**2.2 Rodents invader of strawberries**

There are numerous animal species that also love to these mouthwatering red berries. And that is why growers may often find their berries drilled or half-eaten in a specific style. Mice and some other rodents might be a key problematic for any horticulturist. They can remove seeds out of the ground, and eat gnaw on the foliage and eliminate any berries and fruit the plants produce. Soft fruits, such as strawberries, are mostly vulnerable to rodents attack. Strawberry plants deliver delicious and fresh fruits from a yard. They likewise act as an open offer for several pests, such as rodents that will feast on entire portions of the plant, as well as its roots. These vermin can result variable grades of injury to strawberry and in risky situations lurk to the lifespan of the plant.

Various rodents will eat strawberries, including mice, squirrels, chipmunks and rats that love to eat strawberries, Fortuitously, maximum of rodents live inside a smaller expanse and certainly not wander further than nearly 100 feet from anywhere they are born. If farmers can remove rodents habitation round strawberry plants, they would not have a problematic with mice and rats that steal to fruit [26].

### *2.2.1 Mice*

Characteristically, mouse is a small slender body mammal known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears and a thinly furred scaly tail (**Figure 16**) in family Muridae. Mice are a disastrous problematic equally outside and inside, and they may invade garden and home, nourishing on plants and foods. They are good jumpers and climbers as well as master swimmers, living in temperatures as low as 14°F and squeezing into openings greatly lesser than their body mass. Mice gnaw on the barks and roots of trees along with vegetable and fruit plants. They will likewise passage to other soft parts of the plants, for instance, fruits and foliage. Three utmost communal mice species expected to produce pest burdens for farm holders are house mouse (*Mus musculus* Linnaeus), white-footed mouse (*Peromyscus leucopus* Rafinesque) and deer mouse (*Peromyscus maniculatus* Wagner) [27, 28].

**Figure 16.** *Mouse.*

These furry wander often run across wild strawberries during their travels. They often eat every part of the strawberry, including the stalk, the berry and the roots of the plant. Grow mice repell plants near to the strawberries. Mint, lavender and catnip are all disliked by mice and other rodents, possibly because all these plants attract to cats.

### *2.2.2 Rats*

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the family Muridae and usually a large muroid rodent include the rat (**Figure 17**), while a smaller muroid is mouse. The best-known rat species are black rat also known as the ship rat (*Rattus rattus*) and the brown rat or wharf rat (*Rattus norvegicus*). Indeed, rats have long been considered deadly pests, they devour a wide range of plant and animal foods, and infest any area that provides shelter and easy sources of food and water. Rats are unwanted in gardens because of the damage they can cause to fruits, vegetables, seeds, bulbs, plants and containers. They can also expose people and pets to various diseases and parasites. Rodents can cause damage in garden, which can range anywhere from feasting on fruits and a wide range of garden vegetables, and damage to earth banks. The only rat species likely to find in garden is the brown (Norway) rat (*R. norvegicus*) [29].

Out of all foods the rodents consume, their top two loves are generally for fruits and berries. The wild rats and mice consume these foods at every opportunity, even before they are ripe. As a result, strawberries trees as well as blackberry and raspberry shrubberies can work as magnetic form for the animals. After unconsumed berries and fruits are left on their trees or bushes to rot, or left in exposed trash cans, these rodents are drawn by the sweetness and smell. Strawberries can be a good source of dietary fiber, water and nutrients as part of rat's weekly fresh foods rotation. Rats and mice are known to nibble on everything from grass and weeds to small twigs and bits of bark. Plant seeds are another favorite food among these animals [30].

The best way to keep rodents out of garden is to eliminate any harborage points around garden, and remove any potential nesting places by keeping of gardens clean and tidy. Remove piles of wood, clippings etc., and cut back overgrown areas. Rodenticides will be helpful to destroy a rodent populace. An appetizing bait formulation appeals to rats and mice having necessary odors, texture and taste with constituents such as oats. These features retain them eating until they have swallowed a fatal dosage by engaging to their natural wish for chewing [31, 32].

**Figure 17.** *Rat.*

*2.2.3 Voles*

Voles (Rodentia: Cricetidae) look similar to house mice, but have a rounded snout and head, smaller ears and shorter tail than the average house mouse. Their coats are dark brown with gray fur on their bellies (**Figure 18**). As herbivores, voles will eat plants, fruits, grasses, stems, leaves and berries. Voles feast on plants of all species including strawberries and other crops. There are a number of vole species, the

**Figure 18.** *Vole.*

maximum frequent being meadow vole (*Microtus pennsylvanicus* Rhoads), prairie vole (*Microtus ochrogastor* Wagner) and woodland or pine vole (*Microtus pinetorum* Le Conte) [33]. They usually feed on the above ground parts of strawberries including the foliage, seeds and fruits, and also gnaw bark from plants. They gladly chew on fruits throughout the plant's developing period, however will passage onto strawberry roots in the fall, spring and winter until their abdomens are filled. Clusters of grassland surrounded by grass pieces and brown or green rice-shaped feces is a symbol that voles are invading to orchard [34].
