Hispid Cotton Rat

Fascinating facts about the Hispid Cotton Rat

• A single adult hispid cotton rat can weigh anywhere from 50 g to 250 g and stretch up to 340 mm long, yet its tail is often broken or stubbed, measuring just 87-122 mm. This size range lets the species thrive from the deserts of Arizona to the humid lowlands of Virginia, occupying habitats as diverse as grassy clearings, overgrown roadsides, and even the periphery of bald-cypress swamps. Their broad size tolerance underpins a flexible diet of grasses, seeds, and occasional insects, allowing them to persist across a continent-spanning range.
• In Kansas remnant prairie, adult males roam an average home range of 0.969 acres (0.392 ha) while females stay within 0.543 acres (0.220 ha); the longest recorded trek by a male was 330 ft (100 m) and by a female 250.9 ft (76.5 m). Such modest territories mean individuals rarely travel beyond a few hundred metres, yet they can return to a displaced spot up to 5,000 ft (1,500 m) away, showing strong site fidelity that helps them survive in patchy grasslands and disturbed fields.
• Population density can swing dramatically: in Texas unmowed right-of-ways researchers counted up to 84 rats per hectare, while in Florida tropical hammock densities reached 94 per hectare. By contrast, grass-prickly-pear habitats in Texas support as few as 0.7 rats per hectare.
• Gestation lasts about 27 days and litters can be as large as 15 pups, with northern populations tending toward the higher end. Newborns open their eyes within 18-36 hours, are weaned by 10-15 days, and reach adult size by roughly 41 days. This rapid development enables multiple breeding cycles, often two to several litters per year.
• Predators shape cotton-rat numbers more than food availability: in Georgia, when densities rose above 15 rats per acre, mortality spiked, yet avian predators were the main cause of winter deaths, while mammalian predators had little effect. Excluding birds with netted enclosures cut autumn-winter mortality dramatically, showing that protecting nests from hawks and owls can boost survival during the toughest season.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Hispid Cotton Rat

In the lush undergrowth of North America's southeastern wilds, the Hispid Cotton Rat navigates a hidden world of tangled vegetation and sun-dappled shadows, its coarse, grey-brown fur blending seamlessly into the rustling leaf litter as it forages for seeds and fruits with quiet industry. With each swift, agile movement, the rat's long, hairless tail twitches like a metronome, betraying its otherwise stealthy nature as it darts between the sheltering stalks of grasses and weeds. As it pauses to sniff the air, its bright, inquisitive eyes shine like tiny lanterns, illuminating the intricate, often-overlooked realm that this unassuming creature calls home.

More mammals to discover

Browse Feravox