View source for Animals/ Fauna: India (main page)

===Rat===
The rat and mouse family is only too numerous. Conspicuous in it is the loathsome bandicoot (Nesocia bandicota), which sometimes tribe. measures 2 ft. in length, including its tail, and weighs 3 lb. 
It burrows under houses, and is very destructive to plants, fruit and even poultry. More interesting is the tree mouse (Vandeleusia), about 7 in. long, which makes its nest in palms and bamboos. The field rats (Mus mettada) occasionally multiply so exceedingly as to diminish the out-turn of the local harvest, and to require special measures for their destruction.