What is the Difference Between Rats and Mice?

Small rodents are like plants. When they stay where they are supposed to (be it in a cage or a pot) they are loved; but when they just appear of their own volition, they are eradicated. Rats and mice are both kept as pets and there are some interesting differences between them.

  1. Identification

    • Mouse is the generic name for any small rodent including house mice, voles, and hamsters. The scientific Latin name for a house mouse is mus musculus. The word comes from the Sanskrit for "thief", a totally apt desciption of the house mice that sneak into the kitchen foraging for crumbs in the night. Rats have a more specific identification as members of the Muridae family.

    Features

    • House mice grow to be between 2.5 and 3.5 inches tall not including the length of its tail. They can weigh between one-half to one ounce. They are covered with soft fur that is either gray or brown on the back but white on the underside. The tail is covered in skin arranged in what looks like tiny scales. They also have dark whiskers that they use to feel their way around.

    Types

    • Rats, on the other hand, grow to be 7 to 8 inches tall excluding the tail. They can weigh up to 10 ounces. Rats tend to have large ears. While there are 120 different kinds of rat, two are the most common. Rattus rattus is the scientific name for black rats and R. norvegicus is the scientific name for brown rats.

    Potential

    • House mice have litters of four to seven babies as often as once per month. They are pregnant for between 18 and 21 days. The babies are born without fur, totally pink. Ten days later they get fur and at 14 days, they open their eyes for the first time. Rats only have 3 to 6 litters of between 6-9 babies per year. The babies are born 21 days after conception and remain in the nest for about three weeks after birth.

    Effects

    • Both mice and rats are omnivores, eating plants and meat. Rats are much more dangerous, however, because they will hunt in a large group. Rats have even been known to mass attack chickens and even larger animals like pigs.

    Warning

    • Rats can be extremely dangerous for another reason too. They carry diseases like bubonic plague and typhus which can become epidemic and deadly to humans. While originally native to Asia, they have spread throughout the earth stowing away on ships.

    Benefits

    • Both mice and rats can benefit humans because of their small size and rapid rate of reproduction. They are frequently used in laboratory experiments to explore topics in psychology, medicine, nutrition, and genetics. People who raise snakes and lizards often buy live or frozen mice and rats to feed to these larger animals. Of course, because mice and rats are smart and respond to their human trainers, they also make fun pets.