APPEARANCE:

The adult house mouse is small and slender and about 1-2 inches long, excluding tail. It has large ears, pointed nose and small eyes. The tail is as long as the head and body combined. The fur color varies, but it is usually a light grey or brown, but could be darker shades.

DIET:

Mice will eat almost anything, but prefer cereal grains, seeds, or sweet material. They require very little water, obtaining most of their water needs from their food.

HABITS AND BIOLOGY:

If there are good living conditions(food, water, and shelter),they can multiply rapidly. They sexually mature in two months, producing about 8 litters in a one year life time. Each litter has 4-7 pups. A house mice in a city environment may spend it's entire life in buildings. In rural and suburban settings, it may not only live inside, but be found outside near foundations, in the shrubbery, weeds, crawl spaces, basements, or in garages. They survive well on weeds, seeds, or insects, but when their food supply is shortened by the colder months they move inside nesting closer to a food supply. They make their nest from soft material like paper, insulation, or furniture stuffing. These nest are found in many places including: in walls, ceiling voids, storage boxes, drawers, under major appliances, or within the upholstery of furniture. Outside the nests are found in debris or in ground burrows.

Mice while being "nibblers" eating many times at different places, they do have two main meal times...just before dawn and at dusk...they simply "snack" at other times at intervals or every 1-2 hours. They can eat about 10 to 15% of their body weight every day, the adults weighing about 5/8-1 oz. They get much of there water from food products.

HOUSE MOUSE INSPECTION: