1. Reproduction and Young of the Florida Wood Rat, Neotoma f. floridana (Ord)
- Author
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William J. Hamilton
- Subjects
Wet season ,Canopy ,Willow ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Ecology ,biology ,Alligator ,biology.organism_classification ,Archaeology ,Swamp ,Geography ,biology.animal ,Genetics ,Animal Science and Zoology ,Pack rat ,Nest site ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Nature and Landscape Conservation - Abstract
Little has been recorded on the reproduction and growth of young Neotoma f. floridana, although accounts of the subspecies of floridana and related species are available (English, 1923; Warren, 1926; Gander, 1929; Svihla and Svihla, 1933; Donat, 1933; Wood, 1935; Poole, 1936, 1940; Vestal, 1938; Vorhies and Taylor, 1940; Richardson, 1943; Linsdale and Tevis, 1951). The present report is based on captive Florida wood rats collected in the region of Sarasota, Florida by William Hegener and shipped to me in the early spring of 1950. These animals were taken in swamps three miles east of Venice, Sarasota County. Mr. Hegener believes that wood rats do not occur south of this locality. When shipping the specimens, Hegener wrote in reference to the nest site and young (in litt. March 21, 1950): "I was trapping for cotton rats (eight miles east of Tampa, Florida on March 21, 1950) in the dead, high sunflower stalks which surround the dried-up part of this swamp. The purpose was to get cotton rats with infection of microfilariae. In the middle of the swamp are willows and high ground, which even in the rainy season is a little above water. Under one large willow I found a one and a halffoot nest, made of dry sticks up to an inch in diameter, and dry leaves. The sticks and leaves reached in height about 3 inches over a low-slung thick branch of the willow bush. While I was wondering about this peculiarly built and located 'alligator nest' I thought I saw a flash of a fast moving animal into this rubbish heap. Upon investigation I observed two rather large entrance holes into the rubbish pile.... We returned to the nest with nets.... We took the pile carefully apart until we hit a populous colony of large bull ants.... When we had the entire pile levelled to the ground we decided that I had imagined things, since we had carefully watched that no animal would escape unnoticed.... I looked under the thick branch of the willow tree, after clearing off the rubbish pile, now about a foot above the ground. Underneath it I found a hole, going into the partly dried upper branch. A whitish tail end stuck out of it. I poked in the hole with a stick and removed a female pack rat with one baby hanging on its teat.... The pack rat has from two to three, sometimes four, which the females carry for about two months." This is the information we have on nesting of the Florida wood rat at its southern limits! I have searched the 'glade country for Neotoma sign but have not found them south of the limits Hegener indicates. Probably these rats occur in the recesses of the swamps farther south; others may find them in time. (A paper on Neotoma f. floridana by Pearson (1952) appeared after the present report had been submitted for publication. The data on growth of the young are essentially the same. Pearson indicates gestation may be 33 to 39 days. Other data closely agree with the present study.) The animals in this study were kept in sizeable hardware cloth cages in an outdoor animal shed. The shed was shaded by a canopy of leaves on trees that re180 Vol. 34, No. 2
- Published
- 1953
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