Will more rarely use rocky crevices or underground chambers in extremely hot desert regions. Generally chooses the base of a prickly pear or cholla cactus as the site for its home. Neotoma albigula - White-throated Woodrat: Range includes the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts from extreme southeastern California, across Arizona and New Mexico to west Texas and south to Mexico also in extreme southern Utah and Colorado.11 to 16 inches, brownish gray above, white or gray below feet are white.It is 8.5 to 15 inches long, buff-gray above, gray below, with hind feet white. This woodrat sometimes appropriates the burrow of a ground squirrel or kangaroo rat, and will fortify the entrance with sticks and cactus spines. Neotoma lepida - Desert Woodrat: Found in the Great Basin, Sonoran and Mojave deserts from southern Oregon and Idaho, south through Nevada, western and southern Utah, and southern California to Baja.Most rodents are polygamous and some mate for the duration of a single breeding season. If the litter is especially large, the mother woodrat may die after weaning. Most become sexually mature after 60 days. The young may open their eyes at 10-12 days and are usually weaned between 14 and 42 days. Some desert female woodrats have been known to deliver up to five litters per year with as many as five young per litter. Most are born naked and helpless and are cared for in nests. The reproductive habits of rodents are extremely variable in the wild and can become even more so when domesticated. They are one of the few animals that can navigate with impunity between cactus spines to feed on the juicy pads. They rely on succulent plants for their water, since they do not have the refined metabolic and water conservation capabilities of pocket mice or kangaroo rats. Primarily nocturnal and vegetarian, desert woodrats survive on a diet of spiny cactus, yucca pods, bark, berries, pinyon nuts, seeds and any available green vegetation. The woodrat is most vulnerable when out foraging for food, at which times a coyote, fox, snake or owl may prey upon it.
The nests of desert-dwelling woodrats, often built in and of cholla and beavertail cactus, are usually impregnable to predators, except for the badger or gila monster (thanks Jerrold J. Such construction methods help keep the nest much cooler than the surrounding desert floor in summer, while helping retain the animals' body heat in winter. The nest provides both shelter from extremes of desert temperatures and protection from predators by using cactus pads and cactus spines in the construction. In the deserts, nests are often constructed in or around cactus. Woodrats can become quite a nuisance, getting into everything from attics to car engines, stealing their treasures, damaging electrical wiring and wreaking general, noisy havoc.Ī massive complex Pleistocene packrat midden (in the alcove in the center of the image) in a cave in eastern Nevada. They are usually constructed in a tree or on the ground at the base of a tree or rocky ledge. The huge, beaver-dam-shaped structures may be up to 4 feet across. Woodrats live in nests built of plant material like branches, twigs, sticks and other debris. They range in length from 8 to 20 inches, including their 3- to 9-inch tail. They have relatively large ears and, normally, hairy tails. Wood rats are pale buff, gray or reddish brown, usually with white undersides and feet. There are seven species of woodrats in the North American deserts. They are found from deserts and forests to high, rocky mountainsides. These rodents belong to the family Cricetidae (order Rodentia). There are 22 species of woodrats - more often called packrats or trading rats - in North and Central America. Gravel desert lowlands, dry plains, brushlands and pinyon-juniper forests, from below sea level to 8,000 feet. Widely distributed throughout all the North American desert regions, north to Canada.
In fact, while carrying one trophy, the rat may see another that is more attractive, and so puts down the first to pick up the second, since it can carry only one item at a time. It is a popular superstition that the woodrat is a fair businessman, who when he expropriates something, always leaves a replacement that is of equal value. They are especially fond of small, bright, shiny objects which they will readily confiscate. Wood rats are commonly called pack rats or trade rats because they collect various objects and bits of material to deposit in, or use in the construction of, their nests. Desert Woodrats - Pack Rats - Trading Rats Genus Neotoma
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