WOOD RAT

also called Pack Rat, or Trade Rat (genus Neotoma), any of 22 species of North and Central American rodents, belonging to the family Cricetidae (order Rodentia), found from deserts and forests to high, rocky mountainsides. Wood rats are pale buff, gray, or reddish brown, usually with white undersides and feet. They have relatively large ears and, usually, hairy or bushy tails. They are 23 to 47 cm (9 to 18.5 inches) long, including the 8- to 24-centimetre (3- to 9-inch) tail. Basically nocturnal and vegetarian, wood rats live in nests built of plant material, such as twigs or cactus. The nest, which may be more than 1 m (3 feet) across, is placed in a tree or on the ground at the base of a tree, rock ledge, or cactus. The nests of desert-dwelling wood rats, built in and of cactus, may present an impregnable barrier to predators. Wood rats are commonly called pack, or trade, rats because they collect various bits of material to deposit in their dens. They sometimes pick up shiny objects in camps and may at the same time leave something they were carrying, thus giving the impression that they are trading one item for the other.