Rat vs Mouse
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Both mice and rats are sociable creatures.
But rats prefer to stick with family and hide.
Mice are much more curious and will stray from the family to explore.
That is why you will find mouse droppings all over the place, and rats will be found in a designated area. The rat bathroom?
Muricide and Rats
Rats groom one another, care for one another, and even have empathy toward one another, but if they are hungry, they will eat anything, even smaller rats and mice. This is called Muricide.
Domesticated versus Wild
Rats will treat their pet owner like family. Mice, to some extent, are the same. They are familial and get close to their kin and to their owner if they are a domesticated pet.
However, wild rats and mice are a different story for two reasons:
Disease and Damage
Despite the fact much of children's literature has a rat or mouse hero, wild rats and wild mice can carry bacteria and disease that might be problematic and harmful to your family. Their urine and feces can be toxic, and have been known to cause asthma.
Teeth
Both like to gnaw with their front incisors and have the same number of teeth.
Rats leave a distinguishable larger bite mark and a mouse will leave a much more perfect little circle the size of a dime.
But both will gnaw on just about anything, from wires, to furniture, to wood and even a dog bowl.
Intelligence and Physical Capabilities
Rodents are highly intelligent creatures. In fact, in the Harvard Business Review they stated rats were even more intelligent than humans (hbr.org/2015/01/rats-can-be-s....
It is because their brains are similar in function and structure to the human brain. And despite not being as complex, they take what information is useful and leave the extra fluff out. "Pinky and the Brain" wasn't too far off.
This might make rats a little tougher to catch or trap if they figure out what you're doing. They can supposedly smell a predator or trap a "mile" away.
Mice, on the other hand, are very curious. They will more easily fall for a trap. But unlike rats, they can jump a lot further and are much sprier.
So, rats are smarter, but mice are more agile.
Communication
Rats and mice can communicate not only with squeaks and such, but they actually make a high frequency sound that cannot be heard by human ears. They’ll even tap their tails to send messages.
Main Difference - SIZE
Mice have small rice grain shaped droppings about 1/4 inch, and they will be spread out; possibly 75 or 80 a day.
Rats have larger banana-shaped droppings at around 1/2 to 3/4 inches, and they drop around 40-50 a day, but always in the same area.
Mice can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime, and they love to go all over the place for food sources.
Rats are a little bigger and have a set area where they will stay. They can fit through a hole the size of plum or slightly smaller.
Mice are usually more varied in color, but are more commonly around brownish tones. They like to live in dark places, like rats, and like to burrow and nest.
Wild rats are always around brown to darker brown to black. In the US the most common are the roof and Norway rats. Roof live in higher places, like trees and attics, and Norway rats like to burrow, similar to mice.
Mice have hairy tails, about the same length of their bodies, with small feet and large ears.
Rats have hairless tails, about the same length as their bodies and large feet and small ears.
Mice will have around 4 to 16 pups per litter; that's around 7 to 8 litters per year; which makes one female mouse produce anywhere from 28 to 128 babies in a year. Can anyone say, "infestation?" And each little mouse can consume around 3 grams of food a day, and need little water.
Rats will have around 5-10 pups per litter; that's around 3 to 6 litters a year, which means one female rat can produce from 15 to 60 pups a year.
Unlike mice, the rat needs to eat around 15 to 30 grams per day and they drink much more water at around 15 to 60 ml a day. They will travel a mile away just for a glass of water.