The Indian bandicoot rat (Bandicota indica) is a large burrowing rodent of South and Southeast Asia that lives in fields, drains, gardens and towns, digs extensive tunnel systems, hoards grain and is a major agricultural pest. Despite its name, the Indian bandicoot rat is a true rat of the family Muridae and has no relation to the pouched bandicoot marsupials of Australia, whose name was borrowed from a South Indian word for this animal.
The Indian bandicoot rat is one of the heaviest rats found in India and is best known for its loud grunting when threatened, its habit of storing food in underground chambers and the damage it causes to rice, wheat, sugarcane and stored grain. This explainer covers what the Indian bandicoot rat is, how it differs from similar rodents, how it lives, why it matters to farmers and public health, and how it is managed, using stable and well-documented facts.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Common names | Indian bandicoot rat, greater bandicoot rat |
| Scientific name | Bandicota indica |
| Family | Muridae (Old World rats and mice), order Rodentia |
| Size | Large; body length roughly 20 to 30 centimetres, weight commonly several hundred grams and up to about a kilogram |
| Activity | Mainly nocturnal and burrowing |
| Habitat | Rice and wheat fields, irrigation banks, drains, gardens, godowns and the edges of towns |
| Range | India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and nearby regions |
| Conservation status | Generally rated Least Concern on the IUCN Red List |
| Human relevance | Crop and stored-grain pest; carrier of some rodent-borne diseases |
Key Takeaways
- The Indian bandicoot rat (Bandicota indica) is a large rat that weighs far more than the common house rat and is among the biggest rats in South Asia.
- The word “bandicoot” in the Indian bandicoot rat comes from a Telugu term meaning “pig-rat”, and the animal is unrelated to Australian marsupial bandicoots.
- The Indian bandicoot rat digs deep, branching burrows with storage chambers where it hoards grain, which makes it a serious pest of rice, wheat and other crops.
- The Indian bandicoot rat grunts and squeals loudly and may stand its ground when cornered, which gives it a reputation for boldness.
- The Indian bandicoot rat is distinct from the smaller lesser bandicoot rat (Bandicota bengalensis), which is the common burrowing rat of Indian cities.
- The Indian bandicoot rat is widespread and not globally threatened, and integrated rodent management that combines hygiene, trapping, predators and careful baiting works better than poison alone.
What is the Indian bandicoot rat?
The Indian bandicoot rat is a large, robust rodent in the genus Bandicota, scientifically named Bandicota indica, found across the Indian subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia, where it lives mainly in burrows near cultivated land and human settlements. It is sometimes called the greater bandicoot rat to distinguish it from its smaller relative, the lesser bandicoot rat.
The English word “bandicoot” is borrowed from the Telugu “pandikokku”, often translated as “pig-rat”, a reference to the animal’s size and its pig-like grunting. European naturalists later applied the same word to marsupials in Australia, which is why two completely unrelated groups of animals share the name. The Indian bandicoot rat is a placental rodent in the same large family as the black rat and the brown rat.
The genus Bandicota includes three species recognised in most references: the Indian bandicoot rat, the lesser bandicoot rat and the Savile’s bandicoot rat of Southeast Asia. In India, the first two are the relevant species.
How big is the Indian bandicoot rat and what does it look like?
The Indian bandicoot rat is a heavy-bodied rat with a head-and-body length of roughly 20 to 30 centimetres, a tail of similar length and a weight that commonly reaches several hundred grams, with large individuals approaching a kilogram. This makes it markedly larger than the black rat (Rattus rattus) and larger than most other rats that share Indian fields and towns.
The fur is coarse, shaggy and dark, usually blackish-brown or greyish-brown above and slightly paler below, and it often looks bristly or unkempt. The head is broad with a blunt muzzle, the ears are small and the tail is thick, scaly and shorter than that of many climbing rats. Strong forelimbs and long claws are adapted for digging, and the incisors are large and orange-tinted like those of other rodents.
When disturbed, the animal can raise its back, bristle its fur, open its mouth and make loud grunts or snorts. This display, combined with its size, explains why the species has a reputation for being aggressive, although it usually prefers to escape into a burrow when it can.
How is the Indian bandicoot rat different from the lesser bandicoot rat?
The Indian bandicoot rat differs from the lesser bandicoot rat mainly in size and habitat: the Indian bandicoot rat is bigger and found more often in fields and rural areas, whereas the lesser bandicoot rat is smaller and is the dominant burrowing rat in many Indian cities. Both are commonly called bandicoots, which causes confusion in news reports and pest-control advice.
The lesser bandicoot rat (Bandicota bengalensis) is a familiar pest in the drains, warehouses and markets of cities such as Mumbai and Kolkata, while the Indian bandicoot rat tends to be associated with rice and wheat fields, irrigation banks and village outskirts, although it also enters towns and godowns. The two species can overlap in peri-urban areas.
| Feature | Indian bandicoot rat | Lesser bandicoot rat | Black rat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Bandicota indica | Bandicota bengalensis | Rattus rattus |
| Relative size | Largest of the three | Medium to large | Smaller, slender |
| Main habitat | Fields, banks, rural edges | Cities, drains, godowns, fields | Houses, roofs, trees |
| Behaviour | Digs deep burrows, hoards grain | Digs burrows, bold in markets | Climbs and nests above ground |
| Voice | Loud grunts and snorts | Squeals and hisses | Squeaks |
Where does the Indian bandicoot rat live?
The Indian bandicoot rat lives across the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, favouring irrigated farmland, field edges, drains, gardens and the margins of settlements where soil is soft enough to dig. It is less often seen on dry, rocky ground or in deep forest.
In India, the species is reported from many states, with high densities in rice-growing regions and well-watered agricultural plains. Its burrows are usually found on field bunds, along canals and ditches, under hedges and near godowns, where the combination of cover, loose soil and food supports large colonies.
In Southeast Asia the Indian bandicoot rat is also a significant pest of rice fields. Its adaptability to both fields and settlements helps explain why the Indian bandicoot rat is so widespread.
How does the Indian bandicoot rat dig and store food?
The Indian bandicoot rat digs complex burrow systems with several entrances, long tunnels and enlarged chambers, and it stores seeds and grain in these underground chambers, sometimes in surprisingly large quantities. The tunnels typically include a nesting chamber, side branches and bolt-holes that give the rat several routes of escape.
The rat excavates with its forefeet and loosens soil with its incisors, pushing earth out to form visible mounds at the burrow entrance. In irrigated fields, burrows are often dug into the raised field bunds, where they can weaken the bund and cause water leakage, and in dry spells the rats may dig deeper where the soil stays cool.
Hoarding is a key behaviour. After harvest the rats carry ears of rice, wheat or other grain into their chambers. Farmers sometimes dig out burrows to recover grain, and in parts of India and Southeast Asia, communities have long used this habit to locate and collect grain stores, as well as the rats themselves, which are traditionally caught for food by some groups, including the Irula in Tamil Nadu.
What does the Indian bandicoot rat eat?
The Indian bandicoot rat is an omnivore that eats mostly grain, seeds, roots, tubers, stems and fruit, and it will also take insects, snails, crabs and household scraps when they are available. Its diet shifts with the season and the crop being grown.
In farmland the rat feeds on rice, wheat, maize, sugarcane, groundnut, potato and vegetables, cutting plants at the base, nibbling developing grain and carrying ears away to store. Around settlements it feeds on spilled grain, kitchen waste and stored food in godowns and markets. In wetter areas, snails and crustaceans add protein.
Because the rat continues to gnaw throughout its life, as all rodents do, it also chews on non-food items such as sacks, wooden structures and cables. This gnawing helps keep its incisors worn down but can cause property and electrical damage.
Typical food items by habitat
- Paddy and wheat fields: developing grain, tillers, stored ears and seeds
- Sugarcane and vegetable plots: stems, tubers and roots
- Godowns and markets: spilled and stored grain, pulses and oilseeds
- Damp ground: snails, crabs and other invertebrates
How does the Indian bandicoot rat reproduce?
The Indian bandicoot rat breeds rapidly, with females producing several litters a year, each commonly containing six to ten or more young, which allows numbers to grow quickly when food is abundant. Breeding is linked to rainfall and crop cycles, with peaks often following the main cropping seasons.
Gestation lasts roughly three to four weeks, and the blind, hairless young are born in a burrow nest lined with plant material. They are weaned within a few weeks and can reproduce within a few months. Exact litter sizes and breeding seasons vary between regions and studies, so the figures above should be treated as approximate.
This high reproductive capacity is what makes rat populations hard to control permanently. When a field is cleared of rats, survivors and immigrants can rebuild numbers within one or two seasons, unless the food, cover and burrow sites that support them are also reduced.
Why is the Indian bandicoot rat a pest?
The Indian bandicoot rat is a pest because it eats and hoards crops, damages field bunds and irrigation structures and contaminates stored grain, causing economic losses to farmers and food stores. Rodents as a group are widely considered among the most damaging vertebrate pests in Indian agriculture, and bandicoot rats are prominent in that group.
The damage takes several forms. Rats cut tillers of paddy and wheat, eat developing grain, carry away ears into burrows and gnaw through bags in godowns. Burrowing weakens the bunds that hold irrigation water, and gnawing can damage wiring and woodwork. Precise national loss figures vary between studies and are not reliably summarised in a single number.
The rat also matters for public health. Rodents are linked to diseases such as leptospirosis, salmonellosis and, historically, plague, although plague in India has been tied mainly to other rat species and their fleas. Contaminated grain and water, bites and rodent-borne parasites are risks wherever rat populations are high.
How is the Indian bandicoot rat managed and controlled?
The Indian bandicoot rat is best managed through integrated rodent management, which combines field hygiene, community-wide timing, trapping, natural predators and carefully used rodenticides, instead of relying on poison alone. Agricultural research bodies in India promote this approach because single-method control tends to fail as rat numbers rebound.
Common elements of integrated management include:
- Removing weeds, crop residue and dense vegetation from bunds and field margins to reduce cover
- Keeping bunds narrow and low so that fewer burrows can be dug
- Synchronising control efforts across neighbouring farms so that rats do not simply move next door
- Using traps, burrow fumigation and, where authorised, anticoagulant or zinc phosphide baits according to label and local guidance
- Storing grain in rodent-proof bins or godowns with sealed gaps and raised platforms
- Encouraging natural predators such as barn owls, snakes, mongooses, cats and birds of prey, including by installing owl perches or nest boxes
Poison baits carry risks to non-target animals and to predators that eat poisoned rats, which can reduce the very predators that help control rodents. Using poison selectively and after trapping or habitat measures is therefore recommended.
What is the legal and conservation status of the Indian bandicoot rat?
The Indian bandicoot rat is not a conservation concern: it is widespread and abundant and is rated Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Rats and mice were historically listed as “vermin” in Schedule V of India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and the 2022 amendment restructured the schedules, so the current legal position should be checked against the latest official text.
In practice, farmers may control bandicoot rats as pests, but humane and safe methods are encouraged, and the use of poisons is regulated by pesticide rules. Rodents also play a role in ecosystems as prey for owls, snakes, mongooses and other predators and as seed eaters, so the aim of management is to keep numbers below harmful levels rather than to eliminate them.
Bottom Line
The Indian bandicoot rat is a large, grunting, burrowing rat that hoards grain and causes costly damage to Indian crops and stores. It is common and not threatened, and the most dependable way to limit its impact is integrated management that reduces food and shelter, uses traps and predators and reserves poison as a last resort.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Indian bandicoot rat?
The Indian bandicoot rat is a large burrowing rodent, Bandicota indica, found in India and Southeast Asia. It lives in fields, drains and the edges of towns, digs tunnels and stores grain. It is a major crop pest but is widespread and not globally threatened.
Is the Indian bandicoot rat related to Australian bandicoots?
No, the Indian bandicoot rat is not related to Australian bandicoots. Australian bandicoots are marsupials, whereas the Indian bandicoot rat is a placental rodent of the family Muridae. The English word “bandicoot” comes from a Telugu term meaning “pig-rat” and was later applied to the unrelated marsupials.
How big does an Indian bandicoot rat get?
An Indian bandicoot rat commonly has a body length of roughly 20 to 30 centimetres and can weigh from several hundred grams up to about a kilogram. It is much larger than the black rat. Its size, bristly fur and loud grunting make it easy to recognise.
What is the difference between the Indian and lesser bandicoot rat?
The Indian bandicoot rat is larger and is found more in fields and rural areas, while the lesser bandicoot rat is smaller and is the dominant burrowing rat in many Indian cities. Both dig burrows and hoard food. The two species can overlap on the outskirts of towns.
Is the Indian bandicoot rat dangerous?
The Indian bandicoot rat is not usually aggressive unless cornered, but it can bite and it can spread disease. Rodents are associated with leptospirosis, salmonellosis and other infections, so people should avoid handling them and should keep food and water protected. Medical advice is needed after any bite.
How can farmers control Indian bandicoot rats?
Farmers can control Indian bandicoot rats best through integrated rodent management. This means clearing weeds and cover, keeping bunds low, coordinating action with neighbouring farms, trapping, protecting predators such as barn owls and using rodenticides only carefully and in line with local guidance. Rodent-proof grain storage prevents losses after harvest.
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