"Almost cute" :). That would be an apt description for what I caught! Not anything you'd ever say about a wharf rat. But Google photos of Neotoma floridana show ears that are too large and, somehow, not quite in the right place. The color that generally shows in the photos would be correct. Do these various rat/vole species ever hybridize naturally? We do have deer mice here and what I caught was a much more sleek design than those.

Donald

--- In i*@yahoogroups.com, Kent Pfeiffer <kentepfeiffer@...> wrote:
>
> The rodent you are describing could be a Woodrat (Neotoma floridana). They
> basically look like giant Deer Mice, but are often grayish rather than
> brownish. Definitely have a white belly though. They're almost cute.
>
> On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 3:57 PM, d7432da <donald@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=307
> >
> > This could well be the same. The one I caught wasn't so brown, but the size
> > and general shape is right. Wish I could see the belly. The one I caught was
> > completely white underneath. They would have plenty of cover in the river
> > bottom below the house, especially along the river bank and a major
> > tributary gully directly at the bottom of my yard. I'm forever cleaning
> > brush, but it's all done by hand. More than one or two lifetimes of work. My
> > observation of damage being less to non-existent when fall conditions
> > contribute to having green winter vegetation is probably my best hope. None
> > of that this year, for sure.
> >
> > Donald
> >
> >
> >
>