Roof Rat Control in Tucson

Roof rats aren't the pack rats in your cholla. They're slim, dark, non-native rats with long, bare, scaly tails, and they climb like squirrels. In Tucson they've mostly turned up in the older midtown neighborhoods. Local news in 2023 covered a jump in sightings around Sam Hughes, and a University of Arizona entomologist pointed out they'd been in town for some time before anybody made much noise about it.

Walk around Sam Hughes and the blocks near it and you'll see why they like it. Big old grapefruit and orange trees. Bird feeders. Vines on every fence. Roofs from the 1930s with gaps at the vents. A roof rat runs the fence tops and power lines, eats in the citrus at night, and spends summer afternoons in a nice shady attic.

Hollowed-out oranges and other giveaways

The classic sign is citrus still hanging on the tree with the inside eaten out and just the peel left, like a little cup. Other things to watch for:

Not sure which rat you're looking at? Pack rats have big ears, soft fur and a furry tail. If the tail is bare and scaly and the animal is up in the tree, it's a roof rat.

• Running or scratching in the attic in the evening
• A rat running along the top of a block wall or a power line at dusk
• Dark, spindle-shaped droppings in the attic or garage
• Gnawed holes near roof vents, eaves or parapets
• Greasy rub marks along fence tops

Working from the citrus up to the roof

A tech checking for roof rats looks up as much as down. They start in the yard with the trees, the fence line and the side yards, then go to the roof edge. On the flat-roofed midtown homes, that means parapets, scuppers and old vents. Branches touching the roof get noted, since those are the rats' bridge.

Traps go where the rats travel: the attic, the wall tops, near the trees. Roof rats are suspicious of anything new, so it can take a few visits over a few weeks before they start hitting traps. That's normal. Once activity drops, the job moves to closing the roof and vent gaps. If they nested in the attic, the droppings and flattened insulation are a separate cleanup.

Attic work in a midtown summer is hot, slow going, and on a flat roof there may be only a tight crawl space to get into. Don't be surprised if the tech wants to do the attic part early in the morning before the roof heats up.

What you can do this weekend

Pick your ripe fruit and pick up the drops. Bring the bird feeder in at night, or at least sweep up the spilled seed. Trim limbs back so they stay a few feet off the roof. You don't have to cut the trees down. Keep pet food inside too, which helps with mice in the garage while you're at it.

Roof rats travel along fences and tree canopies, so a whole block tends to share them. If your neighbor's got them, go look at your own trees. Older streets with mature fruit trees in Casas Adobes and around the west side barrios are worth watching too. And skip the loose rat poison. It ends up in dogs, owls and the Cooper's hawks that nest in trees all over town.

Related: Rodent Exclusion and Sealing, Attic, Crawl Space and Casita Cleanup, Mouse Control

Serving Catalina Foothills, Oro Valley, Marana, Tanque Verde and East Side, Midtown and Sam Hughes, Vail, Sahuarita and Green Valley, Rita Ranch, Casas Adobes, South Tucson and West Side.