Neotoma floridana

This is a relatively large (200-382 g) rodent. Length ranges from 30 to 43 cm, including the 16-20 cm tail, and averages about 38 cm (Webster et al. 1985).

Pelage color is variable, but is usually gray-brown above with somewhat darker hairs along the midline forming a middorsal band. The sides are buff, the head is gray, and the feet and underparts are white. Mountain woodrats (N. F. HAEMATOREIA) tend to be distinctly bicolored, and tend toward cinnamon above in summer, but N. F. FLORIDANA of the Coastal Plain may be uniformly gray and lack the markedly bi-colored tail of northern forms (Schwartz and Odum 1957, Hall 1981, Webster et al. 1985). Ears are prominent and sparsely haired and the eyes are black and somewhat bulging. Vibrissae are long and conspicuous (Webster et al. 1985).

The sexes are similar in color, but the male averages slightly larger in size. External genitalia are generally apparent in the male, and females have four inguinally-located mammae. Both sexes have long, narrow musk glands along the ventral midline which are active during the breeding season when the greasy, yellow secretions tend to discolor the surrounding fur (Schwartz and Schwartz 1981).

Specimens of N. MAGISTER can be separated from N. FLORIDANA by skull morphological characters (Schwartz and Odum 1957).

While superficially similar in appearance to RATTUS NORVEGICUS (Norway rat) and R. RATTUS (black rat), woodrats may be distinguished by their hairy tail (vs. scaly-naked). The woodrat also has larger eyes, a blunter snout, and softer and less coarse fur than do either the Norway rat or black rat (Burt and Grossenheider 1976). In NEOTOMA, the molar enamel is arranged in prismatic folds, in contrast to the tuberculate molars of RATTUS (Adams 1987).

Wooded areas, ravines, floodplain forest; swamps and osage orange and other hedges in some areas in southern U.S. The coastal subspecies has been found in a wide variety of habitats, including lowland deciduous forests from Florida northward to southeastern North Carolina, generally inside or near edges of forests, primarily deciduous forest. Other habitats include low, wet areas, ranging from marshes (Svihla and Svihla 1933) to swamps and swamp hammocks (Bangs 1898, Harper 1927, Chamberlain 1928, Hamilton 1953). In Georgia and Florida, habitat is wet areas in hammocks and densely vegetated swamps, where nests are built in hollow trees or along stream banks in dense tangles of cabbage palmetto (Golley 1962, Hamilton and Whittaker 1979). Pearson (1952) recorded greatest abundance in ecotones between dry and wet hammocks in Florida. Harper (1927) described habitat in the Okefenokee Swamp as cypress bays, hammocks, swamps, and sometimes sphagnaceous bogs.

David Webster (UNC-Wilmington) suggested that the species is habitat-specific and confined to particular soil types. Preferred habitat in North Carolina consists of low-lying deciduous forests with a dense cover of palmetto (SABAL MINOR). The Rocky Point, Pender County, population is restricted to an unusual woodland dominated by dense shrub layer of SABAL MAJOR established on a unique soil (Pender Series) with a very shallow, acidic A-horizon and a slightly alkaline B-horizon (Webster et al. 1987). The habitat there appears to be similar to the palmetto forests of Florida where woodrats are relatively abundant.

Young are born in a nest in a rocky crevice, in or under a tree, in a brush pile, in an abandoned building (Schwartz and Odum 1957), or in a similar site; rarely in the lower branches of a tree. In the Midwest nests generally are sheltered by a stick house (Hayes and Harrison 1992). Nest commonly is used in successive years, may become quite large. Harper (1927) described a nest of sticks and other debris that filled a hollow cypress stump and rose to a height of three feet. Chamberlain (1928) described South Carolina nests that were two feet in height and three feet in diameter and constructed in tangles of grape and SMILAX. Golley (1962) wrote that nests are often supported by a log, constructed in a stump or hollow, or even several feet off the ground in vine tangles. Working in Gulf Coast Florida, Pearson (1952) described nests in barns, hollow logs, and subterranean chambers under stumps, tree bases, and root masses. Nest sites were not excavated to any extent by the rats themselves. The majority of nests described by Pearson were found in dense tangles of low shrubs with only small midden heaps scattered around them. Schwartz and Schwartz (1981) described typical woodrat nests as being large, 1.5 to 4 ft in diameter and > 3 ft in height. The internal nest cavity was typically 5-8 inches in diameter and carefully lined with finely shredded bark, leaves or grass. The exterior was a jumbled mass of sticks, dried grass, leaves, and assorted rubbish (old bones, pieces of metal, small rocks, etc.) collected by the rat. Nests were left open at the top in sheltered areas, but were roofed over in exposed situations such as in low trees and shrubs. Nests were used all year and, in some cases, for an entire lifetime. Woodrats continually added to their nests and established nests might have several levels and nest cavities.

The nests of N. MAGISTER and presumably N. FLORIDANA provide shelter for a large array of other animals, including rabbits, white-footed mouse, snakes, toads, salamanders, as well as spiders and many other invertebrates (Merritt 1987).

Woodrats use communal latrine sites and urination sites (Schwartz and Schwartz 1981, Merritt 1987). Schwartz and Schwartz (1981) described piles of oval droppings as much as 45 cm in diameter. Latrine areas appear to be used over extended periods of time and by more than one individual.

Pearson (1952) inferred from the distribution of nest sites that woodrats may be at least partly colonial. Other authors have described the woodrat as largely solitary and aggressive, sharing their houses only during the breeding season and when rearing young, and with most captured animals carrying scars apparently from fighting with conspecifics (Hamilton and Whitaker 1979, Schwartz and Schwartz 1981, Nowak and Paradiso 1983).

Merritt (1987) described the closely related N. MAGISTER as territorial, engaging in aggressive displays of foot thumping and teeth chattering to challenge conspecifics at nest sites.

Schwartz and Schwartz (1981) described home ranges in Missouri as 0.3 ha for males and 0.2 ha for females. Goertz (1970) calculated home ranges of 0.26 ha for males and 0.17 ha for females in Oklahoma.

Density was estimated at 7.6/ha over 851 ha at Key Largo, Florida (Humphrey 1988). Abundance is poorly correlated with abundance of sign (Humphrey 1988). Population density in Pennsylvania) was 1-4/ha. Densities of 5-8 adults per ha are probably high for the species (Burt and Grossenheider 1976). Shows some homing ability (Lay and Baker 1938).

Wiley (1980) suggested that the black rat snake (ELAPHE OBSOLETA) and the long-tailed weasel (MUSTELA FRENATA) are potential predators because their size allows them to enter woodrat houses.

Breeds March-October in Oklahoma, mainly February-October in Kansas, apparently all year in Florida and coastal Georgia, all year except reduced in winter in Oklahoma (Golley 1962, Pearson 1952, Schwartz and Schwartz 1981, Nowak and Paradiso 1983). Females are polyestrous with a cycle of 4-6 days. Gestation probably lasts about 33-39 days (Hamilton 1953). Litter size is usually 2-4 (average 3) (Pearson 1952, Hamilton and Whitaker 1979), with up to 2-3 litter per year. Young experience a rapid gain in weight, adding 113 g in 36 days (about 3.1 g/day) in captivity (Hamilton 1953). Wild N. MAGISTER gained about 1.5 g/day during the first two months of life (Merritt 1987). The young are altricial with eyes opening in 15-21 days (Hamilton 1953, Hamilton and Whitaker 1979, Schwartz and Schwartz 1981). Sexual maturity is reached in less than one year and some females, though not males, may breed in their first season (Wiley 1980). Adults appear to live at least three years in the wild (Schwartz and Schwartz 1981, Merritt 1987). NEOTOMA may have a reproductive potential that is "considerably lower" than other cricetid rodents, based on life span (Golley 1962, Schwartz and Schwartz 1981).