There are guinea pigs and water rats. There is no such animal as the sea rat. This is written in each of the encyclopedic publications devoted to the animal world and printed in printing houses, that is, they are quite official and accurate sources of knowledge that are trustworthy.
Moreover, at the beginning of the last century, this phrase meant rodents that live on merchant and military ships. Of course, on modern ships, rats are nonsense, so this phrase has lost its primary meaning. Now sea rats are colloquially called water rodents.
Water Rat
Like guinea pigs, rodents have nothing to do with the water itself. The water rat is a large vole that likes to settle close to bodies of water. You can meet her everywhere - from the Far Eastern coasts to Kaliningrad and, in principle, the entire European part of the mainland.
The sea rat or, more correctly, the water rat, and the muskrat, which is often called the same, are animalstotally different. Although these animals have their similarities. The water rat belongs to the Khomyakov family. Outwardly, it resembles a mixture of the same animals. Her tail is fluffy, with a small brush at the very tip, and her muzzle is short and rounded.
In Latin, the animal is called - Arvicola amphibius, and in Russian a water rat or a vole.
Size of water rats
A water or sea rat, a photo of which is not particularly difficult to find in any reference book on zoology, is a very large animal.
The weight of one individual varies from 120 to 330 grams. In length, the sea rat can reach 250 millimeters. The smallest rodents grow up to 120 millimeters. The length of the tail is two-thirds of the body, occasionally - half. The tassel at its tip grows up to half a centimeter.
In its size, the sea rat is second only to the muskrat, being the largest of the voles living on earth today. The animals are well tamed and feel quite comfortable as pets.
Where do they live?
The sea or water rat got its name for a reason. Animals live near water bodies. Near the swamps to meet them is a rarity. Rodents prefer rivers or lakes, they are happy to arrange minks near clean ponds formed on the site of worked out quarries.
During the high water, the animals migrate to drier places. After the water drops to normal levels, they return to their burrows. However, the distribution of human habitats andhis economic activities have made some adjustments to the lifestyle of water voles.
This animal can often be found in summer cottages, farm or state farm fields, in gardens. Unlike mice, water rats do not settle indoors. This means that in the underground, in the attic, in the pantry or in the barn, a rodent cannot be found. Animals live in burrows outside of human structures. In hot weather, animals do not use their dwellings, but settle next to them in original grass nests.
Rodents live in flocks, in large colonies, forming both linear and mosaic settlements. Therefore, if a person encounters one water rat in a garden plot, this means that there are many more of them very close.
Are they fertile?
Although the animals form large colonies or settlements, they themselves live in pairs. The love of water voles in the framework of "marriage" is quite large. During the season, the offspring in each of the families of rodents reaches the mark of 70 individuals.
Of course, a water rat does not give birth to seventy babies at one time. This is the total number, while litters during the season are from 4 to 6, their number is directly dependent on the climate and nutritional adequacy. Water rats breed without any calendar restrictions, throughout the warm season. Accordingly, the further south a colony of these animals lives, the higher its population.
What do they eat?
Thinkingover who is better - a guinea pig or a water rat as a pet, one cannot ignore the diet of animals.
In nature, the menu of the water rat is dominated by:
- juicy roots and herbs;
- young shoots of shrubs;
- fry and small fish;
- freshwater shellfish, including crayfish and snails;
- large insects and their larvae, worms.
This means that water rats are not vegetarians at all. In their daily diet, in addition to succulent plant foods, for example, vegetables and fruits, or grains from ready-made mixtures, animal protein must also be present. Without this component, the metabolism inside the body of a rat will not be completely complete, it will be disturbed. And this will definitely affect her he alth and will be noticeable externally.
What do they say about them?
What they say about these animals can be divided into three large sections. The first of them will be devoted to people's opinions about these animals as pets and their comparison with other rodents. Water rats are most often compared to guinea pigs. Of course, they liken them to hamsters, and ordinary voles, and house mice. In most statements of those who live with these little animals, there is a mention that the rat cannot stand loneliness and should be kept in pairs.
The second section includes questions - what is the name of the sea rat, what does it eat, does it make sense to have such an animal at home and where they are sold. As a rule, people who see beautifulphotographs of rodents. The animals are really unusually photogenic and love attention, so they look great in the pictures.
The third section should include the opinions of people who perceive these cute creatures solely as pests. Accordingly, such opinions are left by summer residents, farmers, gardeners and, in principle, all those who grow something on the land near water vole settlements.
As for advice to those who are thinking about whether to get a water rat at home or choose a more familiar animal, for example, a hamster or a guinea pig, their content in various reviews boils down to a few points.
The first nuance is, of course, nutrition. For full growth and development, good he alth, this animal requires a diet that is as close to natural as possible. Accordingly, it is impossible to grow a beautiful fluffy miracle with a long tail by pouring a ready-made grain mixture into its bowl and cutting off a piece of sausage as a source of animal protein. Feeding a pet is the most important thing to pay attention to for those who have not yet made a final decision on whether to get such a rodent or not.
The second nuance that people write about in the reviews is the sociality of water rats. Animals do not feel comfortable being alone. They look terrible, eat poorly and sleep most of the day. Such animals have dull eyes, haggard muzzles and fur lacking a he althy sheen. Sometimes they begin to go bald, with the tail losing hair first.
Many stops from the decision to acquire such a pet, just his sociality. After all, not every person is ready to endlessly attach the numerous offspring of a pair of water rats. But this issue is easily resolved. In their advice, experienced rodent owners often write that individuals of the opposite sex are not needed for a normal life. Water rats perfectly perceive relatives of the same gender and feel very comfortable in their society.
