Identify Mystery Rodent

2.6k · August 5, 2004

I once had a cup of tea with a sweet old English lady at a London and Southern Counties Mouse and Rat Club show. She looked like Miss Marple. I asked her about the mice that weren't quite show quality. "Oh, yes," she trilled, "I take them by their little tails, and..." I'm sure I turned green.

See, this is why I don't breed show rats. I'm exactly the sort of squishy goopbag Uncle Disney was aiming all those preposterously cute Sunday night 'nature' specials at.

Hold a happy thought, though. Bob is still taking the sugar water and appears to be resting comfortably.

1.8k · August 5, 2004

OK, now maybe it's a little weird. How can you use "show quality" in the same sentence with "rat?"

2.6k · August 5, 2004

OK, now maybe it's a little weird. How can you use "show quality" in the same sentence with "rat?"

Oh, the LSCMRC is quite particular about these things. They've been judging show rats since Victorian times.

At London & Southern Counties Mouse & Rat Club shows the rats are judged to the Standards published by the National Fancy Rat Society, apart from the LSCMRC Unstandardised class.

As well being of the correct colour, the rat should also comply with the General Standard of Excellence, or General Conformation. This is the general shape and appearance which all exhibition rats should possess. Here is an extract:

The rat shall be of good size, does long and racy in type, with bucks being of a bigger build. The rat should be arched over the loin, firm fleshed with clean long head, but not too pointed at the nose. The eyes shall be round, bold, clean and of good size. The tail shall be cylindrical and as long as the body, thick at the base, tapering to a fine point. The ears, feet and tail shall be covered with fine hair. The coat shall be smooth and glossy (except the Rex type). Bucks are larger than does and have a harsher coat. Poor health or condition, bare patches, kinked or short tail, and scaly ears are all considered serious faults. No whiskers, severe scabs, fleas or mites, obvious ill health, and a lack of tameness are reasons for disqualification.

What...you thought you had the geekiest hobby on the planet?

edit: spelling oopsie

Edited August 5, 2004 by AuntieWeasel

August 5, 2004

Its been awhile since I last trapped gophers on the rancho and would put the dead ones on the fence posts where the Great Horned Owls would pick them up, so I can't remember how long their tails are.

Could it be a gopher? Does it have little pouches in its mouth?

August 5, 2004

Okay, found the answer. Our western gophers have a short tail, but your eastern pocket gophers have a long tail, but I don't know how furred it is.

New theory: Pocket Gopher

August 6, 2004

I generally like the straight face answers that geocachers give to all sorts of questions but Briansnat first responce to the question is the best I've ever read on the forum. I like this guys humor!

August 6, 2004

I am pretty sure it is not a vole. I worked breeding voles for research for some time, and voles have very short tails. Also, the voles I worked with (Kansas, Illinois, and Meadow) did not have such long snouts. And a juvenile vole would be a fraction of the size of that mammal.

I think it is a tumor.

Or a pigeon without wings. HAW HAW!

August 6, 2004

I'm tending toward Eastern woodrat, but he is cute for one!

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site..._floridana.html

The meadow jumping mouse is kinda neat but I'd want more pics before declaring anything.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site..._hudsonius.html

Please post more!

-Jennifer

August 6, 2004

I think it is a tumor.

Its not a tumor!

(had to do it)

-J

August 6, 2004

That thing is a baby Muggle. Within weeks all of it hair will fall out, the tail will vanish and it will start to plunder your caches!

I'm in MA, and you're in RI. Our pesky rodents are basically the same...raccoons, squirrels, possums, skunks, chipmunks. I'm on board with the squirrel idea...especially with that baby blockhead.

Also noticing its hands...nature engineered that little guy for tree work, not digging. God bless ya for savin the little guy.

-=Nebula 3=-

August 6, 2004

These people might be helpful

I'm still stumped -- maybe it's a chihuahua?

Bec

August 6, 2004

boy I'm stumped. Mabey you should put a t/b tag on it and sen it round someone will have to know what it is and if not it would have gone on a great vacation.

2.5k · August 6, 2004

boy I'm stumped. Mabey you should put a t/b tag on it and sen it round someone will have to know what it is and if not it would have gone on a great vacation.

Is this like Hamster caching?

August 6, 2004

I generally like the straight face answers that geocachers give to all sorts of questions but Briansnat first responce to the question is the best I've ever read on the forum. I like this guys humor!

Oh no, please don't encourage him !

2.6k · August 6, 2004

The Bob Report: still with us, but don't get too attached

Woke up at 3 am dreaming I was moving a Woolworth's hamster into my old college apartment, which had mysteriously stood empty all these years filling with raccoon poop from the attic. Yeah, you don't have to be Sigmund Freud. Expected to find Bob in the past tense, but he was up and lively and eager for his breakfast (a little formula and a lot of sugar water). Not long after, though, he let out a squeak and showed signs of distress, though not for long.

Unfortunately, he'd crawled out of the clean tupperware into the general aquarium in the night, so I couldn't really tell if he'd done anything interesting in his sleep. Given the occasional squeak, I figured I'd better leave him in the car this morning. It's overcast and strangely cool in Boston today; it might not even hit 70°. He ate again before I came in the office.

Weather the same tomorrow. If he's still with us, he's going caching!

3.9k · August 6, 2004

I just did a Google on baby squirrels, and he looks just like one.

baby squirrel

El Diablo

2.6k · August 6, 2004

I just did a Google on baby squirrels, and he looks just like one.

He looks exactly like one, except he's about 1/3rd the size of the ones I raised a few years back. And his tail isn't hairy enough. I reckon a baby squirrel that size would be completely naked and pink. (I'll have to rummage around and see if I can find a picture of my tree rats).

August 6, 2004

I just got confirmation here at work from "someone in the know" (she's rehabed a few little critters) and she says that it is definitely a squirrel.....

Bec

August 6, 2004

Regardless of what this hapless little varmint turns out to be, I just know I'm going to be heartbroken if anything happens to the little guy. Thanks for being so compassionate about caring for him (and the others you've encountered), AuntieWeasel.

August 6, 2004

He looks exactly like one, except he's about 1/3rd the size of the ones I raised a few years back.

Which makes him a squirrel, perhaps a red squirrel or a grey runt (which would explain abandonment).

A grey runt would be statistically far more likely. Either way second litters occur this time of year.

I think it's funny you made this statement now, if it looks exactly like a squirrel but is the wrong size, that doesn't make it a vole or a mystery!

What's the line? "...have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be true" I'm sorry, but it's impossible for a wrong-sized baby squirrel to grow up and become a vole!

Heh,

Randy

2.6k · August 6, 2004

I'm sorry, but it's impossible for a wrong-sized baby squirrel to grow up and become a vole!

Yes, yes...and Shetland ponies are obviously malnourished Clydesdales.

I'm telling you, if this thing's a squirrel, he's never going to be able to get undressed in the gym with the other squirrels. He's not only a third the size he ought to be, he's got a mouse tail.

Mister Google, he say there are 1,729 species of rodents alive on the planet. I bet they all look like rats when they're an inch long.

4.7k · August 6, 2004

i'm placing my bet on "squirrel", maybe the runt of a litter, although i haven't ruled out "rat". the nose isn't pointy enough for most rat species, but there are some blunt-nosed ones.

the really eciting thing is that you get to find out what he's going to be.

2.1k · August 6, 2004

I'd like some of that action...

No offense to Diablo, but every mouse and rat I raised for 2 years (over 1000 in total) looked exactly like that baby squirrel picture until it started growing hair and didn't get a bushy tail, etc.

Whatever it is, the latest pic on the sock convinces me that it was left behind by mom because it was a runt (could be her first litter which usually are low count and undernourished or just the smallest and least fed of the bunch). Sometimes my runts would be the most active of the bunch once I could get them separated from the rest. Sometimes they were the first to go from the litter. I don't remember too many runts that could hold the average with the rest of the generation.

August 6, 2004

I'm sorry, but it's impossible for a wrong-sized baby squirrel to grow up and become a vole!

I'm telling you, if this thing's a squirrel, he's never going to be able to get undressed in the gym with the other squirrels. He's not only a third the size he ought to be, he's got a mouse tail.

I think I ruled out Woodchuck... they have 4 toes in the front, and 5 in the back. More importantly, they are born Apr or May, so he should have his eyes open and be "moved out" by now.

I hate to bring this up, but if he IS a squirrel or something, is his name still Bob ?

Si

2.6k · August 6, 2004

See, here's something you don't ever want to hear yourself saying: "Can I go home a little early? My rat is constipated."

So I went out at mid-morning to tend to Bob. I get so absorbed in what I'm doing, it dawns on me I've been sitting in my car in the parking lot shouting, "C'mon Bob! Poop for me, Bob! Poop for me, buddy!"

I've never been so happy to see rat poop in my life.

Then I notice his eyes have opened! He's eaten like a pig, too. Looking a little stronger today, is Bob (or whatever. Any suggestions? Bob Squirrel. Bob Waterrat. Eh. Like he cares).

My thank you to the moderators for letting me be so off-topic for so long. It really has helped out. If he grows up to be a fine, upstanding Whateverheis, I'll take the rubbermaid container he grew up in and hide a cache at the spot in the woods where I release him...'K?

August 6, 2004

Looking a little stronger today, is Bob (or whatever. Any suggestions? Bob Squirrel. Bob Waterrat. Eh. Like he cares).

I suppose "A Nonny Mouse" is too obvious for a name, eh? Mouseteree (a la Mystery)? Somehow, Bob seems to fit the little guy...I'm tickled he seems to be doing so well. Yay, Bob!

3.9k · August 6, 2004

I'd like some of that action...

No offense to Diablo, but every mouse and rat I raised for 2 years (over 1000 in total) looked exactly like that baby squirrel picture until it started growing hair and didn't get a bushy tail, etc.

No offense taken, but I still say a squirrel! Which btw is a bushy tailed rat. I also think if it is...and I know it is. We should name it Micro and with all this exposure should become the official Geo-Squirrel.

El Diablo

1.3k · August 7, 2004

Is it a micro?

A locationless

or a Virtual???

4.7k · August 7, 2004

i've been checking back several times a day to get my bob-fix. i'm about to go out for the rest of the weekend, and i may have to hit a library to check up on him. my rats and i have our fingers crossed.

i'm still betting on squirrel, but hey, a rodent is a rodent, and i gots me a soft spot for 'em.

and i think bob is a very fine name, whatever he is.

he may not want to be released after all your kindness. i once had a mouseguest. i saved a baby mouse from a toilet and nursed him back to health and when i tried to release him, he declined to go. he just pulled the covers tighter over his head and refused to come out.

so i let him stay.

4.8k · August 7, 2004

I say let him stay too. Especially if he is a squirrel. I had a nieghbor once that raised a squirrel. It was very tame. He trained it to do various tricks and it would ride around on his shoulder even in busy public places without running off. He used to go downdown with it when he was in college, put a hat down on the sidewalk, and have it perform for people. He tended to get some decent money from that! He always said it beat working at a fast food joint. Anyway, he loved that squirrel tons and it made a great pet for him. He did have to really work with it though on training because when it was young it would startle easily and jump around the house knocking things over! That is when he trained it to stay on his shoulder when out of its cage! When I was in Seattle recently, I also saw a guy walking down a busy sidewalk with a squirrel on his shoulder. I had to do a double take to be sure it wasn't my old friend (it wasn't)!

Edited August 7, 2004 by carleenp

August 7, 2004

I'm SO happy he is looking better! And, I'm rooting for squirrel as well. Although, as a critter lover, rat is fine, too.

Will he be able to fend for himself after being so lovingly hand-raised?

Auntie, we cache the same area - now I am even more anxious to meet you!

I'm a sucker for a baby anything - the comment about nothing being more relaxing than a sleeping rat in your pocket made me laugh - when I raised rabbits, they were extensively handled from birth. I even crocheted them a wool pouch so I could carry them around - we had the friendliest rabbits around...

Yeah, we're all nuts.

5.3k · August 7, 2004

No offense taken, but I still say a squirrel! Which btw is a bushy tailed rat.

The scientific name is actually bushy-tailed tree rat

I'm rooting for the runt..GO BoB GO!!!!

August 7, 2004

I'm no rodent expert, but I'm leaning toward the squirrel theory. The tail seems a bit long, but it looks like there may be fur on it. I don't think rats have fur on their tails. It's a good thing that it has fur, Jeremy has made unkind comments about "hairless rats". It might be a rat, or it might be a squirrel, and possibly a runt. This makes the name change obvious....Squirt. There also seems to be an Ugly Duckling story in the making here. Could it grow up to be Mighty Mouse or Rocky the flying squirrel? :smile:

2.6k · August 7, 2004

When my squirrels were all growed up, I decided to drive them 1,000 miles to my ancestral home (pretty far back in the woods). Big cage in the back of the car (turns out, it's pretty easy to smuggle squirrels into a Best Western). I had raised them since they weren't much bigger than my thumb, so I figured it would take several days to wean them away from me. It was going to be a tearful process. I bought a video camera.

When we got there, I took the cage out of the back and the latch was loose. Two of them instantly escaped and scampered into the woods, squeaking happily, never to be seen again. I managed to slam the lid down on the third. I was going to have my tearful parting scene, dammit.

He scampered into the woods the next day. For several nights, he came back and slept in the rafters of the garage, but after the third day he wouldn't come down to my shoulder any more, even for a peanut. Rodents are just surivival instinct on legs.

Sometimes the hardest thing about handling animals is realizing they aren't as sentimental about you as you are about them.

...well, that and getting up at three in the morning to wipe a rat's butt with a damp paper towel.

5.7k · August 7, 2004

I'd like some of that action...

No offense to Diablo, but every mouse and rat I raised for 2 years (over 1000 in total) looked exactly like that baby squirrel picture until it started growing hair and didn't get a bushy tail, etc.

No offense taken, but I still say a squirrel! Which btw is a bushy tailed rat. I also think if it is...and I know it is. We should name it Micro and with all this exposure should become the official Geo-Squirrel.

El Diablo

I think Micro the Geo-Squirrel is a great name!

--Marky

2.6k · August 7, 2004

Ah, I'm sorry, folks. Bob didn't make it. He got through the night and was lively this morning, but stopped breathing in his sleep later. I must've looked at him just as it happened, because his front leg was still moving, but his chest wasn't. I rubbed his fur for a bit thinking he might revive, but no luck. Poor little blighter probably wasn't "finished" enough to survive.

Thanks to everyone for your input, it really was helpful.

Now we'll never settle the argument.

5.3k · August 7, 2004

RIP Bob

:smile:

August 7, 2004

Aww, Auntie, I'm very sorry.

That really hurts when you try so hard. I had a pair of orphaned woodchucks that made it a week. Losing them made me cry, and I'm a mean SOB.

At least to the end, he had a warm home and heart to share.

We'll miss ya Bob.

3.9k · August 7, 2004

Sorry to hear that Auntie. :smile: I know you did your best to help him.

El Diablo

2.2k · August 7, 2004

sorry about the little guy. we were all rooting for him. :smile:

August 7, 2004

*sniff*

I'm sorry, Auntie.

August 7, 2004

That is a bummer. We were rooting for him here and following his progress. :smile:

August 7, 2004

AuntieWeasel,

Aw... That's a shame--my sincerest condolences.

Especially given all the TLC and effort you took...but it truely does seem that 'Mom' knew best and this runt was never meant to attend the world as long as it did.

At least it's brief existence enriched your life and vicariously ours as well.

That's a lot more than most runts at the end of their rope achieve!

C'est la vie,

Randy

PS: Pyewacket, I liked "A Nonny Mouse" and find it all the more suitable now.

August 7, 2004

:smile: my condolances.....bless you for taking care of the wee baby.....

Bec

1.8k · August 7, 2004

Very sorry.

August 7, 2004

Sorry to hear about Bob's demise. This was one of the few threads that I was keeping tabs on. :smile:

August 7, 2004

Poor wee thing.......but at least he had a kinder, gentler end then if he had been left out in the wild. Bless you Auntie for your kind heart. :smile:

August 7, 2004

Sincerest condolences from Puck and Orlando the Georats, and Finnegan the Geo-ferret. We were all rooting for Bob.

:smile:

August 7, 2004

You should hide a Bob Memorial Micro Cache.

August 7, 2004

So sorry to hear it didn't make it. This mystery will never be solved now! (Have you seen any of Bob's Brothers or Sisters in your yard? Keep an eye out, maybe you will see a family of Bob creatures.

The memorial cache sounds like a fun idea- place toy rodents in it!

-Jennifer

Identify Mystery Rodent

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment