It has a short body, with thick coarse hair coloured greyish brown on the back and pale grey underneath, and a thick tail, which is slightly shorter than the body. Norway rats are competent swimmers, capable of swimming 600m, earning them the name 'water rat'. These rats can jump 77cm vertically and 120cm horizontally. The ship rat has a pointed muzzle, large eyes and ears, a sleek body with a long scaly tail. Rat colours can vary from black to slate grey to tawny above and grey or yellow below.
Ship rats are excellent climbers and pose the greatest threat to our native wildlife.
These control methods are most suitable for small rat infestations particularly in buildings where poisoned rats will smell as they decay. Traps are available from supermarkets and hardware stores. Most poisons available for rat control are anticoagulants. These require feeding of the poisoned bait over several days and result in the death of the rat 5-10 days after eating the bait. Bait stations can be used to protect non-target animals from the poison and the poison from the weather.