Desert Rat

* Current (S2; UHD)
* Cacti Rat (H)
* Gold Trim
* Old (S1; HD)
* Classic Skin

N/A

The **Desert Rat**, formerly known as the **Kangaroo Rat** until March 3, 2020, is a tier 1 Desert animal in Mope.io. It is equivalent of the Mouse, Shrimp, Tarsier and the Chipmunk, and was added in the Desert Update on April 27, 2019.

## Technical

* It is one of the spawning options available when the player presses `Play` at 0 XP.
* Upgrades to Desert Chipmunk, Rabbit, Arctic Hare, Pigeon, or Trout at 150 XP.
* The food sources that it can consume are Berries, Plankton, Dates, Honeycomb, and small Meat.
* Being at tier 1, the Desert Rat has no prey.
* Predators of the Desert Rat includes all animals within the range of tier 2 to tier 5 (Desert Chipmunk to Gazelle).
* It has no Special Abilities.
* The Passive Ability of the Desert Rat is to Sprint when hurt, causing it to increase in speed and say "SQUEAK!!!" in the Chat.
* The Desert Rat can hide in all types of Hiding Spots.

## Appearance

### Current (S2)

The "*Season 2*" era Desert Rat has a golden-tan base with a lighter colored head. It has a triangular protruding snout and semicircular ears. The nose, paws, tail, and inner ear are all flesh colored. Fur covers the body, as well has appearing in a small tuft at the end of the tail.

### Gold Trim

The Gold Trim Desert Rat is a golden-colored Desert Rat. It has darker gold around the ears rather then light.

### Cacti Rat

The Cacti Rat is the 2020 Halloween skin for the Desert Rat. It has all of the high-definition Desert Rat's features, but its head is light green with a grassy texture and has purple patches inside the ears, and a pink flower on its forehead. The Cacti Rat also has a dark green body and no tail. Thorns adorn its body.

### Old (S1)

The high-definition design of the Desert Rat two large fuzzy ears, fuzzy orangish skin, with lighter brown around the ears, and a pink nose. It also has a furry strip of grey-brown on the tip of its tail, which is curved to the right.

### Classic Skin

The Classic Desert Rat skin is a light tan, almost creme in color, with large darker semicircles as ears. The insides of its ears are pink. It has shadows behind its large mope eyes, and a short round snout tipped with a small pink circle. Its tail is pink and long, ending with a furry gray tip.

## Strategy

* Since the Desert Rat is a tier 1 animal, the only option to level up is to farm dates in the Desert biome, or use a Healing Stone.
	+ Dates can be found around hills, while Healing Stones are a bit less common. However, the latter is still possible to find relatively quickly.
* The player must watch out for Venus Flytraps, as they can easily kill the player due to lethally reducing the Health Bar of the player.
	+ If a piece of small meat is near a Fly Trap, the player can eat it regardless of the consequences of the Fly Trap, as a single piece of meat will instantly upgrade the player.
* The player may also stray out of the Desert and into the Land biome, if that proves to be more convenient. Avoid water sources in Land, however, as their debuff will cause the player to freeze.
	+ While in the Land biome, spit water pods onto brown mushrooms by pressing `S`, creating edible berries. Alternatively, the player can consume honeycomb at a Beehive, avoiding Honey Bees that will be there due to their stings.
* If the player is hit by a predator, they can sprint to escape – go to the nearest hiding hole and wait until they go away.
	+ Hiding is the safest thing to do as predators such as the Gazelle, Desert Chipmunk and Armadillo have speed-based Special Abilities.

## Gallery

### Assets

The ultra high-definition"*Season 2*" Desert Rat skin (in-game from February 1, 2022–).The body of the ultra high-definition Desert Rat skin.The ultra high-definition Desert Rat's tail, when its passive "sprint when hurt" ability activates.The Gold Trim Desert Rat (in-store from October 21, 2020 – July 29, 2021).The body of the Gold Trim Desert Rat.The Gold Trim Desert Rat's tail, when its passive "sprint when hurt" ability activates.Cacti Rat (2020 Halloween Skin; in-store from November 1, 2020–). Its body asset is the same as its base asset, and the Cacti Rat has no tail and thus no tail asset.The high-definition Desert Rat skin (in-game from December 23, 2019 – January 31, 2022).The body of the high-definition Desert Rat skin.The high-definition Desert Rat's tail, when its passive "sprint when hurt" ability activates.The Classic Desert Rat skin (in-game from April 27, 2019 – December 22, 2019; in-store from May 22, 2021–).The Classic Desert Rat's body.The tail of the Classic skin of the Desert Rat, when its passive "sprint when hurt" ability activates.
### In-game

A Desert Rat sprinting from being hurt by fire, that is about to upgrade.The Desert Rat's passive abilityA newly-spawned Desert Rat.A Desert Rat near an aloevera plant.
### Other

The scrapped, unreleased skin of the Desert Rat.Pike leaking the scrapped skin.
## History

 April 27, 2019: Desert Update | * Added.

## Trivia

* It was formerly called the "Kangaroo Rat" in-game, being re-named to "Desert Rat" on March 3, 2020. Despite this, in the game files as of August 2022, the Desert Rat's assets still have the prefix "`/kangaroorat/`".
* It appears to be based on the real-life Dipodomys microps; a rat species native to North America.
* The Desert Rat and Chipmunk have no upgrade message, and are the only animals in Mope.io not to have one.

## Footnotes

1. ↑ https://mope.io/assets/s/2/skins/desert/kangaroorat/0/kangaroorat.png?v=274 (archive)

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