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Please identify this rodent for me

240 replies

Hullabaloo9 · 01/03/2022 16:10

OK my cat has been bringing in these rodents the last few days. Some are dead when I find them, some I rescue and put outside but one has escaped both me and cat. It is currently living in the cavity behind all my kitchen cupboards and popping up randomly in different drawers. I've emptied my kitchen and am now unsure what to do. Suggestions welcome!

Basically I would feel a lot happier if I'm dealing with a mouse or vole rather that (as I suspect) a baby rat. The picture is of one of the dead ones.

Please identify this rodent for me
OP posts:
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RatMam · 01/03/2022 17:29

Your cat is a real beauty, OP! Hope you manage to evict her little friend

DomesticatedZombie · 01/03/2022 17:29

[quote RatMam]@DomesticatedZombie

This one isn’t wild, don’t worry. Well, not in the same way as OP’s Wink He’s finishing for peas in a paddling pool in my living room currently after swinging from my curtains earlier!
This was when I picked him before he came home. He looks like this now Grin[/quote]
Gosh.

ReviewingTheSituation · 01/03/2022 17:30

Doesn't look that similar to the mice we get... (and they're definitely mice!) So I'd say rat.

oohaarghoohaargh · 01/03/2022 17:30

That rats got a huge set of bollocks 🙀

PermanentlyDizzy · 01/03/2022 17:31

Rodent breeding season is March to October, so it would be very early if it were a juvenile rat, especially when you consider it takes 3 weeks for them to mature enough to fend for themselves.

Having had both rats and mice (for the first time in the 50 years my family have owned this house) during the pandemic lockdowns, I think it’s probably a largish mouse. A body length of 10cm is typical of a mature adult mouse of most species (there are 6 in the UK) and in your photo, if the back legs weren’t stretched out it wouldn’t be a lot over that.

If you’re not sure on appearance alone, another way to check is their droppings. Rats tend not to just go everywhere (we didn’t find one dropping in the loft, despite hearing them careering around like elephants in clogs up there every night), but stick to set latrines to mark their territory, whereas mice, just poo prolifically everywhere they go. There are also clear differences in size and shape which are easy to google.

To be honest, as a pp said, where there is one there are more and if you book an appointment with a pest controller (some do a free initial appointment) they will know straight away what you’re dealing with. If you do, make sure they are properly accredited, especially if you are considering engaging them to use poison on your property. BPCA. If you decide to use human traps, you need to check them every 3-4 hours as mice can starve to death really quickly if left in one for longer, which kind of defeats the object of a humane trap.

Whatever you do, you need to do it swiftly as we are now coming into breeding season so what is a small-ish problem at the moment could get much worse over the coming months if left.

Nelliephant1 · 01/03/2022 17:31

It's not a baby rat, I have rats as pets. 🙂

It's a little field mouse, they're beautiful wee things and that's almost as big as it gets, but unfortunately they're a big target for cats.

If your cat has a (fast release) collar, maybe a big bell would help give them a bit of advance notice so that they can get out of the way.

MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers · 01/03/2022 17:32

@Bytrgrewd

Bat
😂😂
DomesticatedZombie · 01/03/2022 17:32

@oohaarghoohaargh

That rats got a huge set of bollocks 🙀
Does it, I was trying not to mention it didn't notice.
RockinHorseShit · 01/03/2022 17:33

It's a mouse for certain

Thighdentitycrisis · 01/03/2022 17:34

It looks like a young rat to me

MedusasBadHairDay · 01/03/2022 17:34

@RatMam

Baby rat if this helps?
So cute!
Nelliephant1 · 01/03/2022 17:34

I should also say that I'm a cat sitter so unfortunately have to deal with deceased field mice on a too regular basis and that's definitely what this wee one is. 😕

dementedpixie · 01/03/2022 17:34

This is the mouse my cat brought in. It was here overnight but managed to catch it using a cardboard box

Please identify this rodent for me
bruce43mydog · 01/03/2022 17:34

im thinking a baby rat, but i couldnt be sure

Nelliephant1 · 01/03/2022 17:35

@poodlepoop

Rat 🐀- get some snap traps
😡😡😡😡
Frlrlrubert · 01/03/2022 17:39

My initial thought was baby rat.

@DomesticatedZombie you boy is gorgeous, I miss mine so much (I developed an allergy)

RatMam · 01/03/2022 17:39

Sorry! Maybe I should have censored his picture Grin Having a mischief of boys of I’m used to it

Cookiecrumble22 · 01/03/2022 17:41

Rats keep getting on my house recently. My German shepherd has killed 3 baby ones today.

Waitwhat23 · 01/03/2022 17:43

@DomesticatedZombie there's a bit of controversy going on about those wallabies just now - there's a petition afoot www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-60319920

TheOldLadyOfThreadneedleStreet · 01/03/2022 17:45

That’s much bigger than the 4 mice I caught last month. So reckon it must be a rat. The mice moved things about, they carried nuts from one end of the kitchen to the other. Was woken by one jumping into a waste paper basket in my bedroom and rustling about in it one night! I got some humane traps and drove them 2 miles away before letting them go. Peanut butter in the traps worked well.

DomesticatedZombie · 01/03/2022 17:46

[quote Waitwhat23]@DomesticatedZombie there's a bit of controversy going on about those wallabies just now - there's a petition afoot www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-60319920[/quote]
fucksake Kirsty! No!

Hullabaloo9 · 01/03/2022 17:46

Thanks everyone. I've found the rat/mouses fav hiding spot in the cupboard under the sink. It stinks Envy. I've put 3 humane traps in there baited with Nutella, cheddar and Parmesan. Interested to see which he goes for. I will update in the morning, hopefully with a better picture.

OP posts:
BuddhaForMary · 01/03/2022 17:46

Looks exactly like the mouse our chihuahua caught last week. When we moved into our last property we discovered rats, a whole nest of them. Even the babies didn't look like your photo. I'm sticking with mouse.

averylongtimeago · 01/03/2022 17:52

It looks like a young rat to me- but to be honest it doesn't matter all that much. Rats get a lot bigger and can do lots of damage, but so can mice.

Both are filthy, dribble pee every where and shit on everything. They carry diseases and stink. They will all chew their way through electric cables and plastic pipes (voice of bitter experience) and you have to get rid of them.

Snappy traps - the plastic sort are more efficient than the old wooden sort. Bait with chocolate or peanut butter.
Humain traps aren't really- you have to take the rodent literally miles away (where they die slowly as they are away from their territory) or they just go home your house

And poison will poison your cat if he eats one, plus it's a horrid death and there is nothing quite as revolting as the smell of a long dead rodent under the floorboards Envy

PermanentlyDizzy · 01/03/2022 17:53

@Nelliephant1

I should also say that I'm a cat sitter so unfortunately have to deal with deceased field mice on a too regular basis and that's definitely what this wee one is. 😕
I agree, the paler stomach is a give-away. We have field/wood mice at the end of our garden and it looks far more like those than any of the rats we had. They are really beautiful little creatures, but sadly ours get attacked and killed by crows and jackdaws. (I also used to keep fancy rats as pets, many many moons ago and one of the first rats we ever had promptly delivered babies within a day of arriving at our house.)

This info sheet suggests an 11cm body length is possible. (Under identification, body length 8-11 cm.)

If they aren’t actually getting in, it’s just a case of the cat bringing them in, then a pest controller won’t do anything about field mice anyway. We’re very fond of ours, but our house is now fully rodent proofed after last year’s shenanigans.