Please identify this rodent for me

[Hullabaloo9]

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.

@Cookerhood

There's a Facebook group called something like "rat ball appreciation page". People post photos of their pet rats' dangly bits

Shut up, there is not!

Cookerhood that was a 'taken aback' shut up, not a rude 'shut up'. Hopefully that came across.

I understood
I've just checked, it's called "Rat Ball Appreciation Group"

Jesus. I think that's enough social media for me for today, thank you.

Could be a shrew

No. They're really quite distinctive. Very pointed snouts. Tend to be much smaller, with the exception of the water shrew, but that's got a very distinctive white belly and much darker topside. Shrews are insectivores rather than rodents. Not that that makes much difference in identifying what this is, unless the OP really wants to dig around.

It's a rat/ mouse hybrid called a rouse... mum is a rat and dad is mouse

Shameless placemark and gets comfy sitting on the fence

It looks just like the mice we currently have, i cant bring myself to use poison to hurt them though, and they are too bloody light to set off the snap traps i've tried.

It's the Rat of the Highway...,
😈

Are you all blind?? That is most definitely a badger

I would say its a field mouse which are slightly bigger than a house mouse. Definitely not a rat as they appear more "hunched" in posture (even when dead). Good luck in catching it, I have had many a fun afternoon catching these with my bare hands whilst trying to elbow my tabby out of the way. Not fun.

Has rat ears. Small/juvenile rat.

Right, has anyone kept a tally?

423 mouse
423 rat
5 shrew
1 badger
1 wallaby
67 ratballs are surprisingly large

@DomesticatedZombie

Right, has anyone kept a tally?

423 mouse
423 rat
5 shrew
1 badger
1 wallaby
67 ratballs are surprisingly large

And a partridge in a pear tree….. sorry had to do it 😂

@TheEponymousGrub

Rat. I have had both and that one's a rat. Which is bad news, because rats are very very very hard to catch in the humane traps, whereas mice are easy. The first time we had mice, I (stupidly) let them out in the garden and they just kept coming back. And why wouldn't they? Chocolate every night and safety from the cat, and release in the morning! I had to let them out a bit farther away to solve the problem. The rat humane trap was completely useless because rats are neophobic, apparently. That's what the ratkiller told us, in the end...

I have found it really easy to catch rats in the humane traps.

We had a rat setting up home in our conservatory recently, caught it on night one and released it back into the garden after stopping up the place where it was getting in.
I have occasionally had to release a rat further away, yes they hate new areas but rats have successfully colonised new places all over the world, after coming in on boats etc. They will find new places when buildings are demolished, they are intelligent and surviors. I try and release rats somewhere with other rats around and plenty of cover. I don’t want to kill them, I just don’t want them indoors.

Good evening. Nothing in the traps this morning so either it doesn't fancy my offerings or it's too big or smart! We did have chaos this evening though with killer cat chasing a rodent around the kitchen and eventually out the front door. Not sure if it was my resident one or a fresh one caught this evening. 10 mins later the bloody cat brought it back in through the cat flap round the back and put it down again!!!

I think I'm going to have to lock the cat flap so he can only come in empty handed (or mouthed?). He's going to be furious though .

Bloody cats!! Think they are being so helpful!!

Not particularly relevant but my daughter had pet rats and they were lovely...very affectionate and very attached to her.

@Mumdiva99

Bloody cats!! Think they are being so helpful!!

If they bring you kills they're feeding you. If they bring you...half kills...they're training you. Like a mother cat trains its kittens to hunt. They think we are useless cats that they feel some affection for so are trying to help out.

Or normal cats do anyway. One of mine actually is a useless cat (super sweet and lovely but wouldn't last a day in the wild) but the other is a master hunter.

Update. I have more pictures. Cat still bringing them in every night. This morning there were 2 hiding from him in an upturned bucket. This afternoon he brought this one home. The original one that was in the cupboard is now in some boxing in that runs round the kitchen ceiling.

So, with the new pics.... big mouse or baby rat???

Still a mouse

Mouse

@Hullabaloo9

Update. I have more pictures. Cat still bringing them in every night. This morning there were 2 hiding from him in an upturned bucket. This afternoon he brought this one home. The original one that was in the cupboard is now in some boxing in that runs round the kitchen ceiling.

So, with the new pics.... big mouse or baby rat???

@Hullabaloo9 what I'd it sitting on ?

Agree still a mouse. To be sure I suggest keeping it as a pet and feeding it up....

Meese