Is this a baby rat or mouse or something else?

March 31, 2015 12:34 PM

My friend found this in his kitchen today, but not sure if this is a baby mouse or a baby rat? Can anyone help?
posted by butterball to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

looks like a baby rat to me, but a little hard to tell from the angle. Large feet & head suggest rat.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:40 PM on March 31, 2015

I'd say rat. If you look at photos of baby rats and baby mice it definitely resembles the former.
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:46 PM on March 31, 2015

Ooo, here's some diagrams! And this: "baby rats will have more juvenile proportions than adult rodents. Their heads and feet will be large relative to their bodies, their faces will be stubby and blunt with wide noses. Adult mice, on the other hand, will have adult proportions: a small, triangular head with a small nose and little delicate feet as compared to the body. In addition, mouse ears are very large relative to their heads, rat ears are smaller relative to their heads. Rats also have thicker tails than mice."
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:46 PM on March 31, 2015

It's hard to tell juvenile mice and rats apart on sight, but the size of the ears (small relative to head), size of the feet (large relative to body) and the seeming scaliness of the tail suggest a rat. If there are mice around, he'll be seeing their scat on / behind his kitchen appliances soon enough. Scat volume is one good way to tell what you're dealing with (mice make a lot more).
posted by ryanshepard at 12:48 PM on March 31, 2015

That definitely looks like a rat tail to me. (And it's sooo cute! But not in the house!)
posted by catatethebird at 12:49 PM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]

baby rat, just look at that tail. if you don't have the heart to kill it just drop it off outside and it'll take care of itself. i know that it's terrible of me, but rats are filthy creatures.
posted by nephilim. at 12:56 PM on March 31, 2015

Best answer: That is a rat.

Source: Years of working in a biotech environment with mice and rats.
posted by Everydayville at 12:56 PM on March 31, 2015 [9 favorites]

Please tell friend to look for the rest of them. I found a rat on my porch and was told if I see one then the place is infested. They were right. Took a while to get at least 20 of them out from the crawl space.
posted by donaken at 2:27 PM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]