Abundance of rats (family : muridae) at food stalls and restaurants in Jeli, Kelantan.

• Main Author: Nurul Ain Saharuddin
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Pacific; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: http://umkeprints.umk.edu.my/9005/; http://umkeprints.umk.edu.my/9005/1/NURUL%20AIN%20SAHARUDDIN.pdf

Jeli, Kelantan is mainly covered with hilly forest landscape and networks of river and also surrounded with agricultural plantation, residents and infrastructure developments which indicate the potential of vast diversity and abundance of rats (Family Muridae). A study was conducted to determine the abundance of rats (Family Muridae) using cage traps technique, installed at 30 selected food stalls and restaurants at Jeli, Kelantan. This study recorded three species which are House Rat (Rattus rattus), Malaysian Wood Rat (Rattus tiomanicus) and Pacific Rat (Rattus exulans), all from genus Rattus. The total number of individuals trapped were 27 of which 12 were R. rattus, 10 were R. tiomanicus and five were R. exulans where all are collected from 13 sampling sites. Out of 12 R. rattus trapped, five were male and seven of it were female, with three of them were pregnant. Rattus tiomanicus consist of four male and six female with no gestation, while R. exulans has two male and three female with no gestation. The other 17 sampling sites recorded with no data due to the presence of limiting factors. The biological control such as pets at the sampling sites, wet condition during the trap nights, fruits season, predation, competition for the same sources and humans interference were the limiting factors as it all affecting the successful rate of the trapping. This makes the abundance of rats (Family Muridae) at food stalls and restaurants in Jeli, Kelantan was low. However, increasing the trapping effort and using different types of baits can helps to ensure the data collected in future study to be significance.