Roof Rat Vs Mouse

How to tell the difference between rat vs mouse by their droppings.

Roof rat vs mouse.

Compared to mice rats are much larger have coarser fur and have proportionately larger heads and feet. Rats live in similar colony structures. Like mice rats are nocturnal have very poor eyesight but have very strong senses of smell taste and hearing. A norway rat has capsule shaped feces while a roof rat has spindle shaped droppings and a house mouse has rod shaped excrement.

However rats and mice have different nesting preferences. The most common rat species in the u s. While there are several species of rats and mice i will examine the two most common ones the roof or black rat and the house mouse both seen in the above photograph. Mice on the other hand simply build their nests.

Roof rat droppings are very similar to the house mouse but much thicker. You also may notice only when you discover they ve destroyed a part or parts of your property. Several behaviors may indicate whether there is a mouse vs. Typically the length will still be the same but the thickness will be much greater than the typical field mouse.

Norway rat poop droppings norway rat poop droppings are even thicker that the roof rats and typically much shorter than field mice and roof rats. As you can see the biggest difference is size. Are the norway rat and the roof rat. Since most mice and rats tend to be nocturnal you may only notice them when you find food missing or with bites taken out of fruit or cereal.

So if rats and mice have found food around your home you might find their droppings in the kitchen as well as the attic or other places they hide.