about 28 cm long and its tail is slightly smaller in length compared to the body. It weighs between 150 to 750gms. The brown rat is nocturnal and is a good swimmer, both on the surface and underwater. Brown rats dig well, and make extensive burrow systems. The brown rat is a true omnivore and will consume almost anything, but cereals form a substantial part of its diet.
They carry a number of pathogens which can result in disease, including rat bite fever, Weil’s disease, viral hemorrhagic fever, Q fever and many others.
Life Cycle:
- The brown rat can breed throughout the year if conditions are suitable, with a female having a gestation period of 21 days and producing up to five litters(Each litter can have upto 7- 14 young ones) a year.
- The young reach sexual maturity in about five weeks which means under favourable conditions the population can grow from 2 to 15,000 in a year. They have a life span of around three years.