Rodents in your garden. First make sure you know who you are dealing with

Did you find zucchini, melons or potatoes bearing traces of rodent teeth? Whatever you are currently harvesting, it is not pleasant to find these bite marks. You need to solve this situation as soon as possible. There are many alternatives how to get rid of rodents, but today, we shall not focus on plants and crop protection. Let us simply take a closer look at the rodents you can meet in our meadows and groves.

Insectivorous shrew

Well, if you come across a small animal with a long, pointed snout and tiny eyes, then it is not a rodent. You have a shrew, which is useful for your garden because it eats a large variety of insects. The shrew also has a long, partially hairy tail.

Photo: Pixabay

House mouse

(Mus musculus) is an animal that lives all over the planet. It has a thinner and rather long tail, small bare ears, and typical front teeth. As we all know, mouse sleeps during the day and is active at night, which is of course annoying as it can jump and climb over practically anything.

Wood mouse

(Apodemus sylvaticus) has rather big black eyes, long tail and big ears. This could be the description of a regular wood mouse, commonly referred to as the forest mouse. This little animal loves different varieties of seeds.

Photo: Pixabay

Vole

Vole has a short tail and smaller eyes and typical round snout. It is quite difficult to see ears because they are very small.

Rat

It is a large rodent that can devour virtually everything, including your commercially stored vegetables of course. Rat’s hair may be greyish or even black, but there is a difference between the typical black rat, and that is the tail. Black rat’s tail is scaly and shorter than his body – including the head. It also has tiny ears, unlike black rats, which have long pointed ears. Sometimes you may confuse a young rat with a mouse, but even young rat has a relatively short tail and very strong legs. As for black rats, they are very rarely found gardens, but you can definitely see rats. The occurrence of various rodents largely depends on the area where you live.

Photo: Pixabay