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The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat and Norwegian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown or grey rodent with a body length of up to 28 cm (11 in) long, and a tail slightly shorter than that. It weighs between 140 ...
In the wild, naked mole-rats usually breed once a year, if the litter survives. In captivity, they breed all year long and can produce a litter every 80 days. [58] [64] Gestation lasts about 70 days. Litter size is typically 3 to 12 pups; the average litter size is 11-12 [58] [65] [66] The young are born blind and weigh about 2 grams (0.07 oz).
Rats are a common food item for snakes, both in the wild, and as pets. Adult rat snakes and ball pythons, for example, are fed a diet of mostly rats in captivity. Rats are readily available (live or frozen) to individual snake owners, as well as to pet shops and reptile zoos, from many suppliers.
Domestic rats differ from wild rats in many ways. They are calmer and less likely to bite; they can tolerate greater crowding; they breed earlier and produce more offspring; and their brains, livers, kidneys, adrenal glands, and hearts are smaller (Barnett 2002). Brown rats are often used as model organisms for scientific research.
The marsh rice rat takes both vegetable and animal food, and is more carnivorous than most small rodents are; [168] dominant food items vary seasonally. Plants eaten include species of Spartina , Salicornia , Tripsacum , and Elymus , among others; it mainly eats seeds and succulent parts. [ 169 ]
They store their food in caches and eat about 5% of their body weight a day. [8] Predators include owls, skunks, weasels, foxes, raccoons, bobcats, large snakes, and humans. At one point, the Allegheny rat was hunted for food and sometimes killed due to false identification based on its resemblance to more problematic European rats. [9]
Adult bush rats are smaller than the Australian swamp rat (Rattus lutreolus) and in addition, the bush rat's foot pads are a pink colour, whereas the swamp rat's foot pads are dark brown. [5] The hair at the foot is short and pale in colour, subspecies Rattus fuscipes coracius is notably darker. [4] The feet are pentadactyl and all digits are ...
Kangaroo rats, small mostly nocturnal rodents of genus Dipodomys, are native to arid areas of western North America.The common name derives from their bipedal form. They hop in a manner similar to the much larger kangaroo, but developed this mode of locomotion independently, like several other clades of rodents (e.g., dipodids and hopping mice).