[graciegirl]

I understand these rodents are the same and come from the same phylum, subphylum that the ghetto rats do.........or not? Aren't they called citrus rats? Doesn't that make them a little less...........awful?

Can some scientist show us a picture of both? Please see that the citrus rat has a Mickey costume on.

[Barefoot]

I know this thread is about rats and gators. I'm just hijacking for a second. The last two mornings I found many large worms in our birdcage. I call them snake-worms because they are very large and if you touch them, they wriggle and throw themselves about like snakes.

I'm wondering if other peeps get these visitors when it rains. I am not planning to call our Pest Company. I think the large worms are normal for Florida. But I'm not sure.

[jblum8156]

Darn. Your link has been terminated.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by jblum8156

Darn. Your link has been terminated.

Link? Mine? Bares?

Lots of rats running around on the golf cart paths and golf courses...what's going on????...

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Patlyn

Lots of rats running around on the golf cart paths and golf courses...what's going on????...

Welcome Patlyn.

Are you someone who used to be someone else or are you someone who plays in front of rats? Do they hit into you?

Patlyn. I apologize, someone on this forum who I just absolutely love and respect has pointed out that I have been rude to you in asking if you had changed names. I honestly, did NOT think of it as being rude, until she said so. I think that a lot of people come on with new names from time to time, and I see no harm in it. I was just wondering if you had a new name, or if you were someone who used to post a long time ago and had some sad or angry interchange. I will not ask anyone new again the same question. I would not have done it at all, if I thought it was rude. Tony called me for it some time ago, and frankly I was confused and discouraged as to why he did. But now since someone I know well, and respect completely has pointed out I should not question new posters, I will not do it again. EVER.

[Russ_Boston]

Originally Posted by Patlyn

Lots of rats running around on the golf cart paths and golf courses...what's going on????...

OMG - I'm not coming back - I hate rats.

Someone call my realtor please

[chuckster]

Originally Posted by Patlyn

Lots of rats running around on the golf cart paths and golf courses...what's going on????...

The original post I'm sure you noticed regarding rats was in 2008. Personally haven't seen any.......

[mulligan]

Either it's mating season or the current date crop on the palms is ripe.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by mulligan

Either it's mating season or the current date crop on the palms is ripe.

Does the developer or county do anything about the rats?
Or is it totally left up to the home owner to hire a rodent specialist?

A few years back, my innocent inquiry re the same exact problem was met with not so happy campers at this forum.

I had only asked the question after our experience in Venice Florida. They were there, in all the condo walls, in the sewers, in the waterways, in the toilets, running around the airconditioning units, in the PALM TREES..........in the attics, etc., chewing through the wires in first floor of two story condo units. It appeared they were running rampant. Venice was a beautiful "Main Street U.S.A." designated hometown..........originally, it was a planned community with beautiful boulevard leading to the Gulf of Mexico beach and the Esplanade. A lovely town. But those rats were visible. Even return tourists would tell us how the rats would go from palm tree to palm tree.
None of this had ever entered our minds.

The exterminators told us, the realtors admitted it, the citizens of the town admitted it. Just wish we had done our research before totally revamping a condo. It was in the newspaper.

Whether or not you call them citrus rats, fruit rats, palm tree rats or voles, they look like rats and creeped me out.

It seems a new wave of people are not afraid to speak out and tell the truth about these rats, as I've just read all the earlier posts about them by the pools, the mailboxes, the golf cart paths, the golf courses.

Awhile back I was made to look foolish....just for asking a serious innocent question.............I have since been told by realtors all over that YES THERE ARE RATS IN FLORIDA........but they try hard to keep them out of the house.
Ditto for Mount Dora.....as I was told.
.
I'd rather have an honest answer than beat around the bush. All places have something or other. Better to be truthful and upfront about it.
One of the realtors at Top of The World said that the rats have been here long before we have.......

p.s. The reason I had asked on this forum awhile back is that we were told that the rats ARE ON ALL THE BARRIER ISLANDS from the Carolinas down to Florida and around to Texas......we were told they were especially bad on Longboat Key and Siesta Key which are down by Sarasota. You can find this information at any Florida university site.

Thus, now that we were considering THE VILLAGES for retirement, I was simply doing my homework. Exterminators also told us about huge snakes in toilets in single family homes in the Venice area. I guess it's just something one has to "live with" if they want to live in a warmer climate. I'd hate to be an exterminator. As the one person said, it's one thing to think of them as "citrus" rats...........but rats do carry disease. I think that the developers should at least eliminate them from the golf courses and the pool areas..........before they get into the homes or attics............or multipy.

[red tail]

they came in with the cockroaches. the chamber of commerce changed the name to palmetto bugs. but a cockroach is a cockroach by whatever name you give it. much like the fruit rat or rattus rattus. its all mother nature florida style. beats snow and ice !!!

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by red tail

they came in with the cockroaches. the chamber of commerce changed the name to palmetto bugs. but a cockroach is a cockroach by whatever name you give it. much like the fruit rat or rattus rattus. its all mother nature florida style. beats snow and ice !!!

Are palmetto bugs also called love bugs???

Back in 1973 we lived on the east coast of Florida for one year; the house was on a canal a block in from the intracoastal waterway and the beach.

Never ever thought of a rat. Never crossed our mind, even with the dock and the canal. Never saw one. But we did see, only when we shut the lights out late at night to watch t.v.........the "palmetto bugs" run across the carpeting.........we had sold our home up north and were renting this one for a year........the landlady, a retired Air Force General's widow, did pay to have an indoor exterminator and an outdoor exterminator come to treat the place.

I think it was monthly. He would tell me not to let my 2 year old son nor my 5 year old daughter out on the grass for a few days....due to the chemicals. He never mentined rodents of any kind (but the Venice exterimators did, over and over again).

While on a hike our little boy , holding my husband's hand, did trip and fall into a red ants nest and got bit up on his legs. They were FAST. (Years later, my elderly mom got bit by red ants in Venice).

Another time, we had taken the children very early in the morning to have a picnic by a nearby lake.......we held their hands and waded into the lake, but not too far.......had our picnic and returned home before 10 a.m. as it was HOT. A short while later we read how a young teenaged girl had been killed by an alligator while swimming in that same lake. HOW NAIVE WE WERE in our twenties. This is why I check everything out now.

We went to Disney World for years, every single school vacation in April and I never once thought about rats or alligators........a realtor at Top of the World told me that he had a friend who "worked the perimeter" of Disney World to keep the gators far away from the hotel areas and the park.

They are also out there !!!!!!! Years later, we visited D.W. in September and all the pools were closed due to encephalitis.........and the LOVE BUGS were out in full force..........so yes, although FLORIDA is better than ICE AND SNOW.........one does have to consider everything they are willing to live with.

Later, after the kids were in high school, we'd vacation on Sanibel Island which was known for their Ding Darling nature preserve...........there were alligators all over , even on the beach. They got around.
We never saw or heard of any rodents on Sanibel and it never crossed our minds at all,if truth be told.
The condos were all new construction. We also stayed in a single family home that had a long dirt road to the Gulf of Mexico Beach..........the owner of the home just "smiled" when we asked him about alligators. After subscribing to their newspaper, we found out that sure enough the alligators roamed freely. Our daughter would tell us to be careful as alligators can "sprint" and were pretty fast.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

Are palmetto bugs also called love bugs???

Back in 1973 we lived on the east coast of Florida for one year; the house was on a canal a block in from the intracoastal waterway and the beach.

Never ever thought of a rat. Never crossed our mind, even with the dock and the canal. Never saw one. But we did see, only when we shut the lights out late at night to watch t.v.........the "palmetto bugs" run across the carpeting.........we had sold our home up north and were renting this one for a year........the landlady, a retired Air Force General's widow, did pay to have an indoor exterminator and an outdoor exterminator come to treat the place.

I think it was monthly. He would tell me not to let my 2 year old son nor my 5 year old daughter out on the grass for a few days....due to the chemicals. He never mentined rodents of any kind (but the Venice exterimators did, over and over again).

While on a hike our little boy , holding my husband's hand, did trip and fall into a red ants nest and got bit up on his legs. They were FAST. (Years later, my elderly mom got bit by red ants in Venice).

Another time, we had taken the children very early in the morning to have a picnic by a nearby lake.......we held their hands and waded into the lake, but not too far.......had our picnic and returned home before 10 a.m. as it was HOT. A short while later we read how a young teenaged girl had been killed by an alligator while swimming in that same lake. HOW NAIVE WE WERE in our twenties. This is why I check everything out now.

We went to Disney World for years, every single school vacation in April and I never once thought about rats or alligators........a realtor at Top of the World told me that he had a friend who "worked the perimeter" of Disney World to keep the gators far away from the hotel areas and the park.

They are also out there !!!!!!! Years later, we visited D.W. in September and all the pools were closed due to encephalitis.........and the LOVE BUGS were out in full force..........so yes, although FLORIDA is better than ICE AND SNOW.........one does have to consider everything they are willing to live with.

I think with your hang ups, you maybe should stay where you are.....that is eden, right?

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

I think with your hang ups, you maybe should stay where you are.....that is eden, right?

They aren't hangups. We've come to terms with it in our minds.
Not a problem.

p.s. I'm not the one who said they were running around the pools and mailboxes and on the golf courses and golf cart paths....and tunnels.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

They aren't hangups. We've come to terms with it in our minds.
Not a problem.

p.s. I'm not the one who said they were running around the pools and mailboxes and on the golf courses and golf cart paths....and tunnels.

.