Interesting Facts About Rats: For the “Mousenthusiasts”

It makes you jump out of your bed or off the chair every time you see sneaky mice running on the floors, especially at night! But beyond their scary persona, exciting bits and pieces of their rodent life will make you want to know them more (not to make friends, though). 

Get here the answers to your mouse-boggling queries as “are rats nocturnal? Do rats carry rabies.?”

To start, did you know that rats share the same genes as humans? Oops, before you freak out and doubt this fact read on today’s blog to find out how many percent do rats and the human genome are alike. This and 12 more “mousenthusiast” discoveries you’ll enjoy. 

Say no more to pesky sneaky rats that damage your properties. Knowing your enemy is never this fun!

12 Rodent Facts and Stats to Make you Jump off the Chair

1- Batman and Friends – Are rats nocturnal? 

What do Batman and rats share? Bats and rats do NOT belong to the same category or species. But aside from having the same tag as pests, the other thing that relates to them is being nocturnal. 

Yes! If you are asking, “are rats nocturnal” there is your answer. Most brown rats would be awake day and night. That is something to do with their food habits. They may be making friends with bats on the side, but they love to hunt most nights. They’re on the run from 9 pm until 3 am in the early morning, skimping on Skippy or gnawing on cheese.

2- Sleek Swimmers

Has the mouse scared you off your seat when in the toilet, and you tried throwing water on them? You may freak them out with your scream, but you won’t rid them away with water. 

They don’t mind water. Throw them in the river, and they will love it. Rats or mice can swim, you know? 

Rats are sleek swimmers. That is why they can survive in the sewerage. When the rain dumps water on their natural habitat, they will float on the flowing water and not be bothered at all and hold their breath for three minutes if they get submerged in the water. Some rat species can also butterfly-stroke through streams for three consecutive days.

3- Tail Tales

Aside from a sign that rats might be infesting your properties, their tails have more tales to them. Did you know that another purpose of their long slender tail is that it keeps them warm in the winter and cool during summer? 

Rat’s tail consists of blood vessels. Those blood vessels work to expand and contract, which helps the mouse and rats control their body temperature.  

4- One-fourth a Look a Like

Darwin’s apes are not the only furry friends that make up similar genes with humans. Rats, too. 

One-fourth of the human genes are similar to those found in rodent species. Not that a lot compared to the chimps. That’s good news, right. Since humans are still three and a quarter more humans means you are still smarter than the rats. It only means that you can always do effective pest control against them.

5- Winter Soldiers

Nope! Rats aren’t’ your superheroes. The mighty mouse is just a fictional character. Mice in your properties are more likely to cause damages than fun. But a fascinating fact is that they can survive winter. 

And nope, rats do not hibernate during winter. Instead, they use the winter season to stock and pile food resources. 

The onset of the fall season is also when they start hunting for food sources. Once they scan their environment for potential food shacks, they will collect and bring home stocks of munchies throughout the winter. Now isn’t that something to like about rats being similar to humans? 

Do not relax when winter is coming. You still need to call pest control to monitor and prey on the rats, or they will prey on you.

6- No stopping the teeth

Rats’ teeth never stop growing. That makes sense since they never stop gnawing. Gnaw marks everywhere are signs of rats taking part in your daily lives (daily problems maybe). 

Since their birth, they have increased to 5 inches long. Probably the reason why they always seem to teether, biting objects and items in your homes. You might also wonder, can rats chew through metal steel? The answer is YES! That is also why adult rats can punch holes into can goods and use their teeth as peanut butter jar openers. Yikes!

7- Smart Eater 

If rats hear you every time you call them picky eaters, they will not hesitate to bite you. Kidding aside. Rats are not picky eaters. They are more opportunistic eaters or, a better way to say it, a smart eater. You can outsmart these pesky pests by knowing the rat’s diet and using this to make homemade rat poison.

Above, you learned that winter gets the mouse on a mission. Part of hunting food is not to be picky. If they find a good piece of meat, fresh fruit, and seeds, they will collect and keep them. 

If they only choose fresh pieces over stale ones, they need to make sure that the food will survive long seasons of cold. Rats will never think twice about picking out fruits on trees, grass, and plants when hunting on the wild roof. Norway rats will not hesitate to catch insects and bugs.

8- Deep Sleepers

Everyone would probably love rats because they are deep sleepers ( hope they do all year). Despite them giving you sleep deprivation at night, rats, too, can suffer from trouble sleeping.

Rodents at your home do not like noise. That is why they prefer nesting in your attic or basement or within the gaps of walls where sound does not bounce. They are deep sleepers. Don’t you wish they will do that all the time, right?

9- American Mouse

According to Pestworld, one-third or 21 million households in America alone are infested by rodents. Let this stat be your reference if you live on another continent. That is just the US alone. In other regions where natural plant and animal resources abound, rats and mouse species will also dominate in number.

Rats in the US will be active from October to February. This reflects their hunting activities to prepare for winter.

10- Disease Distributors

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention rodents are the number one contributor of 12 diseases across the world. From those major types of rat diseases, specific strains of viruses and illnesses follow suit. All in all, 35 types of illness originate from rats. 

That fact tells how filthy rodents are. They crawl underground, swim in sewers, and rummage garbage. Do not give in despite their sometimes cute and petite look. Don’t be fooled by their looks. Even domesticated rats will bring in dirt and bacteria, which often comes from their urine.

11- Rats Surpass Human Population

Rats increase in a number greater than the human population. That is why if you see one mouse in your house, there must be dozens or hundreds of them. 

Professional rodent killers use various treatments to ensure that no rats will come back to your properties. 

Proper elimination is what expert pest control does. Rats multiply fast, so better use effective pest control. Rats may outnumber your household population but never let them outsmart you.

12- Holy Snitch

It is a known fact that rodent species are social animals. They live in bands, hunt in groups, cuddle together, and they multiply. Their lives may be short in a maximum of two years, but they give birth to dozens of baby mice all at once. 

While you may cringe at an enormous number of rats, a temple houses over 25,000 black rats in India. Yes! Those long-tailed snitches are considered gods rather than pests.

Their culture believes that the rats are reincarnated children of the god Karni Mata. So, if you want a life-changing journey with rats, try to visit Karni Mata temple in Rajasthan, India.

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