Giant African Rats Invade Florida

When I wrote the funny poem "Rats As Big As Cats", I had no idea they would become the latest of a series of foreign species to take up residence in the state of Florida. As I said in the poem they are 4 or 5 pounds as adults. This is five times the size of the largest Norway Rats which have been populating the entire US since they were first brought over in the boats dating back to Christopher Columbus' time and the settlement of the new world by Europeans. According to Key Treasures web site they can grow as heavy as 9 pounds, and Wikipedia has them at 10 to 15 pounds. One thing for sure is they are huge.

The Discovery Channel aired the documentary "Ratzilla" on Sunday, June 6 at 5pm. It had pictures of the African rats properly called Gambian pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus), which they trapped on Grassy Key Island, one of the Florida southernmost keys. The documentary's makers believe that the original infestation was on Grassy Key, where an exotic pet breeder released a population into the wild. Dead bodies of the same species have been found on other keys closer to the mainland.

There is a lot of fear that if the giant rats do make it to the southern and central Florida, there will be an ecological and financial disaster due to the damage that the rodent does to fruit crops, and structures they burrow under. The rodent lives in long, wide tunnels since they are mainly nocturnal. There is currently an all out effort to exterminate the current population by trapping and poisoning the species into extinction in the keys. This has never worked out well for us in the past since even one pregnant female left will cause a re-infestation.

The Gambian pouched rat actually has no pouch as marsupials do. Rather they can expand their cheeks in the way chipmunks and hamsters can to carry a large amount of food back to their lairs. They look much like Norwegian rats and can be distinguished by their size and their tails which are half white toward its end.

While other and even larger rodents have taken residence in the United States. They tend to avoid people and populated areas. Nutria is an example of this type of rodent that lives in the wetland around southern Louisiana. They cause damage to the swampland by eating the grasses that grow their which causes navigation problems.

The Gambian rat is closer to its New York cousin in behavior since they can cohabitate in populated habitats such as fruit vineyards, suburbs and even cities. Their jaws are similar to the Norwegian rat in that the teeth are sharp, continually growing and capable of gnawing through plaster, wires, and weathered cement. They are used for food in parts of Africa, but even with the food shortages there, they have become more of a problem than they are worth as a food source.

Expect to hear more about these gigantic invaders in the future.