Quantifying Damage Potential of Three Rodent Species on Sugarcane

Cotton rats, roof rats, and rice rats collectively inflict significant damage to sugarcane crops in the Everglades Agricultural Area; however, the relative damage inflicted by each species is unknown. A feeding trial experiment showed that some differences existed in the grams of sugarcane consumed per gram of body mass among species (male cotton rats: 0.39 ± 0.03g; female cotton rats: 0.34 ± 0.03g; male roof rats: 0.25 ± 0.04g; female roof rats: 0.26 ± 0.04g; male rice rats: 0.49 ± 0.08g; female rice rats: 0.20 ± 0.06g); however, because mean body mass differed for each species (male cotton rats: 120.5 ± 4.5g; female cotton rats: 111.4 ± 5.3g; male roof rats: 182.3 ± 6.9g; female roof rats: 157.1 ± 5.5g; male rice rats: 81.8 ± 3.8g; female rice rats: 58.1 ± 1.9g), the projected amount of sugarcane consumed will be approximately the same for all rodents. Therefore, overall abundance of rodents in sugarcane fields is an adequate predictor of rodent damage and knowledge of relative abundance of different species is not necessary. Periodic estimates of within field rodent abundance may be used to prioritize locations for rodent control. Integrated pest management that incorporates ecologically friendly methods, such as the elimination of rodent refugia habitat, may reduce the need for chemical rodenticides while maintaining or enhancing the effectiveness of rodent control.