can anyone help with a discussion me and my sister are having?
I say Mouse
she says Rat
http://s1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/willthekitten/sdmb/?action=view¤t=ratormouse.jpg
euhm …and no I’m not talking about the cat
Young rat.
okay…how can you tell?
Yeah, that’s way too big to be a mouse, at least where I live. It’s possible they grow them bigger where you are.
However, it almost looks like there’s fur on the tail from here. That indicates something more like a gerbil (or Kangaroo Rat, roughly the same thing in the wild), which would also be bigger than a mouse: mice and rats generally have bare tails, in my understanding.
location Amsterdam, so it might be a mouse on drugs?
That’s a mouse.
As far as I remember, the easiest way to determine if it is a rat or a mouse is by the shape of the head. Mice have a triangular head with a distinct pointed end. Rat heads are blunter and more rounded.
ETA: I think it is a large mouse.
The short, skinny tail, face shape, and large head in relation to the body all make me say mouse. I’ve seen quite a few mice that large.
Here are some similar looking rats. The tail is longer and thicker, and even in the second photo where the body is scrunched up, you can see the head is much smaller proportionally than your guy’s.
Now, here’s a similarlooking mouse. Short skinny tail, big head on smaller body, and so on. Could be your guy’s brother.
Definitely a mouse.
A little on the large side for a mouse, but not extraordinarily so.
So I guess the kitten survived, then?
Google image results for “young rat”: http://www.abcomplete.co.uk/photos/youngrat.jpg
You tell me.
ETA: it’s the feet that give it way for me - too big for a mouse.
Great username/OP combo.
thnx:)
What if your cat ate the head? When one of my cats caught a mouse, I found a dead mouse with no head. Evidently someone thinks the head is the best part.
Here’s a convenient page. Look at “young rat versus adult mice”:
http://www.ratbehavior.org/RatsMice.htm#TellApart
The relative paw size is another pointer. Looking at that, I tend to agree that it’s a big mouse.
Reading that list of criteria, it sounds more like rat to me. Thick-ish tail that appears to be (though it’s hard to tell) shorter than the body and big paws.
Perhaps. It’s sort of indeterminate. I could accept either.
Young rat. Big feet, thick tail, wide muzzle and rounded head. Mice have daintier features.
I recommend this book
It’s definitely a rodent.
I’ve seen plenty of big mice and juvenile rats and this looks like the latter not the former.