Thread: Native or not?

Looks like a mouse to me.

Without looking at the vid it sounds native, is it one of these little buggers?

Antechinus

Originally Posted by LRJim

Without looking at the vid it sounds native, is it one of these little buggers?

Antechinus

Its nose isnt as pointy

Originally Posted by Grappler

Its nose isnt as pointy

Check with your local Parks and Wildlife office in Margs near the new roundabout, or one of the Rangers down there. All very knowledgeable people.

Set up a box trap (not a mouse or rat trap as you don't want to kill it) and then take your live specimen to the Wildlife guys. They should be able to tell you one way or the other.

Looks like a mouse, but even if it is, please consider how you deter or exterminate them as if you have owls in your area, poisoning the mice can lead to the deaths of native birds like owls - a very common cause of death to some of our raptors unfortunately. 🙁

If you can catch it, it is easy to differentiate between a rodent (there are a number of different species, some native) and an antechinus. The rodents have two prominent incisor teeth top and bottom, the antechinus has all its teeth about the same size. The antichinus is larger than most mice, and smaller than a rat. Also, it is an insectivore/carnivore, where mice are largely vegetarian (rats are omnivores) - if it eats grain or rat poison it is not an antechinus.

Colour looks too dark for a mouse. We have bush rats around here, looks a bit like one of those, they seem to have a higher arched back and appear to be shorter in the body to a rat.
Bush Rat - The Australian Museum
The fur is more like a rabbit fur, feels denser and softer than a normal rat.