what's the differnce between a rat and a mouse?

Answer 1

the tail , a rats is long , a mouses is short

Answer 2

it's hard to guess what you are asking for here, but since you are in the pets category, perhaps you are asking "what is the difference between keeping a pet mouse and keeping a pet rat?"

rats are much bigger, therefore require more space and more food. they are not as smelly as mice or hamsters but you still need to clean their cage regularly especially if you give them fresh vegetables and stuff as treats. many male rats develop a musky odor around puberty, along with orangey colored oils on their skin. if this is offensive to you, a bath about once a week with mild puppy shampoo can help.

mice tend to be more timid, rats more friendly. both are social with other animals of the same species, but if put together a rat will kill a mouse. (pet rats are quite good at deterring mouse infestations of your house, even if they are confined to a cage... mice are just afraid of them). a mouse might be able to bond to a human owner, but if you keep a pair or small group they are more likely to play with each other exclusively and hide from you. rats are curious and will befriend humans whether they have rat friends or not. i've even known rats who will try to befriend small dogs!

as far as what they look like.... rats and mice both come in a wide variety of colors and coat patterns/textures. i've seen mice and rats that are white with black eyes, white with red eyes, wild-type (grey or brown with white underbelly), selfs, spotted, and blazed. there may be some colors which occur in mice but not rats or rats but not mice, but breeders are working on different stuff all the time so who knows. i've never seen one, but i heard that they've developed tail-less rats. i imagine this is very detrimental to the animal, because they depend on their tail for balance, scent marking, etc. mice have ears which are bigger in proportion to their head than rats do. mice always look very childish to me, small features, not a lot of muscle definition.... rats look that way as babies but when they grow up they become more elongated and can have quite a lot of muscle definition (if they aren't fat).

mice live on average about 2 years, rats 3.


not much of this applies to wild rats or mice, ask in a different category for that answer. JC also does a pretty good job addressing the issue. meanwhile, most of the other answers are amazingly inaccurate in whole or in part.

Answer 3

They are different species! A rat is a rodent and is much larger than a mouse. Surprisingly, they can also make good pets and are fairly clean. Mice are also rodents, but stay much smaller. They are not as good as pets. Both species pop out babies like rabbits!

Answer 4

In Chevy terms a rat is a big block engine and a mouse is a small block.

Answer 5

rats are bigger and smarter and other than that not much ... they live in simular ways and eat the same type of diet...but rats are smarter and usually are more friendly too both live about the same...2-5(at most)yrs thats the bummer...rats are better pets for sure they actually enjoy humans..mice seem to just put up with humans b/c they feed them and don't hurt them

Answer 6

What do the terms rat and mouse mean?

Rat and mouse are actually not scientific classifications. These words are common names for rodents that look alike to the casual eye.

Rat is used to describe medium-sized rodents with long thin tails. There are many species of rodent that are called rats -- kangaroo rats, cotton rats, Norway rats, black rats, African pouched rats, naked mole rats, wood rats, pack rats, Polynesian rats, and many others. These different rodent species may not be closely related to each other at all!

Mouse is used to describe tiny, sparrow-sized rodents with long thin tails. As with rats, there are many species of rodents called mice which may or may not be closely related to each other: house mice, field mice, deer mice, smoky mice, spiny mice, and dormice are all called mice.

So, which rats and mice are you talking about? Generally, people are referring to the domestic or pest rats and mice, which means Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus), black rats (Rattus rattus), and house mice (Mus musculus).

Answer 7

well i dont know much but ill tell u wat i no. rats r like 5 times bigger than a mouse. rats can also chew through like anything. they even chew throught those metal wire cages. rats are also the easiest of any furry friend 2 teach triks 2. well thats all i no.

Answer 8

rats are big and make wonderful pets i got 2 of them mice are small and dont make very good pets at all and mice stink to

Answer 9

a rat is big and black sometimes small and a mouse is white and small maybe even big

Answer 10

well thats a dumb question! rats are only like 10 times bigger then mice. i have had both. they look alike but are totally different. i can't belive u wasited points 4 that question