Name: Raticate
Classification: Mouse
Type: Normal
Number: 020
Evolution: Rattata – Raticate (level 20)
Length: 70 cm (including tail)
Weight: 1,85 kilogram
Habitat: fields and forests near water
Description: Raticate are regular pests. Imported from Kanto to other parts of the world, it multiplies quickly, can survive anywhere and is hard to kill, leading to desperate initiatives by local governments to cut down the Raticate population. Most popular is the old-fashioned rat catcher, though there have been problems in the past with people who bred Raticate to collect the money for their corpses. Nowadays, rat catchers have to be licensed by the city council. Other than Rattata, Raticate hardly ever venture into cities. Nevertheless, they are a great threat due to their tendency to burrow in dikes.
Raticate have a total length of about 70 cm, with a body length of 40-45 cm. It has a very large head in comparison to its body. At almost 2 kilo’s, it is fairly heavy for its size. However, it’s an adept swimmer. Its hind feet are webbed and act as flippers, so it can hunt in water. There is some discussion about possible subspecies of Raticate based on the tail shape. Shown here is a regular Raticate; some biologists claim that Raticate with a flatter tail (standing vertically like that of a fish) are a subspecies particularly specialised in living in water, where they can use this tail for propulsion. It uses its whiskers to maintain its balance when on land and slows down if they are cut off. Males, who travel farther afield in search of mates, have longer whiskers.
Raticate’s destructive potential is made even larger by its extremely strong teeth. Its teeth grow continuously, so it gnaws on things to pare them down. These fangs are so strong, they can gnaw through concrete, which is particularly worrying because a lot of dikes are reinforced with concrete or asphalt. The fangs are popular in certain circles as small, easily concealable weapons.
Raticate are most active at dusk and dawn. It eats plants and small prey, such as fish or any Pichu it can catch. They dig a burrow in riverbanks or in secluded forest areas. A burrow is inhabited by a single male, or a couple with young. The entrance to the burrow may be underwater. There is always a second entrance, though it is only used for fleeing and air supply. They have a reputation for being aggressive, but really, will rather run than fight. In winter, they fill rooms in the burrow with grass and reeds for warmth.
Mating season is from March to November. In spring, young males go in search of a female. When the young are born, the male digs and inhabits a separate room in the burrow. The female cares for the young alone. The females are mature at 6 months, so females born early in the season can already have young in that very year, and can produce a nest of 1 to 11 young every 28 days. This rapid reproduction rate is a big part of the overpopulationproblem in some areas. In colder climates, most young don’t survive their first winter, but in climates with mild winters, and because in many places, predators large enough to hunt Raticate have disappeared, they spread almost unchecked. When food is in short supply, females can reabsorb the embryo’s of their young into their body. In the wild, they rarely live to be older than 2 years, but in captivity, they can easily reach 10 years.

I based Raticate on muskrats. Here in the Netherlands, we’re pretty much dependend on our dikes etc. to keep our country in existence (40% of our country is below sea level). Muskrats, which were introduced here by some... man who wanted to hunt them for sport, cause about 5 million euros of damage each year to our defenses and hunting them doesn’t help one bit: there’s just too many of them. Not that we don’t try. Recently, research has been done to find out if it might be better to just stop hunting them altogether, because they’ll do the damage anyway. But I’m wondering: up to 11 young, every month for 2 seasons… if we don’t hunt them, won’t it get even worse?
I have a lovely window seat pillow made of my grandmother’s old bisam (muskrat fur) coat. [/random facts]