Grey squirrel and common rat

this might sound a little crazy - but here goes...
Can a grey squirrel cross breed with a common rat?

our street has an established hedgrow behind the houses on our side and we have many squirrels, we also have quite a few take aways and messy taxi drivers who dump chips etc.

now over the last few weeks me any my partner have spotted what looks like half rat, half grey squirrel - once on the road scuttering about (which i thought was unusual for a squirrel?) and many times acting roguishly in our back garden.
It has a long smooth rat tail and a squirrel head, big bum and back legs.
any idea what the heck it is?
Thanks

 

Can't see that happening.
Squirrels physically, are quite different from rats. The absence of a bushy tail would indicate that it's not. Even when they are "straggly" the tails have fur. They use them as "blankets" when they curl up to go to sleep.

We had one as a pet for several years.

 

Ok.. but do rats climb trees ? this one does!!
strange

 

Yep, rats climb.

 

Could you take a picture of the squirrat, if possible, please? Is there only one?

And maybe if you asked the same question on a wildlife forum, they might have a definite answer.

"Sounds" like a rat, though.

 

I'm sure squirrels and rats don't breed together and that just sounds like a big rat to me.
Ask the Environmental Health Dept to do something about it or before you know where you are there will be hundreds of them out there.
It's all down to that food which is getting strewn about for them.

 

i reckon its a big rat. when they sit up on their hind legs, some of them are as big as squirrels (i mistook one for a squirrel once, near our house)

 

:lollol:

 

Hmm..

There again...

It might be a rattel.

 

When we first got our hens we had such a problem with rats that we had to contact the local council. I am very much against killing anything but I was assured by the man from the council that we can't cohabit with them so sadly they have to be dealt with.

As for climbing, they would shimmy up the the house between the wall and the soil pipe, using the pipe as a backrest like a potholer!

Chris

 

i don't think it is possible for the two species to breed it would be like trying to cross a deer with a squid , hey think of how many legs of venison you could have though my answer is a white bucket a fenn mk4 trap and some peanut butter
siiiimmmmmppppplllllzzzzzzzzz

 

ok so im keeping my camera at the window kitchen window now. fingers crossed i can geet a pic of it and show you its rat tail/squirell body
thanks all

 

I think that's not possible.
As far as I know, cross breed are possible when, at least, the family is the same.
For example, talking about horse family, we have a cross breed between a male horse and a female donkey (hinny) and a cross breed between a female horse and a male donkey (mule).
But in those cases, the family is the same.
Indeed, Squirrels and Rats belongs to differents families.

 

And unfortunately they're sterile and so become a dead end in the evolutionary trail.

Same with Ligers (Cross between lions and tigers). They're sterile too.

So it doesn't look good in the future for the new gardener's corner genus of Squirrats. :D :D :D

Still looking forward to a photograph though. It'll be interesting.