List of fictional rodents

This list of fictional rodents is subsidiary to the list of fictional animals and covers all rodents, including beavers, mice, chipmunks, gophers, guinea pigs, hamsters, marmots, prairie dogs, porcupines and squirrels, as well as extinct or prehistoric species. Rodents, particularly rats and mice, feature in literature, myth and legend. The North American Salish people have an epic tale in which the Beaver, rejected by Frog Woman, sings a rain-power song that results in a disastrous flood.^[1]

Mickey Mouse, the cheerful, anthropomorphic cartoon character, was a tremendous success for The Walt Disney Company in 1928.^[2] Mice feature in some of Beatrix Potter's small books, including The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904), The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse (1910), The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse (1918), and The Tailor of Gloucester (1903), which last was described by J. R. R. Tolkien as perhaps the nearest to his idea of a fairy story, the rest being "beast-fables".^[3] Among Aesop's Fables are The Frog and the Mouse and The Lion and the Mouse.^[4]

Literature

Character/s	Species	Author	Work	Notes
Ratty	Water Rat	Kenneth Grahame	The Wind in the Willows
Templeton	Rat	E. B. White	Charlotte's Web
Reepicheep	Mouse	C. S. Lewis	The Chronicles of Narnia	Reepicheep is a minor character in Prince Caspian, a major character in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and appears briefly in The Last Battle.
Tucker	Mouse	George Selden	Cricket in Times Square	Tucker appears in three additional books by George Selden: Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse Tucker's Countryside and Harry Cat's Pet Puppy.
Ralph	Mouse	Beverly Cleary	The Mouse and the Motorcycle	Ralph appears in two additional books by Beverly Cleary: Runaway Ralph and Ralph S. Mouse.
Matthias	Mouse	Brian Jacques	Redwall	Matthias is an anthropomorphic mouse, appearing in the Redwall series. Later called Matthias the Warrior, Matthias is a male mouse of Redwall Abbey
Geronimo Stilton	Mouse	Elisabetta Dami	Geronimo Stilton
Despereaux	Mouse	Kate DiCamillo	The Tale of Despereaux
Angelina Ballerina	Mouse	Katharine Holabird	Angelina Ballerina	A young mouse with a passion for dancing. Lives in the fictional town Chipping Cheddar, similar to 1920s London.
Poppy	Mouse	Avi	Poppy	A young deer mouse living in a forest trying to stay safe from the clutches of a nefarious owl.
Algernon	Mouse	Daniel Keyes	Flowers for Algernon	Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence.^[5]
Basil	Mouse	Eve Titus	Basil of Baker Street	Later adapted to the animated film The Great Mouse Detective

Comics

Character/s	Species	Comic	Notes
Hammy	Squirrel	Over the Hedge	A hyperactive squirrel, Hammy is the least intelligent, though also the most lovable character in the strip, spouting random comments at random moments. His comments usually state an unusually short lecture on a topic of little interest to the other characters. The character started the strip as "Hammy," but the character was replaced by "Sammy."^[6]
Princess Sally Acorn	Chipmunk	Sonic the Hedgehog	The co-leader of the Freedom Fighters alongside Sonic. She was created as a character for the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, and then used in the comic as well. As Princess to the King he once overthrew, and now leader of a rebellion, Robotnik views her as a threat. She wishes to overthrow Robotnik and free her father from the void. A romantic relationship is often shown with Sonic, though often feelings towards other characters, such as Geoffrey St. John, and Monkey Kahn, have arisen as well.
Rat	Rat	Pearls Before Swine	Rat is a narcissistic, misanthropic rat and an antihero. He frequently breaks the fourth wall, as well as being aware of his existence as a fictional comic strip character. Because of this, Rat is often critical of the comic strip's style and artwork as well as the other characters in the strip and many other living things. Rat is an insensitive character in the strip, whose interactions with others are typically sarcastic, condescending, self-centered, insulting and sometimes violent.^[7]
Ratbert	Rat	Dilbert	Ratbert first appeared in a lab and escaped to Dilbert's home, albeit without Dilbert's welcome. Scott Adams had intended for the character to appear for a single arc, but he returned by popular demand. For a long time, Ratbert struggled to find love and respect at home or in a workplace. His innocence and cuteness won the sympathy of the audience and eventually Adams himself, so Dilbert accepted him as part of the family.

Folklore and mythology

Character/s	Origin	Notes
Pérez the Mouse	Ratoncito Pérez	A figure popular in Spanish and Hispanic American cultures, similar to the tooth fairy. Adapted into an animated film titled The Hairy Tooth Fairy.
Mouse	1001 Arabian Nights (Volume 3, 150) The Mouse and the Ichneumon
Mouse	1001 Arabian Nights (Volume 3, 151) The Flea and the Mouse
ROUS	1001 Arabian Nights (Volume 9, 901–902) The Mouse and the Cat
Mouse	Aesop's Fables The Lion and the Mouse
Mouse	Hickory Dickory Dock
Mouse	The Giant Turnip	Makes a difference in pulling out the firmly rooted vegetable
Rat	This Is the House That Jack Built	This is the Rat that ate the malt, that lay in the house that Jack built
The Mouse King	The Nutcracker and the Mouse King	An evil seven-headed mouse king that seeks to destroy the Nutcracker.
Rat	Chinese zodiac	The first of the zodiac years.
Ratatoskr	Norse mythology	The squirrel that ferries insults up and down Yggdrasil, the world tree, between the eagle at the top and the dragon Niðhogg down at the roots.

Film

Character/s	Species	Film	Notes
Hubert Flynn	Rat	Rat	A man who is transformed into a rat by unknown nature and his family tries to cope with the change.
Mouse	Mouse	MouseHunt	A smart mouse determined to stay in an old house and avoid the house owners who are trying to rid him in order to auction their property.
Pip	Chipmunk	Enchanted	An animal friend of Giselle who followed her and Prince Edward to NYC.
Remy	Rat	Ratatouille	The main protagonist who befriends a worker at a famous Parisian restaurant and assists him in his culinary career.
Mrs. Brisby	Mouse	Secret of N.I.M.H.	Main protagonist. Mother mouse who attempts to save home and children from danger.
Roddy	Rat	Flushed Away	A pampered pet rat who is forced out of his posh London home.
Darwin	Guinea Pig	G-Force	An FBI special agent who leads a taskforce of trained guinea pigs.
Bucky	Hamster	G-Force	A hamster who resides in a pet shop and has disdain towards G-Force. Voiced by Steve Buscemi.
Socrates	Rat	Willard	A rat who makes fast friends with Willard Stiles in both 1971's Willard and the 2003 remake of the same name.
Ben	Rat	Ben	A rat befriended by a lonely young boy. Ben leads a colony trained by the character Willard Stiles in the prior film Willard.
Hammy	Squirrel	Over the Hedge	An overactive squirrel obsessed with cookies.
Stuart Little	Mouse	Stuart Little	A mouse adopted by a human family. Voiced by Michael J. Fox.
Surly	Squirrel	The Nut Job and The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature	A selfish purple squirrel who is an outcast who finds a nut shop. Voiced by Will Arnett.
Jaq and Gus Gus	mouse	Cinderella	Talking mice, both voiced by Jimmy Macdonald.

Music

Character/s	Species	Song	Artist	Notes
Gerald the Mouse	Mouse	"Bike"	Pink Floyd/Syd Barrett	A homeless aging mouse
The mouse who ran up the clock	Mouse	"Hickory Dickory Dock"	Traditional	A mouse who ran up the clock until it struck one, after which it ran down again
La souris verte	Mouse	"Une Souris Verte"	Traditional	A green mouse
The Three Blind Mice	Mouse	"Three Blind Mice"	Traditional	Three blind mice who run after the farmer's wife, but she cuts off their tails with a carving knife
Ben	Rat	"Ben"	Don Black	The theme song of the film Ben. Performed by Lee Montgomery and Michael Jackson over the end credits. It won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song in 1972.
Various Rats, Ben	Rat	"Rats"	Pearl Jam	A track on the album Vs. mentions the character from its titular film Ben. Edder stated that "Rats" is about the idea that "rats are probably a hell of a lot more admirable" than humans.^[8]
Harvey the Wonder Hamster	Hamster	"Harvey the Wonder Hamster"	"Weird Al" Yankovic	A hamster who neither bites nor squeals, known for running on a hamster wheel.

Television

Character/s	Species	Television show	Notes
Chuck Gopher	Gopher	Gophers!	The head of the Gopher family. Played by Lou Hirsch.
Farfour	Mouse	Tomorrow's Pioneers	A Mickey Mouse lookalike and the host of the Arabic children’s television program
Gordon T. Gopher	Gopher	Gordon the Gopher	First appeared on presenting television shows in 1985–1987 with Phillip Schofield on the interstitial or in-vision continuity programme The Broom Cupboard. His main puppeteer was Paul Smith.
Hammy	Hamster	Tales of the Riverbank	Curious and kind and lives in an old boot on the Riverbank.
Ralph Packrat	Packrat	′′Kissyfur′′	One of the Swamp Cubs in Paddlecab County.
Rattus Rattus	Rat	Horrible Histories (2009 TV series)	Rattus is the primary host and official mascot of the TV series. Voiced by John Eccleston.
Rattus P. Rattus	Rat	The Ferals	A puppet character. He is a black rat with Ochre eyes, a mischievous sense of humour, has a love of foul odors and wears a leather jacket. He is the leader of the ferals.
Rizzo the Rat	Rat	The Muppet Show	A recurring character in the show and Gonzo's partner in films.
Roland Rat	Rat	Various	Popular British television puppet character.
Tutter	House mouse	Bear in the Big Blue House	A small blue mouse with long ears and a pink nose, He certainly calls Bear “dear”
Warehouse Mouse	Mouse	Imagination Movers

Animation

Character	Species	Work	Notes
Mickey Mouse	Mouse	Mickey Mouse	A cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio.^[9] Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves. He is one of the most recognizable cartoon characters in the world and is the mascot of The Walt Disney Company, the world's largest media conglomerate in terms of annual revenue. Mickey debuted in November 1928 in the animated cartoon Steamboat Willie after initially appearing in a test screening earlier that year. Mickey appeared primarily in short films, but also in a few feature-length films. Nine of Mickey's cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, Lend a Paw, won the award in 1942. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Minnie Mouse	Mouse	Mickey Mouse	Mickey Mouse's girlfriend who first appeared in Steamboat Willie alongside him in 1928. In the 1930s, Minnie wore her eye shadow, her flower hat and short flapper girl skirt, and a pair of large high heels. Nowadays she wears her oversized ribbon bow on her hair and her short-skirted dress. At the Disney theme parks, Minnie wears her iconic red and white polka-dotted dress and bow. In 2018, Minnie joined the ranks of other animated celebrities (including Mickey) by receiving her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[10]
Nigel Ratburn	Rat	Arthur	Arthur's strict but lovable 3rd-grade teacher.
Speedy Gonzales	Mouse	Looney Tunes	Speedy Gonzales (commonly shortened to just Speedy) is an anthropomorphic mouse in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast and speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent. He usually wears an oversized yellow sombrero, white shirt and trousers (Which is a common traditional outfit worn by men and boys of rural Mexican villages), and a red kerchief, similar to that of a reveler in the San Fermin festival.
Jerry	Mouse	Tom and Jerry	Jerry is a brown mouse from the Tom and Jerry cartoons.
Mighty Mouse	Mouse	Mighty Mouse	Mighty Mouse is an American animated anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox.
Secret Squirrel	Squirrel	The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show	Secret Squirrel is Agent 000, in a parody of the spy genre
Master Splinter	Rat	TMNT	An aged anthropomorphic rat that is the adoptive father and martial arts master of the Ninja Turtles Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello.
Bubble and Squeak	Mouse	Tube Mice
Kiff Chatterly	Squirrel	Kiff
Alvin and the Chipmunks	Chipmunk	The Alvin Show	Also starred in the animated series Alvin and the Chipmunks and Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks
The Chipettes	Chipmunk	Alvin and the Chipmunks
Chip 'n' Dale	Chipmunk	Private Pluto (animated debut)	Featured in a number of Disney animated productions, later starring in the series Chip'N'Dale Rescue Rangers and Chip 'n' Dale: Park Life.
Hamtaro	Hamster	Hamtaro	A courageous Ham-Ham who's always ready to help out his friends and his owner Laura.
Daggett and Norbert	Beaver	The Angry Beavers
Pinky and The Brain	Mouse	Pinky and the Brain	A pair of laboratory mice that scheme to conquer the world. The Brain is a genius, while Pinky is insane.
Sandy Cheeks	Squirrel	SpongeBob SquarePants	Sandy is a squirrel and is SpongeBob and Patrick's friend. Sandy is notable for her Texan characteristics and knowledge of Karate and science.

Video games

Name	Type	Game	Notes
Conker	Squirrel	Diddy Kong Racing	Protagonist and main character in the Conker series. In the newer games, Conker is a greedy, heavy drinking, red squirrel. Conker, though highly materialistic, always approaches new characters with a positive outlook. In Conker's Pocket Tales, he rescues his girlfriend, Berri, from the Evil Acorn; the same version of Conker appears in Diddy Kong Racing, where he is a playable character and that game marks his first appearance.
Hammond	Hamster	Overwatch	Playable hero in Overwatch, also known as Wrecking Ball. He is an intelligent hamster who controls a quadrupedal robot mecha that can transform into a high-speed wrecking ball equipped with a grappling hook.
Mappy	Mouse	Mappy	The game's main character itself is a mouse. Mappy runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware, modified to support horizontal scrolling. The name "Mappy" is likely derived from mappo, a Japanese slang term (slightly insulting) for a policeman.
New Rat City (or NRC)	Rat	Rat Chaos	An "Avatar of Rats"^[11]^[12]^[13] that appears after the player unleashes "rat chaos" on board the spaceship. It offers to take the player to the Planet of Rat, and also begins a stream of consciousness narrative^[11]^[14] about bullying,^[11]^[14] depression,^[11] and self-loathing.^[11]^[14]^[15]^[12]^[13] The character won the XYZZY Award for Best Individual NPC in 2012.^[16]^[17]
Twitch	Rat	League of Legends	A playable Champion in League of Legends that was mutated into an anthropomorphic rat with human level intelligence a la toxic waste.
Tilo	Mouse	Ghost of a Tale	The protagonist and main character. A small mouse minstrel, who must make his way through dungeons and lands full of danger while uncovering mysteries of the past, all the while he is determined to find his wife Merra and finding a way to escape the prison.

Mascots and others

Parka the official beaver mascot of Parks Canada.

Character/s	Species	Use	Notes
Chuck E. Cheese	Rat, later mouse	Chuck E. Cheese's pizza restaurant	Formerly Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza. Originally a rat,^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21] but retconned into a mouse in 1997.^[22]
Buc-ee's Beaver	Beaver	Buc-ee's convenience store chain	It is featured on the Buc-ee's logo wearing a red baseball cap.
Digger	Gopher	NASCAR on Fox camera icon	Character is shown in the corner of the camera, starting with the 2009 Daytona 500.
Gary the Squirrel	Squirrel	The Best Show with Tom Scharpling	Puppet controlled by the show's host, frequently busts on call screener/associate producer Mike
Kia Soul hamsters	Hamsters	Kia Soul commercials	A trio of hamsters who do various gimmicks to represent the KIA Soul car
Mitzi Mozzarella	Mouse	The Rock-afire Explosion from Showbiz Pizza Place	A female mouse who was the only female character in the band.^[23]
Parka	Beaver	Parks Canada	The mascot for the Canadian park^[24]
The Nutty Squirrels	Squirrels	Shirley, Squirrely and Melvin	A scat singing virtual band, formed in the late 1950s with the song "Uh-Oh".
Scouse	Mouse	Scouse the Mouse	A children's album, released in the UK in 1977, that featured the vocals of Ringo Starr and others.
The Go gopher	Gopher	Go programming language	Mascot for the Go Programming language
Ayunda Risu	Squirrel	Hololive Production's Virtual YouTuber	A squirrel girl who got lost in the human world and became a Virtual YouTuber for hololive Indonesia. ^[25]
Hakos Baelz	Rat	Hololive Production's virtual YouTuber	A virtual YouTuber with rat-like appearance and chaotic theme, part of hololive English. ^[26]

References

^ Thompson, M. Terry; Egesdal, Steven M. (2008). Salish Myths and Legends: One People's Stories. University of Nebraska Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-8032-1764-5.
^ "Disney History". The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (2001). Tree and Leaf. HarperCollins. p. 16. ISBN 0-007-10504-5.
^ Gibbs, Laura (2002–2008). "Aesopica". MythFolklore.net. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
^ Keyes, Daniel (1966). Flowers for Algernon. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P. ISBN 0-15-131510-8.
^ Fry, Michael; T. Lewis (14 May 2005), Over the Hedge, archived from the original on 19 January 2013, retrieved 9 October 2010
^ "Interview: Stephan Pastis: Attorney Turned Cartoonist". www.jdblissblog.com. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
^ Jones, Allan (1994). Pearl Jam — The Illustrated Story, A Melody Maker Book. Hal Leonard Corp. ISBN 0-7935-4035-6.
^ Kenworthy, John (2001). The Hand Behind the Mouse (Disney ed.). New York. pp. 53–54.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ "Minnie Mouse honored with Hollywood Walk of Fame star". ABC News. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e McCarter, Reid (June 2013). "Playing with Words". Comics & Gaming Magazine. Ronald P Frye & Co. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
^ ^a ^b problems, eva (2015). ""Rat Chaos by Winter Lake"". In Kopas, Merritt (ed.). Videogames for Humans. instar books. pp. 23, 31. ISBN 978-0-9904528-4-3.
^ ^a ^b problems, eva (May 12, 2015). "A conversation with a Twine game". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c Pacian, C.E.J. (June 7, 2013). "C.E.J. Pacian on Best Individual NPC 2012". XYZZY Award. WordPress. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
^ Polodna, Jenni (June 13, 2013). "Jenni Polodna on Best Individual NPC 2012". XYZZY Award. WordPress. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
^ Plotkin, Andrew (May 13, 2013). "IF News: The XYZZY Awards (and context)". IndieGames.com. UBM plc. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
^ Porpentine (May 12, 2013). "PORPENTINE — HOWLING DOGS CONTINUES THE SWEEP". PORPENTINE. Tumblr. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
^ Mace, Scott (December 21, 1981). "Rat dishes up pizza, computerized entertainment". Infoworld. p. 8.
^ Sheff, David (1999). Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World. GamePress. p. 115. ISBN 9780966961706. Above the receptionist's desk was the smiling face of Chuck E. Cheese, the company's mascot—a rat.
^ Taub, Stephen (November 30, 1983). "A Noisy Decline". Financial World. Vol. 152. pp. 40–43. The star of the show is a feisty-looking rat named Chuck E. Cheese, who Bushnell hopes will become as big a celebrity as Mickey Mouse.
^ Kent, Steven L. (2000). The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games. BWD Press. p. 97. ISBN 9780970475503. Bushnell called his new venture Pizza Time Theaters. He named his restaurants Chuck E. Cheese after the robotic rat mascot.
^ VegaNova. "Chuck E. Cheese - Chuck E. Cheese's Characters". www.showbizpizza.com. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
^ VegaNova. "Mitzi Mozzarella - The Rock-afire Explosion". www.showbizpizza.com. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
^ Canada, Parks Canada Agency, Government of. "Parka, our mascot". www.pc.gc.ca. Retrieved 13 August 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Hololive Production. "Ayunda Risu | TALENTS | hololive official website". hololive.hololivepro.com. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
^ Hololive Production. "Hakos Baelz | TALENTS | hololive official website". hololive.hololivepro.com. Retrieved 2022-01-30.