Boomrat

Boomrats inhabit temperate forests, temperate swamps, and arid shrublands. They create a powerful fire-starting explosion when killed, including when they are slaughtered, so be careful of that.

Boomrats are best hunted while it is raining because the rain will extinguish the fire that they make when they die, saving the colonists the job of putting it out.

They will also eat your crops if given the chance.

Taming

Tamed Boomrats are useful Release animals in raids or certain events, although they should be kept away from the main base (particularly the flammable parts).

Summary

On death, boomrats explode, doing 10 Flame damage in a 1.9 tile raidus. This explosion does not itself set fires nor create chemfuel puddles to burn but the Flame damage might ignite surrounding objects and pawns.

Tactics

They are a smaller version of the Boomalope and spawn in areas where the ground is mostly flammable. Like the Boomalope they are a punishment for being in an area with a long or year round growing season, and are very dangerous to settle near for a permadeath settlement as a manhunter pack of them can create a devastating fire with no hope of being stopped, that will eventually melt through steel. It is very hard for your colony to put the fire out until it rains. Consider avoiding them, and keeping them healthy. They are much less dangerous in rain, so consider exterminating as much of them as you can if it rains, or taming them to sell them, slaughter them in a lake, or an area with no risk of fire, such as a room with a firefoam popper or stone floors, if you ever lack the meat for high quality meals.

Training

This animal can be trained as follows:

Guard:
Attack:
Rescue:
Haul:

*As of version 1.1.2610, all animals can be tamed. The percentage of likelihood of success depends on factors such as the Animals Wildness Percentage, Pawn Handling Skill, and others. More information can be found on the animals page.

Health

Body part	Health
Head	10
Skull	10
Brain	4
Nose	4
Neck	10
Jaw	8
Eye ^[1] (left, right)	4
Ear (left, right)	4
Body	16
Kidney^[2] (left, right)	6
Lung^[2] (left, right)	6
Liver^[2]	8
Heart^[2]	6
Spine^[2]	10
Stomach^[2]	8
Limbs (left, right, fore, hind)	12
Appendage (left, right, fore, hind)	8

↑ Located inside of Head.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 Located inside of Body.

Lore

The origin of the boomrat has varied over time. In the initial release of the Revival Briefing, which is now considered non-canon, they were described as originating as a biological weapon that survived and bred after wars on the worlds they now inhabit. The current version of the Revival Briefing states that they, along with the boomalope, were originally engineered as a primitive renewable fuel source. While this holds true for boomalopes, boomrats cannot and could never be milked for chemfuel like boomalopes in-game which seems to contradict this purpose. Meanwhile, their current in-game description also disagrees with the current briefing and supports the now-obsolete original version, stating that their explosive tendencies are either a result of deliberate weaponization or intended as a defense mechanism.