Hispid cotton rat records lean toward Aransas, Padre Island, and Brazoria national wildlife refuges, all linked by grassy refuge edges, marsh borders, and the dense low cover this rat needs to move unseen while it feeds on grass stems and seeds.
Of the 8,412 records, 7,834 come from GBIF against just 2,342 from iNaturalist, a specimen-heavy split typical of small, hard-to-photograph rodents that turn up mostly through targeted trapping surveys along the coast rather than casual sightings.
Reports peak in October, with a smaller rise in March, though the species shows up in every month. Cotton rats breed nearly year-round in Texas’s mild coastal climate, so that pattern likely reflects survey timing and seasonal grass growth as much as the animal’s own activity. NatureServe rates the species secure both in Texas and across its range.
Full species profile
