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Project Noah Nature School
Neotoma cinerea
Native rat(more closely related to deer mice than black or norway rats) with bushy tail, soft dense fur. Their habit of stealing items from human habitation has earned the name pack rats
trapped in my barn - see story below
About a month ago, I discovered something had chopped pieces of a polypropylene whip lash, and once the lash was gone kept taking the whip down and moving the 5 foot handle across the barn floor. From there, it stole a horse comb, several bowls, and attempted to steal halters(they got the lead out of the bucket and across the barn, but the halter itself was too heavy). I put out the trap after a couple weeks, realizing I had pack rats. The day before I caught them, they laid a very dead robin(all feathers and skin/no meat) in the trap itself. They didn't seem the least afraid of us, and in fact were quite curious about us and my husband had to chase the one away from his foot, at which time they both bounded off Having caught the pair wee took them to a county forest area far from habitation, but with plenty of man made refuse for them to steal and take to their new nests
Spotted on Nov 22, 2012
Submitted on Nov 23, 2012
2 Comments
Thank you, Alice!
I used to have a pair of these in the barn: older, or maybe a different sub species as they were more of a squirrel grey and softer with a bushier tail top. They never caused havoc and the european rats drove them away. I was a bit sad relocating these two, but at least they're in an areaa with lots of lovely human items to pick up and add to their nests
Love your rat and your story!