[Boomer]

Are they palm rats?

When we bought our Gardenia in the LSL section, there were two.huge queen palms in the small back yard. Queen palms were a thing in TV. Inexpensive. Grow fast. Look oh soooo Florida.

BUT! Queen palms do not belong here. As they get big, so do their seed pods which have to be removed so they do not fall. Those seed pods can be very heavy.

AND! Big, tall queen palms are condos for palm rats.

The ones in our yard had been in for 5 or 6 years when we bought the house. They were big and the palm fronds were touching our roof, which would have made a perfect entrance ramp to the attic.

We had them taken out. Even though I had never seen a palm rat, I knew about them.

The next day at a neighborhood get-together, someone who lived nearby said that palm rats had suddenly showed up in their garage and gotten into dog food there. Had those palm rats moved from our cut down queen palms? I will never know for sure, but the timing was interesting.

The other thing that invites palm rats are bird feeders. I like birds just fine but I will never have a bird feeder.

All that being said. . .are those palm rats you are seeing and if so, where is the cause?

Boomer