Is this just a rat? (Don’t open if you don’t like rats)

[Era]

This chubby little thing was happily pottering around today by a lakeside. I thought it was a rat but it had a really flat face and was chubby and very furry. Is it just a fat rat or is it something else?

A water vole it is not! The coat is agouti coloured and not dark enough for a water vole and the tail is far too long, scaly and not fur covered as it would be if it were a water vole. It is a brown rat, despite the fact that the picture makes its snout look short and blunt. Its body posture and legs also clearly identify it as a brown rat

If rats were that cute I wouldn't mind them pottering around under my bird table....
I'm voting for chubby Water Vole too.

Tail is too long even for water vole, and the ears are too prominent. It's a rat.

Looking again at the photo, I think the rat's nose is hidden under a dead leaf or something. That's why it looks a bit unusual. It's clearly still a rat though.

Also utterly sure it's not a water vole.
It's a rat. The feet, the colour, the ears, the tail.... The location and feeding behaviour.

The face of a water vole and tail of a rat. If that's a rat it's the cutest one I've ever seen.

Cuuute

Definitely a water vole

It's very cute whatever it is 😍

It isn’t the best photo but I promise you it had a flatter face and smaller nose than any rat I’ve ever seen.

I think it's got a very muddy nose.

Not just a rat, but .... a dirty rat!

Looks like a vole (water rat).

I keep rats as pets and I can tell you categorically that the animal in that photo is 1000% NOT a rat. Those saying it's a rat are absolutely wrong. The head, body shape and tail are completely wrong for a rat. I have two rats sitting in the same room as me right now and they look nothing like the animal in that photo.

It's a vole - very clearly.

Could it be an escaped degus?

It categorically is not a vole - the tail alone is a dead giveaway - it is far too long and hairless to be that of a vole, the coat colouring is wrong, the body shape and posture are wrong, everything about it screams brown rat not watervole

@Magicpaintbrush and everyone else who thinks this is a vole - why don't you post a link to a photo of a water vole with a tail this long? It's equal to the head + body length. Likewise for the obvious ears - fur-covered in water vole.

This is also classic rat behaviour, and not at all what you would expect from a water vole.

Roughly how many inches do you think it was OP? Because it's impossible to know its size by the photo. But I think that's probably a young rat, not yet fully grown, which is why it's causing some confusion.

He's adorable whoever he is! Or she

That is a Degu! Someone's escaped pet Degu

If that was a baby rat then it was going to be a bloody enormous rat once fully grown. It was big. I’ll ask dh whether he took a photo

Not a degu - the ears are too short and, once again, the tail is far too long and not haiir covered.

My only other clear photo was of its bum

Bum photo if that helps

Size wise (I’m not very good on size) I’d say about 20cm ish excluding the tail (but I will double check with he who is better at measurements when he’s back)

Us Volers don't need to post a link to a photo of a Water Vole with its tail thar long because there's one in the OP 🤣.

How did it move @Era? (As in movements it made - rather than "on four legs"!)