Identification of unknown rodent

[recom273]

I was sitting in the garden this morning and saw a large rodent run and pause in front of me. I didn’t have a phone with me

but I will try and describe what I saw, maybe a nature expert can help. 
 

I live in a village about 20km outside Khon Kaen.

 

The animal 100% was not a rat, it had an elongated body, it also had a thicker and darker tail than a rat. From the glimpse I had, it had more of a vole or shrew like snout. It didn’t move like a rat. The legs were longer than a rat. 

 

The coat was the colour of a UK wild rabbit or a coypu, not a solid colour like you would see on a stoat or weasel, the body wasn’t long enough to be either of those and it didn’t move in the “slinky” way that a stoat or Weasel would. 
 

I had a brief Google, rodents of Thailand, came back with a possibility - a crab eating mongoose? I have never seen a mongoose other than on TV, but I would say it looks like the closest to what I saw this morning.

 

Does anyone have any ideas? (And it wasn’t a squirrel either) 

 

 

[Foxx]

From the description, treeshrew or moonrat.

[petermik]

On 8/19/2024 at 9:20 AM, recom273 said:

 

 

Does anyone have any ideas? (And it wasn’t a squirrel either) 

 

 

Seems to me to be a thingmajig......sorry.

[petermik]

Just now, petermik said:

Seems to me to be a thingymajig......sorry.

 

[JBChiangRai]

I thought all the rats were in Pattaya or Patong?

[Maybole]

Was it possibly a type of squirrel?

[novacova]

The description seems like a mongoose, but I don’t think there’s mongoose in TH.

[Gottfrid]

18 minutes ago, Maybole said:

Was it possibly a type of squirrel?

Look what the OP wrote below:
 

On 8/19/2024 at 9:20 AM, recom273 said:

Does anyone have any ideas? (And it wasn’t a squirrel either) 

 

[Gottfrid]

To OP, you probably saw the one on the photo below. Besides that you will see the spread in Thailand for the same.

[KhunLA]

Are you near water, maybe an otter, if not a mongoose...

otter

 

mongoose

 

some other options ...

[recom273]

@Foxx I think the tree shrew looks like a contender - probably not a moonrat.

 

@KhunLA Having seen otters before, when I looked up, it was the first thing I thought of, but there is something missing in the way it moved, otters have a similar way to ferrets, polecats, etc. in that they flex. 

@Gottfrid it could be, what is the picture of? 
 

It could also be a form of civet or mongoose, there is an Asian mongoose, but it looks rare.

 

Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions, they all look possible contenders, I guess we will never know. I find it really exciting to live here, there is always something, like a nice sized python crossing the road, a hoopee, which I love to see, or the white squirrels I see every day. 

 

[Foxx]

1 minute ago, recom273 said:

a hoopee, which I love to see

 

Do you mean hoopoe? The colourful bird with the spectacular crest?

[Photoguy21]

Maybe a wild occupant of Soi 6 in Pattaya. Could have got loose.

[recom273]

7 minutes ago, Foxx said:

 

Do you mean hoopoe? The colourful bird with the spectacular crest?

Yes, sorry autocorrect.

 

Yes, I often get pairs in the garden at times of the year. officially the rarest bird to be seen in the UK, I was told.