5 Mice Facts For Homeowners

Homeowner Mice Facts

In this article you will learn about:

1. Basic Mice Facts
2. Different Kinds of Mice
3. Mice Size, Habitat and Food
4. How Mice Can Damage Your Home
5. How to Safely Get Rid of Mice

A tiny rodent with a pointy nose, a furry body, and a fairly long tail, the mouse is a mammal that can be found in many homes across the world. Possibly one of the smallest and sometimes even cutest creatures that can send a human screaming and running for cover, it’s undeniable that a lot of people consider mice as one of their biggest fears. To know more about these mammals, read on for mice facts.

1. Basic Mice Facts

Typical Size (length): 1 to 7 inches excluding the tail
Typical Weight: 0.5 to 1 ounce
Habitat: Grasslands, forests, manmade structures, or places where food is easily accessible
Diet: Omnivorous, but prefers grains, seeds, and fruits
Appetite: Can eat up to 15 to 20 times in a day
Reproduction: A female mouse can mate at around 4 to 7 weeks old and can give birth to 4 to 12 baby mice within 19 to 21 days.
Lifespan: Wild mice can live from 1 to 2.5 years

Other interesting facts:

• Mice like sleeping during the day because they are nocturnal.
• When around other mice, a mouse can be very social.
• Some people domesticate mice so they can be treated as pets.
• Mice can be very territorial.
• The smallest mouse in the planet is the African pygmy. It can grow anywhere from 1.3 to 3.1 inches and weigh less than 0.1 kilograms.
• Mice are a popular choice as laboratory test subjects because their body and mind are very similar to those of humans.
• The Florida Mouse or the Podomys floridanus reaches a length of up to 8 inches and can weigh up to 1.7 ounces. As of January 2017, it is no longer listed in Florida, but can be found on the list of animals in the Imperiled Species Management Plan.

Truth be told, there was an attempt to make mice seem like adorable creatures. Remember Mickey Mouse? But the ones we see around the house are not at all like him. And while your kids can probably watch this famous mouse’s clubhouse show for hours, spending a second with a real life mouse around is surely impossible.

2. Different Kinds of Mice

Depending on the location, there are different varieties of mice you can encounter. Among them are:

1. Deer Mouse
2. House Mouse
3. Field Mouse
4. Wood Mouse
5. Dormouse

There’s also the white mouse that we all know as the lab mouse, which is used as an animal tester. Some people actually breed this kind of mouse because there’s a huge market for it. Aside from being around the laboratory a lot, the white mouse is sometimes kept as a pet or is used to feed reptile pets like snakes.

3. Mice Size, Habitat and Food

You might encounter mice in a lot of shapes and sizes. Typically, a mice can be anywhere from an inch to seven inches. It can weigh 0.5 to 1 ounce. One of the smallest mice in the world is the African pygmy.

Mice live pretty much everywhere they please. They can survive in forests, fields, gardens, and yes, your home. They like living in hidden places though. For instance, they would find a hole or crack beneath your walls and would sleep there all day. Since they’re nocturnal, they would roam around mostly at night. They love living in human homes or near humans because this is where they will find a lot of food.

Contrary to popular belief, cheese is not the favorite food of mice. While they would certainly eat it if available, they would still prefer seeds, grains and fruits. And it’s crazy too because they could end up eating each other when they can’t source food. This is the reason why some mice end up biting humans, mostly sleeping humans. By the way, they eat a whole lot! Their small bodies can take 15 or even 20 meals in a day!

4. How Mice Can Damage Your Home

As mentioned earlier, mice eat a whole lot and they would even bite humans! That’s extremely dangerous because their bites carry dangerous diseases. Their urine can also cause fatal infections such as leptospirosis.

Also related to their eating habits, mice would steal your food. While they wouldn’t be able to finish up an entire pizza you left on the table, seeing your food touched or bitten by a mouse would mean you’d have to throw their leftovers away. If they urinated, left droppings or even their saliva on your food, eating that food would be very dangerous for your health.

And while these mice eat a lot of food, they don’t really eat everything they chew. If there are mice in your home, one telling sign are chewed pieces of items such as paper, books, wires and more left behind. They actually use these items to build their nest, not necessarily to satisfy their hunger. So you must be extra alarmed should you see these, because that only means that more mice are on their way to your home.

Since these mice chew pretty much everything, they can cause serious damage to your home’s structure. For instance, there are insulation systems that need to be replaced simply because mice chewed on them. There are homes that burnt down completely just because mice chewed on electrical wirings.

Yes, these mice can be small but they’re truly just terrible.

5. How to Safely Get Rid of Mice

If you spot a mouse or two around your home, you better believe there are even more hiding around somewhere. You can try to get rid of these tiny mice using sticky traps or other tried and tested traps. However, when you have a bigger mouse problem at home, meaning you have so many of these little ones scurrying around your home especially at night, then you definitely will have to call the experts.

Animal Wildlife Trappers has dealt with numerous mouse cases over the years. We’ve seen homes infested by so many mice that the homeowners simply couldn’t live a peaceful life anymore. Our experiences taught us well. We know how to get rid of mice by finding out where they are coming from. We use safe and proven methods that wouldn’t be any risk to you, your family and your home’s structure at all. Best of all, we make sure that we would prevent these mice from coming back again, and that’s worth everything!

For mice removal and other wildlife removal services in Central Florida including Lake County, Orange County, and Hardee County.

Call the experts at Animal Wildlife Trappers at 352-267-0546 for a free quote.