In the desert where cactuses of many kinds abound woodrats’ nests are often made at the bases of these or other thorny plants and are covered with such a protective coating of cactus burrs as to deter the most insistent enemy. In the heavy forests of northern California woodrats build huge conical nests of sticks several feet in diameter on the ground, rising to a height of five feet or more.
In southern California and elsewhere some species make great nests of sticks eight to twenty feet from the ground in live oaks and other trees. The stick-pile nests on the ground usually have several entrances, with trails leading from them, and the underground burrows usually have two or more openings.
As may be surmised from their habits, woodrats are skillful climbers, both in trees and on the rough rock walls of the cliffs they inhabit. Their only notes appear to be shrill squeaks and squeals when quarreling among themselves at night. They also express annoyance or alarm by a rapid drumming on the ground with their hind feet, just as is done by some of the hares and rabbits.
On Santa Margarita Island, in Lower California, I found the most curiously located habitations of these animals I have seen, the bulky stick nests being placed well back in the midst of a mangrove thicket growing in a tidal lagoon. At high tide the mangroves were isolated from shore by several rods of water, so that only at low tide were the rats able to go ashore. In going back and forth they followed certain lines of nearly horizontal mangrove stems, the discoloration on the bark plainly indicating the routes which finally led to dry land by little trampled roads across the muddy ground bordering the shore.
Back a little way from shore others of the same species were living in burrows guarded by orthodox stick and trash-pile nests among the cactuses.
Woodrats, especially in northern localities, gather stores of pinyon or other nuts, potatoes, corn, and any other non-perishable food available to meet the season of storms and scarcity, concealing these supplies in cavities in the nests either above or below the ground. They eat many kinds of fruits, seeds, leaves, and other parts of plants, sometimes including bark of shrubs or small trees and even cactus pads.
As a rule each nest is occupied by a single rat, but sometimes several may be found in one, and the well-worn trails that so often connect the entrances of neighboring nests bear evidence that woodrats have a social disposition. In most localities woodrats are distributed sparingly, but occasionally become so abundant in favorable places on brushy plains that colonies containing hundreds of nests may be found in limited areas. They sometimes become so plentiful about ranches as to make serious inroads on grain and other crops. They also give the Forest Service much trouble by digging up the pine seeds planted in their great reforesting nurseries.
Woodrats are mainly nocturnal in habits and appear to be extremely active throughout the night. Each morning in the vicinity of their nests the light soil shows a multitude of tracks, and in places I have seen little roads in the sand several hundred yards long which they had made by repeated trips to a feeding ground.
No sooner is a cabin built in the mountains than they move in and establish themselves under the floor, or locate a nest near by and use the house as their nocturnal resort. Throughout the night the patter of their busy feet may be heard as they race about on the floor or rustle about the roof, and often over the sleeping forms of their unwilling hosts.
Their activities are sources of mingled amusement and vexation. Small, loose articles, including table knives, forks, and spoons, vanish and all manner of trash, including horse droppings, are brought in, thus establishing their title to the cognomen of “trade rats.” If the owner of a cabin leaves it for a few days, he may find on his return that the rats have taken possession and during his absence have tried to fill it with trash of all kinds, in order to make a comfortable home for themselves.