What killed the Rat??

I've been seeing a few field mice now the maize has been cut, so set up a couple of rat/mouse live cage traps yesterday at 1pm.
I forgot about checking them before I went to bed, so took a look at 7am this morning.

Wow....longest and most obese bloody rat I've ever seen.

Its body was crammed into the full length of the cage trap of 250mm, with its bloody big long tail folded back against its body (did you know that it's an extension of its vertebral column?).
The food hook (that also operates as a trigger for the door to shut), was ripped out and the left side of the cage was slightly warped/bent.

But here's the thing.....it was dead.

It wasn't cold last night here...about 7 degrees.
It didn't get hung up/strangled in the spring that closes the door.
Checked its body for cuts/wounds...nothing.
So does anyone have a guess on what killed the rat? (they are usually tough little bastards).

Heart attack ?
:useless:

We caught a juvenile rabbit in a cage trap once.
Something looked to have eaten it (alive?) from the outside of the cage, all that was left was it’s head. Not a scrap of blood or fur or anything and the incision at the back of the it’s head was surgical clean.
It was very very weird.

yip coranary event,Ive seen possum trapped by single toe dead in trap before.

A soft-hearted friend of mine catches rats in a small cage trap then releases them a km down the road. He says its not unusual for them to die before release. Stress maybe?

Yeah right...stress and heart attack.

I always thought rats were so tough it would be them plus cockroaches that would survive as species till the end.

But they are mammals after all....so yeah....stress gets to us all... (poor rat stressed to death).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dannyb

Heart attack ?
:useless:

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After I inspected it for cuts, the dog ended up carting it off into the brown wasteland of a maize paddock....

Any poison nearby??? Guess the dog will let you know if that was the case...

Mustelid, going by the neck incision.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hermitage

Yeah right...stress and heart attack.

I always thought rats were so tough it would be them plus cockroaches that would survive as species till the end.

But they are mammals after all....so yeah....stress gets to us all... (poor rat stressed to death).

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We had a dead rodent in a trap after a few minutes (Wife did not like the 'screaming ' so called me to deal with it. Rodent was dead and only its paw was in the trap.......paw caught in trap and it dies of a heart attack in minutes?

Maybe your wife's left over cooking you used to bait the trap ?;)

Tails in all species except birds are an extension of the vertebra

Cat did that, a cat was on a full stomach. Usually cat will choke prey to death, there would `t be any wounds.