It is hard to guess what a Hispid cotton rat weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) on average weights 111 grams (0.24 lbs).
The Hispid cotton rat is from the family Muridae (genus: Sigmodon). It is usually born with about 6 grams (0.01 lbs). They can live for up to 5.17 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 16.7 cm (0′ 7″). On average, Hispid cotton rats can have babies 2 times per year with a litter size of 5.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) is a rodent species long thought to occur in parts of South America, Central America, and southern North America. However, recent taxonomic revisions, based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data, have split this widely distributed species into three separate species (S. hispidus, S. toltecus, and S. hirsutus). The southern edge of the S. hispidus distribution is likely near the Rio Grande, where it meets the northern distribution of S. toltecus (formerly S. h. toltecus). The northern extent of S. hispidus distribution is to the Platte River in Nebraska and from Arizona to Virginia. Adult size is total length 202–340 mm (7.9–13 in); tail 87–122 mm (3.4-4.8 in), frequently broken or stubbed; hind foot 29–35 mm (1-1.3 in); ear 16–20 mm (0.6-0.9 in); mass 50-250 g (1.7-9 oz). They have been used as laboratory animals.
Animals of the same family as a Hispid cotton rat
We found other animals of the Muridae family:
- Long-nosed mosaic-tailed rat with a weight of 82 grams
- Montane Oldfield mouse with a weight of 77 grams
- Ernst Mayr’s water rat with a weight of 42 grams
- Capricorn leaf-eared mouse with a weight of 50 grams
- Mindanao shrew-rat with a size of 9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Abrothrix jelskii with a weight of 34 grams
- Darien harvest mouse with a weight of 12 grams
- Common rock rat with a weight of 40 grams
- Yellow-bellied brush-furred rat with 1 babies per litter
- Gregarious short-tailed rat with a weight of 92 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Hispid cotton rat
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Sigmodon hispidus:
- Big-eared hopping mouse bringing 89 grams to the scale
- Northern palm squirrel bringing 102 grams to the scale
- Sloggett’s vlei rat bringing 106 grams to the scale
- White-eared cotton rat bringing 132 grams to the scale
- Malayan field rat bringing 119 grams to the scale
- Greater fairy armadillo bringing 129 grams to the scale
- Definitive leaf-eared mouse bringing 89 grams to the scale
- Thomas’s giant deer mouse bringing 111 grams to the scale
- Brooke’s squirrel bringing 114 grams to the scale
- Dian’s tarsier bringing 111 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Hispid cotton rat
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Hispid cotton rat:
- Gansu pika with a size of 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Papuan bandicoot with a size of 19.3 cm (0′ 8″)
- Afghan pika with a size of 19.7 cm (0′ 8″)
- Large-scaled mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 15.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Red-bellied mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 14.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Gambian sun squirrel with a size of 19.6 cm (0′ 8″)
- New Britain naked-backed fruit bat with a size of 16.1 cm (0′ 7″)
- European water vole with a size of 19.3 cm (0′ 8″)
- Steppe pika with a size of 15.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Moncton’s mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 14.2 cm (0′ 6″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Hispid cotton rat
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (5) as a Hispid cotton rat:
- Oligoryzomys flavescens
- Western quoll
- Fringe-tailed gerbil
- Soft-furred rat
- Social vole
- Speckled ground squirrel
- Great Balkhan mouse-like hamster
- Eastern spotted skunk
- Midday jird
- Water vole (North America)
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Hispid cotton rat
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Hispid cotton rat:
- Hairy-tailed mole with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Otter civet with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Lesser Egyptian jerboa with an average maximal age of 6 years
- Southern long-nosed bat with an average maximal age of 5 years
- California ground squirrel with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Berdmore’s ground squirrel with an average maximal age of 4.25 years
- Bahamian hutia with an average maximal age of 6 years
- Black rat with an average maximal age of 4.17 years
- Dobson’s shrew tenrec with an average maximal age of 5.58 years
- Little free-tailed bat with an average maximal age of 5 years