How Quickly Do Roof Rats Reproduce

Since rats can live for up to three years and they mature very quickly a single pair of amorous rats can cause an exponential infestation.

How quickly do roof rats reproduce.

Rats are well known for their reproductive proliferation. Adult roof rats measure 6 8 16 20 cm when combining their head and body. It s not just that rats breed quickly judy black vice president of technical services north america at rentokil steritech explains aspects of their behavior can make control difficult. They will nest in trees attics voids along the roof line and in ceilings.

Brown rats have between 3 6 litters in a lifetime and have a 21 23 gestation period. Reproduction roof rats become sexually mature between two and five months producing four to six litters per year that consist of six to eight young each. At conservatively 4 litters year those original 10 babies within 12 months would produce a progeny of 100 000 if all mated only once during the year perry 2018. A single female and her descendants can produce 2 000 offspring in a single year if breeding is unchecked and predation is low.

The roof rats become sexually mature in just a couple months. Newborn rats may reach independence and reproductive maturity at about 3 months. Roof rats give birth to about 5 to 8 young after a gestation period of 21 to 23 days and may have up to 4 litters a year. Roof rats habits and biology.

How fast do rats reproduce. The average is 10. The brown rat rattus norvegicus also known as the common rat street rat sewer rat hanover rat norway rat norwegian rat parisian rat or wharf rat is a widespread species of common rat one of the largest muroids it is a brown or grey rodent with a head and body length of up to 28 cm 11 in long and a tail slightly shorter than that. Products for control of roof rats.

Depending on the size of the litter the birthing process can normally take an hour or two. I have seen roof rats become trap shy to particular brands of snap traps and i ve seen alpha norway rats steer clear of a food source until the lower castes engage with the food. A rat s gestation period lasts approximately 21 days. What do roof rats look like.

Females become sexually mature in 68 90 days with 5 8 pups per litter. Roof rats have soft and smooth fur that is typically brown with intermixed spots of black. They have 4 6 litters per year. You may expect a litter ranging in size from 6 to 24 rats with the average litter being about 12 rats.

Because the roof rats climb well common nesting sites are above the ground. Norway rats conservatively have 6 to 14 babies per litter pass and freeth 1993 mohan 1974. Peak breeding season for the roof rat typically occur in spring and fall. The common lifespan of these rodents is about one year.

If there is sufficient space and food they have the potential to rapidly explode in numbers to exploit that but mortality is high whenever food or space is limited and factors such as disease starvation predation and our own pest control efforts help to keep the rate of growth in check says brigham. How do rats reproduce well i guess a male and female have sex.