Rats like to chew but a certain target will be a cable that gets in their way. If they want to get through a bored hole and a cable is there they will open up the hole. It really seems to be a radial chew, making a nice round hole through the whole circumference but they will certainly take the wire down to the conductors and beyond.
(had it happen in my boat)
They also just pick a wire and chew it but that still may just be in the way of where they are going.
Rats are just a fact of life around here. They are "country rats" (Roof rats rattus rattus AKA fruit rats, tree rats or the chamber of commerce name "palmetto squirrel") but there are plenty of them.
I really don't see much difference between them and the fuzzy tail squirrels.
The big Norway and brown rats more likely what you see in the big city.
