Quote:
Originally Posted by KathieI
I've seen 2 rats this week. Last one was Sunday, in Colony Plaza, he ran across the parking lot into a bush. The second was earlier this week, behind a restaurant in Spanish Springs. I thought I was seeing things, until I read this thread and saw the 2nd one. They look shorter and rounder than the ones I remember from SoCal that lived in the palm trees. I wondered the same thing, is it mating season and/or did the developer stop using an exterminator to control these critters.
I'm not panicked about it, I have 2 schnauzers and they are ratters, however, they haven't caught one mouse in my house yet, and I've had a few.... Spoiled brats they are!!
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My husband said the body of a roof rat or citrus rat is approx. 6 inches and with the tail it was 9 or 10 inches, which is much smaller than a Norway rat such as found in Boston, New York City, all cities.....in sewers, farming areas, across the country...........typical ship rats. We saw one on the road in Saint Augustine that the total length, body and tail , was a good 18 inches or larger, maybe even 24, but it was BIG.
The ones in Venice were dark brown or blackish. Not grey.
Now in Vermont we have lots of field mice that seek to come into warm homes in the autumn months........they are about 2 to 4 inches....they come in various colors, tan and grey, dark brown and light brown. You'd never confuse them with a rat. People set traps in their garages to discourage their entry into the house. My husband said he would set a trap in TV in the garage. Another poster, earlier, said NOT to grill in the lanai as they can tear through the screen when they smell the food. Her husband set a trap to catch the critter.
p.s. My husband just suggested that if the Homeowners Association raised everyone in TV by $5 a month, they'd have plenty of money to hire a crew of ten, buy all the necessary poisons to handle this rodent issue and keep everyone happy..........We sold our Venice beachfront condo in 1995, however, recently have noticed that all condos now come with "pest control" as part of the Homeowners fees, etc.
It wasn't part of the deal back then. He still recalls the fisherman pulling out rats from the the waterway down by the Venice Jetties.......they would cast with a lure and catch rats for "sport" every night. There were vacation homes on this waterway.........LETS JUST SAY IT WAS DIFFERENT TO US. To deny their existence is foolhardy.