Here, below left, David Omick (extended arms visible at upper left) lifted a piece of plywood to reveal the packrat hiding right in its nest, which is in a depression dug out of the soil beneath the plywood, directly in the center of the photo. On this occasion, in February 2001 we were moving some scrap lumber which had been lying in place for some years on a terrace in lower Hot Springs Canyon, and within which a packrat had built an extensive nest in the mess. Our first marginal success was the following video captures, stills of which give some idea of both nest and animal. In the past, our efforts to photograph packrats were largely unsuccessful - on one noteworthy occasion, the Infrared camera setup had its extension wire bitten through by one of these beasts the very day of its installation. This one below has constructed its nest in a pile of fallen saguaro limbs, filling in the gaps with protective materials with a variety of cacti and other plant materials brought from locations nearby.
#Packrat photo free#
They may therefore need to drink no free water. These woodrats feed mainly on Cholla cacti where these are available, or on Prickly Pear.
This serves as a daytime retreat (well shaded from the intense summertime heat) and as a nursery. There may also be some underground tunnels leading to the nest, which is built of fine grasses or shredded fibers and about 6" in diameter, with an interior cavity about half that size. The nest consists of two parts - the house (the collected material, which is mostly above ground) and the nest (which is usually dug partway below ground). The cacti parts serve both as nest-protectors and as food. White-throated Woodrats have a definite association with stands of Cholla and Prickly Pear cacti, which they use to build their nests, cutting the cacti into 3-4"-long pieces and carrying them to the nest site in their mouths. mexicana) may occur in our general area but is more of a montane species.
The White-throated Woodrat is found throughout Arizona, while the Mexican Woodrat ( N. Woodrats - members of the Genus Neotoma - are large-bodied and long-tailed rats with (in our Arizona forms) relatively well-haired tails. Main source: Hoffmeister, Donald, 1986, Mammals of Arizona, Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Packrat or White-throated woodrat ( Neotoma albigula)
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