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Problems caused by native rats | FF0027 |
Ian Temby, Flora and Fauna Branch
September, 2003 |  |
Problem
Eating bark of trees in plantations. Damaging vegetable gardens in some areas.
Background
A common and widespread species in southern Victoria, the Swamp Rat inhabits areas with long grass or other dense ground cover, where its distinctive, half-excavated runways are not readily visible from above. This animal is active both by day and at night. The Bush Rat is also common and widespread, and occurs mainly in timbered areas of southern Victoria. Its runways are indistinct and not partly excavated.
It appears that bark chewing, which usually occurs in late winter, is related to nutritional stress resulting from unfavourable climatic conditions and their influence on food supply, prior to the onset of winter, which prevents the rats building up adequate fat reserves for the winter. Bark is removed to expose the carbohydrate-rich cambial layer that is eaten to supplement the diet.
These rats rarely enter houses, and should not be removed from an area merely because their presence has been discovered. Any rats in houses are almost certainly Black Rats, which are introduced pests.
Solution
Modify the habitat to make it unsuitable for the rats. This requires the removal of long grass or other ground cover vegetation. In a plantation, this may be achieved by using sheep or goats to graze the area, or by slashing. This is the most effective, long-term solution.
Remove weeds and mow grass around a vegetable patch. If surrounding vegetation is kept low, so that rats do not have cover, it is unlikely that they will enter the vegetable patch in the first place.
Further information
Menkhorst, P.W. (Ed.) 1995. Mammals of Victoria. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
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