Finally, I went back and picked up the newly adopted pets from my sister. But turn out to be, those 'rats' that she was taking about are MICE!!!
It's a common misconception of the people here and this is not the first time that someone mistaken a mouse as a rat or vice versa. I even had an experience once that when I called up a local veterinarian for enquiries about the treatment for my rats, and this was what happened:
Me: Hello. I need some medication for my rat.
Vet: Rat? What kind of rat? The white ones?
Me: Yes. I have 2 white rats and 1 with brown hood.
Vet: Oh I see.. You mean MICE. -_-''
Me: No. They are rats, not mice.
Vet: They are the same..
Me: .... (this is where I went speechless)
In the Chinese language, both rat and mouse share a common name which is lao shu (老鼠), but one but know that they are very much different. The scientific name of fancy rat is Rattus Norvegicus whereas the scientific name for fancy mouse is Mus Musculus. They both fall under the Rodentia order, Myomorpha suborder, Muroidea superfamily, Muridae family and Murinae subfamily, but their genus and species are different. To make things easier, they are just very far related. One must understand, mice are rats' food in a way. They cannot be kept together. Click this link for more information about how mice are consider food for rats.
It might be difficult to describe their differences with words, with the pictures below, it should the clearer.
The size is the most obvious difference between a rat and a mouse. A full grown rat should be 9-11 inches long without the tail. Whereas an adult mouse is only 3-4 inches long excluding the tail.
A rat
A mouse
Rats have shorter head and robust body compared to mice. Their ears are smaller relative to the head and their tails are shorter than their body. Hence the illustrations of a rat and a mouse are usually easily distinguish.
So can you tell the difference between Remy and Despereauex?
Despereaux
Remy
