Please give me the skinny
 

I have read about rat problems in many posts. It seems that there are Palm rats galore. How widespread is the problem of Palm or other rats in Tv? I was told that in some communities near the sea, there are rat traps set up on the entire periphery. Regarding Palm rats, if you don't have any Palm trees on your property, does that mean you need not worry about rats or do they migrate?

Thanks in advance for your input. I really have a phobia regarding rodents. I imagine some of you will come up with humorous replies and I am looking forward to those as well as the serious ones.

They exist but really aren't that bad. I've mainly seen them as roadkill on the golf cart paths. Given your phobia, I'd make two suggestions. One, no Palm trees in your landscaping. Two, get a cat just to be on the safe side.

Have never seen a rat here in 6 years.

As for "some communities by the sea", we're not by the sea. It's 85-90 miles away, at least.

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11 palms around the house for 11 years.....no rats.

We only have 2 palm trees but never had an issue with palm rats.

When we first moved here there was a big thread about rats at the Ashland Pool. Lot of arguing, lot of stuff that was probably overstated. I have gone to so many of our public pools over the seven years we have been here and haven't seen anything that remotely resembled a rat.

I have seen one rodent, a palm rat, in seven years and he was under a palm tree at a cart parking lot at Bogart. Just one.

We don't have palm trees on our lot but neighbors do, haven't seen any palm rats. We did see some bunnies last night as we sat out on the lanai as it was getting dark.

I think a lot of negative and worrisome posts are placed here on purpose by people who don't live here, for their own purposes and their own agendas. AND Some people who do live here don't like the growth, and would like to discourage new people, and some people who can't live here are jealous, and some people who are involved in other developments are really not happy. And some people have grown to be old and nothing has ever been right.

Many of us try to quell rumors and correct misinformation out of pride in our town and to protect our own investment.

However saying all that, we do have visible alligators and I have seen three snakes in the time that we lived here. Also big birds of prey are dangerous to small domestic animals. Drunks in golf carts are dangerous too. AND BAD DRIVERS ARE RAMPANT. Another thing to consider is this..... I have NEVER seen so many old people all in one place.

I had a rat problem.My garage is so full of junk that our car is parked outside 24/7.In the winter time here rats where climbing up into the engine compartment and chewing on the wires.My check engine light came on and thats how I found out it was rats doing the damage.Put some rat poison on a tray on top of the engine and that stopped the problem thank goodness.

Never seen one, had one, even never have heard about any. Never even seen road kill. I would guess they must be around someplace, but none around about my place.

I put up a "Rat Free Zone" sign and so far so good!

I've never seen a rat, but I have several beautiful black racers who live in the monkey grass that lines the sides of my house. They are wonderful at keeping the rats and poisonous snakes away.

I've lived here for three years and have never seen a rat dead or alive. I've been a member of this forum for about two and a half years and only recall seeing one post about rats when people were talking about planting fruit trees.

Maybe your rodent phobia is getting the best of you.

We have little lizards running around that we see all the time and a black racer snake that I've seen about six or seven times since I've been here. I've seen a few dead snakes and one other live one in three years, but never a rat.

Ever thought of calling 1-800-GOT-JUNK?

And we're all driving, so LOOK OUT!! We're a bigger nuisance than the rats, none of which have I ever seen driving.