Quote:
Originally Posted by beeflysmith  The size of a wood mouse foot may be recorded as max 23mm but the post is comparing a baby rat with a house mouse, the idea that it was a wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) was suggested by another forum user. The nearest I have to a definitive answer is below from a rodent control officer -
"I have looked at your photo and can confirm the rodent is in fact a Mouse.
(A baby rat is a bit like comparing a Puppy from a large dog to a adult
small dog) It's head and feet are disproportionate to its body, and a baby rats tail is much shorter and fatter than an adult mouse"
I would be interested though if your book has the same information regarding foot size for the house mouse (Mus musculus) as this was the initial query.
One last thing which I have been unable to find again this time is the weight of both/either - my wife found a site which indicated that a fully grown house mouse got to a certain weight (for arguments sake I'll say 25gm max) whereas a baby rat, by the time it was independent of it's parents weighed in at a much heavier weight (again, not exactly sure but say 35gm) and it was on this basis my wife decided it had to be a house mouse - that was an earlier capture a couple of years ago, I didn't weigh this little critter but if I capture another I will. |
House Mice are smaller than Wood Mice - maximum length of hind foot is 19mm. House Mice are also duller grey brown and not white underneath, just pale grey brown.
Your photograph shows,to my mind, the disproportionate size of the head and feet that your PCO mentions.
Wood Mice that I have seen have much more slender tails, and are more brightly coloured with finer fur than in your picture.
I'll stick to my first opinion - this is a young Brown Rat.
Body weight of
Adult Wood Mice 12 - 27g
Weaned Brown Rat c 40g
Adult House Mice 12 - 22g
henrya