[3] The long-haired rat can be distinguished by its very long, coarse guard hairs that form an outer layer to protect the softer underfur.

[2] The species is generally a light grey colour with the black guard hairs giving and overall greyish speckled appearance.

[3] The average weight for males is 156 g and for females is 112 g.[3] See external links Long-haired rats typically occur in temperate, sub-tropical, desert and hummock grasslands regions.

[4] However, during a plague eruption, they can be found in virtually every habitat including farm outbuildings and homesteads as well as invading cultivated pastures such as sorghum and oats.

It is thought that their diet is composed mostly of stems, leaves and roots of grasses, herbs and succulent plants as well as some seeds and insects.

[6] These include birds of prey such as the barn owl (Tyto alba) and the letter-winged kite (Elanus scriptus), kowari, dingo, feral cats, foxes and inland taipans.