Out walkies at Rancho San Antonio yesterday morning, I noticed a fuzzball ahead, alongside the road before the farm. As I'd left my camera back in the car, all I got were some mobe snaps.
I'm not much of an authority on matters murine, but that right there is either a dwarf long-tailed chinchilla or a dusky-footed woodrat, no?
It was scrabbling in the dirt with its forepaws, and apparently finding tiny things to nibble on - seeds, perhaps, or the remnants of a trodden-on Frito.
Looky them whiskers!
At one point, the critter wandered over and sniffed at my toes, whereupon I cautioned it against running up my leg. Wood rat, roof rat, or regular old plague rat, loitering by daylight in an area where people are traipsing through just ain't normal behavior for a rodent that isn't someone's pet, and I didn't feel like taking chances with whatever might be afflicting it.
Update: scale is not clear from the photos; it might be mistaken for some sort of blunt-nosed mouse. It was definitely rat-sized, and a fair-sized rat at that, though it was a great exaggeration for a passing blonde to say it was as big as a dog. (Her perceptions were perhaps affected by the lack of a table to stand on and scream. Or, maybe, she has one of those teeny-tiny purse dogs for reference.)
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