Quote:
Originally Posted by Garden guru
Having moved into Fernandina in April from the Midwest, I was shocked when a neighbor told me that rats live in the dead fronds of palm trees. Thinking that the neighbor didn't know what he was talking about, I recently asked a pest control company representative about it, and he told me the same thing. Unfortunately, on two different occasions I have even seen rats run across cart paths in broad daylight, as well as one run across the road near Spanish Springs in the middle of the afternoon. How can the powers-that-be in The Villages mount a massive campaign to market this place as "Florida's Healthiest Hometown" but continue to allow residents to grow palm trees known to harbor rats? The developer even continues to plant such trees in common areas of The Villages! As a retired registered nurse, I find the practice outrageous. Healthiest hometown? Really? Not by any thinking person's standard!
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Wait... there are rats in the UP (Upper Peninsula- Michegan) and you mention you hike a lot, so you have been on foot in their territory. You also see hawks, fox and an occasional eagle up there that eat rats and keep their numbers down. We have hawks, coyote and eagles, etc. here too, in fact we have an eagle preserve in TV.
Rats will nest in undisturbed debris. If there were NO palm tress here (just like in the UP) there would still be rats somewhere in the natural areas.
In our 'neighborhoods', should a homeowner have an occasional dead frond on their palm that hasn't been pruned off yet, the frond itself does not pose a risk of a rat taking up residence there.
Should there be an ABUNDANCE of dead fronds, not much activity around and and some sort of food supply nearby (like a palm allowed to be abundant with fruit) or citrus trees with abundant fruit on the tree and laying on the ground.... THAT may provide an attractive hiding/nesting/feeding spot, but those conditions rarely exist in a groomed landscape, as you can see for yourself when you travel about the area.
I have lived here two years now (from Chicago) and am very much into greenery. My eyes are still pretty good and I have seen a total of 4 small rats (VERY small 'mice' by Chicago standards) in all that time and one was in the mouth of a flying hawk.
I was in puzzlement at your post, given the beautiful and very natural area you come from. The UP is considered a pretty 'healthy' area too, people go there to get away from the grime, etc. of the city, as we both know.
It's the same here. For me, TV is my little slice of heaven, critters and all.... I do consider myself a 'thinking person' and overall, I think the 'health' standard here is a pretty high one!
