Dusky-footed Woodrat, Neotoma fuscipes
This is a "country" rat, the same genus as the familiar Pack Rat of the southwest. With their large ears they look like large, cute
mice. The feet are white; the hind feet have black hairs, diagnostic for the species. Body: 6 inches, tail 7.
Common in oak woodlands in the Bay Area where they build conspicuous "apartment houses" -- mounds of sticks up to four feet
high with several sections inside for a harem of females and young. Generally nocturnal but highly adaptable, they will nest, feed
and breed as circumstances permit.
Also found in urban environments such as shown here. A female and two young are working up the nerve to run out on a patio to
scavenge seed scattered from a bird feeder.
They can climb trees and jump up to three feet, getting onto roofs and, in some cases, into attics. Not known to carry disease or
cause serious damage, they do leave a trail of fecal pellets and should therefore be excluded from human dwellings.
If they get into an attic they should be trapped, not poisoned. If they're poisoned with warfarin-type dehydration chemicals they
will crawl around for days, losing all fear in their search for water, ending up in the bellies of owls and hawks. This result has been
well documented (raptors found dead by swimming pools, fatally poisoned by D-Con). I also know this from experience.*
* Google “hawks, owls, rodenticides” for more info and numerous documented cases. One of the most revealing and alarming,
from the San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/01/05/super-toxic-rat-poison-behind-deaths-californias-wild-animals