I recently put out a bird feeder with a sunflower seed/corn kernel mix. The birds only like the seeds so I scattered the corn on the ground for squirrels and other birds. Lo and behold here come a couple of rodents who came out and chowed down. At first I thought they were rats but their bodies and noses seem more rounded than a rat’s. I feel like I should know what they are :smack:
I haven’t seen anything like them scampering around the house, but after they ate they headed back toward the foundation so I am curious about who is around.
My guess would be voles. It’s hard to say from that photo, particularly since you give no indication of where you are. Wildlife changes by region, y’know.
If they are New York Gangster Rats (or Hollywood Gangster Rats, the two breeds are related), you may refer to them as Doidy Rats. Yeah-yeah, doity rats, see? Yeah!
p.s. forgot to mention - voles look pretty much like giant mice, at least the ones around here. Not as pointy and lank as rats, but way too big for field mice.
I’m in Vermont. Rats, eh? I guess I’m trying not to be weirded out by that, since as I mentioned they haven’t come to visit in my living space. Voles sounds cuter though.
Agreed. In my decidedly non-expert opinion, the critters in the picture appear to be mice. It’s been a while since I spent much time among rodents, but voles are out because of tale length and the snouts and tails (as Dorjän notes) don’t look right for rats.
Given the size relative to the cinder block, range, and other key characters, I would say they must be Norway RatsRattus norvegicus. It’s a little hard to be absolutely sure since the photo is a bit dark and the scale not entirely certain. If they are living in your foundations, it’s probably just a matter of time before they find their way into your kitchen.
One thing they definitely are not is voles, which are smaller, rounder, and have much shorter tails relative to body length.
Re the guesses as to other kinds of “mice,” I think the size rules out anything but a rat of some kind. The bare tail makes it almost certainly a species of Rattus. Black rats Rattus rattus have tails longer than the body; woodrats/packrats *Neotoma * have furry tails, and in any case don’t range into Vermont; neither do cotton rats Sigmodon.
Yes, that first picture does look very similar. I’ve lived here four years and haven’t seen them in the living area (or scurrying around when I go into the basement). I hope that supplying extra food won’t get them all excited to plunder the house! or attract more than would be there anyway.
