Scottsdale, Arizona has become a literal boomtown with its fast-paced growth. It was a short time ago that Scottsdale Road ended as a dirt path into the sparse desert communities of Carefree and Cave Creek. Most of Scottsdale’s growth can be seen bordering dense cactus patches and beautiful desert mountains, which draw people to scenic beauty of Scottsdale.

While many are drawn to the tranquil splendor of the Arizona desert, there are a few hazards people should prepare themselves for. Most would picture the possibility of deadly rattle snakes, roaming coyotes, slow moving Gila monsters, sharp and painful cactus, and huge hawks sharing the desert landscape. However, many overlook the most common resident of Scottsdale’s desert: Wood rats, which are members of the genus Neotome. Wood rats are more commonly called “Pack rats” and have been making the desert their home since long before the first settlers appeared in the Southwest. Arizona is home to seven of the twenty-two known species of wood rats in North and Central America.

Pack rats are often found as pale tan, light grey, or an amber brown color. Many also have white bellies and feet. Their furry tails are a distinctive mark, which differs from the more infamous “roof rats” of Arcadia and Phoenix, Arizona. The Arizona packrat can range from eight to over twenty inches with their tails. These desert rodents breed often and can have up to five litters in a year, each consisting of up to five pups per litter. This means that the Arizona desert is home to millions of these nocturnal creatures.

Why Are They Called Pack rats?

A “pack rat” has become a popular American slang saying for a person who collects items and has no ability to get rid of the collected piles of things they store. Often the things appear as junk to others and this behavior borders as compulsive. While humans have created garages, attics, sheds, and closets to store endless amounts of junk, our desert neighbors, the pack rats use what’s called a “midden” or nest to contain their hoarded materials. In the Arizona desert, middens are built of cholla cactus, mesquite branches, prickly pair pads, twigs, sticks, rocks, bricks, attic insulation, and any other debris the pack rats can drag into their safe haven. These nests keep the desert rodents relatively safe from their natural predators. The middens are often quite elaborate, long-standing structures, which have been carbon dated back as far as 40,000 years old.

Pack rats are always building, storing, and adding on to their middens. The desert middens are often found consisting of hundreds of pounds of materials and can range in size from a few square feet to massive mounds well over one hundred square feet. These thorny and well-insulated nests provide the desert pack rats protection from predators and the extreme temperatures of the Arizona desert. The nests are so well constructed that pack rats are able to keep cooler than the desert floor in the summertime and keep their bodies warm in the near freezing winter months.

Can Pack rats Damage My Home?

The short answer here is, yes! Pack rats are very clever and curious creatures always looking to add to their middens. Your home provides these desert rodents with numerous items with which they can build upon their nests. Not only can the pack rat find items in and surrounding your property, which will be useful for midden expansion, but they can also use your home as their next nest. Pack rats will see your home as a craggy rock pile, or giant boulder full of cavernous nooks and crannies to hide in and store endless materials. Nearly every Scottsdale home has an attic, storage closets, poolroom or equipment areas, barbeques, sheds, and utility rooms that a pack rat can turn into a nesting place.

Pack rats can be very destructive creatures in their quest to build a nest or add to their desert midden. Outdoor patio furniture is often chewed on for the desert rodents to pull the fabric off and the inner stuffing out, which is all used in midden construction. Outdoor kitchen areas with a barbeque are easily used for nest building and are a safe hiding place for pack rats. Any utility door or shed can be a suitable opening for a packrat to enter and build a nest. Poolrooms, pool equipment areas, and hot tub heaters are favorite spots for these desert rodents to infest and costly damage to equipment is possible.

While the outside of your home is an easy target for pack rats, it is usually the inside of your Scottsdale home that appeals most to their hoarding behavior. The attic space of your home is the most desirable place for a pack rat to build a nest. A home’s attic is a perfect environment for a desert rodent such as the industrious pack rat. The attic is quickly made into an ideal den for pack rats as it provides a perfectly safe, dry, dark, and quiet environment in which they can store food items, hide from predators, and safely breed new offspring. The major by-product of the nesting rodents in a home’s attic is a heavy accumulation of odorous urine and a large build up of feces or “droppings.” As much as 500 pounds of pack rat waste and feces has been removed from heavily pack rat infested Scottsdale homes by local wildlife and pest management companies. This build up of waste, urine, and feces is a costly mess to clean and restore, as well as poses a very serious health risk to the inhabitants of the home. Breathing this infected air could lead to serious disease and illness.

Scottsdale’s pack rat will chew and tear almost anything in its path. Pack rats will chew through wood, plastic, PVC pipes, rubber, electrical wiring, fiberglass insulation, and paper with great ease. This chewing behavior makes a home’s roof, electrical wires, plumbing, and insulation prime targets for being damaged by these desert rodents. If pack rats chew the underlayment of a tile or shingle roof, a heavy rain will allow water to leak directly into the attic, walls, or home causing costly repairs. Insulation that becomes torn no longer has its proper -R- value and may contain harmful bacteria. A chewed water line could flood a home creating mold, wood rot, and costing a homeowner thousands of dollars to repair. The worst-case scenario is having a chewed electrical line causing a devastating house fire, which could ruin a family’s possessions or even claim the lives of loved ones.

If you have seen signs of pack rats in your Scottsdale home or community, contact a reputable and local wildlife and pest management company such as Rodent Proof LLC™ immediately.