author(s)
B Anusha, M Srinivas and N Srinivasa Rao

abstract
The survey conducted in five locations of High Altitude and Tribal Zone revealed that there was low incidence of rodent pests with respect to Live Burrow Count per ha and also damage incidence. The rodent species, Rattus rattus was found to be predominant in all the five locations of High Altitude and Tribal Zone with 90.25% and mostly confined to storage structures, buldings and houses followed by Bandicota bengalensis with 6.66%. The trap index for R. rattus was found to be high with 0.18 in Regional Agricultural Research Station, Chinthapalli, and low with 0.08 trap index in Kokkirapalli village. For B. bengalensis the trap index was calculated and found to be medium with 0.01 in Regional Agricultural Research Station and Horticutural Research Station, Chintapalli and Rinthada village and 0.006 in Asaraada and Kokkirapalli villages. The trap index for M. booduga was very low in all the villages. The overall trap index for all the three rodent species was high in Regional Agricultural Research Station, Chinthapalli with 0.19 trap index, and low in Kokkirapalli village with 0.10 trap index. The trapped R.rattus species were sexed, weighed and observations were taken on different morphological parameters like weight of the animal, tail length and body length. The mean weight of the male and female were 185.35g and 121.04g respectively. The tail length and body length of the males were 18.98cm and 14.00cm respectively, whereas in case of females it was 17.14cm and 13.86cm respectively. The mean sex ratio of Male: Female is 1: 0.61.