I thought rats were huge

[Dowser]

These two were only about three times the size of a mouse.
They were about 2 metres from our car on Barry waterfront and about 6 metres from a block of flats
Don’t think I’ve ever seen live ones on the streets before

Rats come in all shapes and sizes and types.
Some rats can get pretty big, but they're unlikely to be seen on the street.

They start small obviously they arent born huge!

Barry is probably full of them with the state people leave the beach in.

Just had a Google, the biggest ever caught in the UK is 21 inches. That's pretty big.

You do get some absolute whoppers in the sewers. They were doing work outside my house a few years back and I had a very efficient mouser for a cat who brought in several sewer rats almost as big as him. And didn’t kill them. Just dropped them and let them run around the living room.

I suppose it depends on your perception of the size of an average mouse.

I mean dormice are tincey. Hold on... a capybara is the worlds largest rodent at 100lbs so if that's your reference point then those rats were fucking massive.

I'm overthinking this.

They were probably very young rats that had escaped from a tunnel, sewer or something. Rats are generally much bigger than mice, I've had the odd one at home brought in through the cat flap by my cat (charming of him I know, he was so pleased with himself).

The biggest of my pet ones is 15 inches tip of nose to tip of tail. He weighs 550g. I don’t think they tend to get that big in the wild. Babies at 5 weeks (time to leave their nest I think around then) are very much smaller. Maybe 4-5 inches nose to tail.

I once saw a huge rat running down the street carrying a whole slice of toast. I have had pet rats, and this rat at least twice as big as mine.

They may have been juveniles, but they may also have been infected with toxoplasmosis, as it changes their behaviour and they become incautious.

www.nature.com/news/parasite-makes-mice-lose-fear-of-cats-permanently-1.13777

Well a mummy rat, I think, ran through our garden last night and it was bloody big, maybe you just see baby rats.
The family are never too far away, you never have just one.

There seem to be more about these days, and they are about when it's still light, as bold as brass.
I'm buying a flute.

Look at this lad.

First two pictures are of baby rats about 12 weeks old, Last photo is my old heart rat he was about 2 in this picture. I currently have a huuuuge boy in my mischief and some tiny babies. I've seen some peoples huge pet rats (usually boys) girls tend to be smaller and slimmer than boys.

Sorry I couldn’t post a pic from my phone last night but here it is now
Was about 7-30 pm so light quality not brilliant
These two were as bold as brass
Climbing in and out of those holes

Hi Dowser,
Your name was on that pic so we've taken it down, it should clear if everyone refreshes.

Rats are sadly misunderstood creatures. Very intelligent and adaptable. And yes, they can get quite big but frequently don't live long enough in the wild to do so.

It's harvest time here and we've got some whoppers running around. Just hope the cats don't get ambitious, I've got all on trying to stop the terrier from leaping into the hedges like a thing possessed.

Thank you mnhq

What I should have posted

We always notice more rats squashed on the roads at harvest time. Otherwise they're usually quite shy and just get on with their business.

My cats hauled home a massive rat one time. It had to have been 24 inches nose to bum (not including tail). It was the same weight as my smaller cat. Unfortunately, I had already disposed of the body when I had a google and saw the record at 21”. I was/am gutted because I to this day believe that my cats took down a record breaker.