House mouse

Facts

IUCN LEAST CONCERN (LC)

Facts about this animal

The house mouse is a relatively small mouse with a head-body lenght of usually less than 10 cm. The tail is of about the same lenght as head and body, or slightly longer (76-95 mm), and the hind foot measures 16-19 mm. The body-weight rarely exceeds 30 g. The head is relatively small. The ears are large, broad and oval in shape. There are 16 teeth - 4 gnawing teeth and 12 molars. The tail has 150 rings.

The colour of the common house mouse is light brown to black above and whitish below, often with a buffy wash and tail that is lighter below.

There are both commensal and wild forms of the house mouse. The commensal forms often move out from buildings into surrounding fields in the spring and summer and return to the shelter of the buildings in the fall. Commensal house moce are active at any hour (the wild forms seem to be active mainly at night). Their range of movement is very limited and may comprise as few as 15 m².

The house mouse is not afraid of water and swims well. Nests are often made in the vicinity of rich food sources and consists of soft shredded material.

House mice reproduce at any time of the year, provided enough food is available, and may have five or more litters a year. After a gestation period of 21 days, the female gives birth to usually blind and naked 5-6 young (in laboratory mice as many as 20!), which are weaned after about 3 weeks. On an average, they live for about 3 months and in the wild never get older than 20 months.

House mice are opportunistic feeders, preferring cereals, but taking also all kind of foodstuffs, glue, soap, and other household articles, usually damaging much more than they eat. They catch and eat also insects.

Did you know?
that they are, together with the rat, considered to be the most widespread terrestrial mammal other than humans?

Factsheet
Class	MAMMALIA
Order	RODENTIA
Suborder	MYOMORPHA
Family	MURIDAE
Name (Scientific)	Mus musculus
Name (English)	House mouse
Name (French)	Souris grise
Name (German)	Hausmaus
Name (Spanish)	Ratón común
Local names	Croatian: Domai miš Czech: Myš domácí Danish: Lys husmus Dutch: Huismuis Estonian: Koduhiir Finnish: Kotihiiri Hungarian: Házi egér Icelandic: Húsamús Italian: Topolino delle case Latvian: Naminé pelé Norwegian: Husmus Polish: Mysz domowa Portuguese: Camundongo Romansh: Mieur grischa Slovenian: Miška Swedish: Husmus Turkish: Ev faresi
CITES Status	Not listed
CMS Status	Not listed

Photo Copyright by
Milos Andera

Distribution

Distribution
Range	Originally native to Asia and humans introduced them all over the world. Generally, there are three subspecies of Mus musculus recognized: M. m. musculus from eastern Europe, M. ms castaneus from southeastern Asia, andM. m. domesticus
Habitat	In areas near to human habitation and open fields
Wild population	Unknown, but very common(Red List IUCN 2011).
Zoo population	3693 reported to ISIS (2006) but this species is a popular animal pet and they are by far the most commonly used laboratory animal.

In the Zoo

How this animal should be transported

For air transport, Container Note 81 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations should be followed.

Find this animal on ZooLex

Photo Copyright by
Milos Andera

Why do zoos keep this animal

House mice -or often domesticated colour mice - can make an interesting exhibit, in particular for children. They are displayed primarily for educational reasons because it is partly a commensal species, which may transmit disease to humans, and an invasive species which now frequents most of the world and may contribute to the extinction of endemic island fauna.

How this animal should be kept

House mice are social animals and must be kept in pairs or, preferably, groups containing one or several males (two males can be kept together quite comfortably if introduced at a young age) and several females.

The biggest concern in any grouping of house mice is overcrowding. If there are too many mice in too small an enclosure, dominance fights can quickly become fatal. If fights, or bite marks or pulled out hair on the smaller members of the group are observed, the entire group should be moved to a larger enclosure, or some of the animals should be removed.

House mice are usually kept indoors in terrariums. Behind the scene, house mice may be kept in standardized cages for laboratory mice, or in terrariums of 0.3 m²x 40cm high for a family group. Exhibits, however, should have a minimum surface of about 1 m². The enclosure should be well structured - it could simulate a kitchen, store or warehouse - and must contain sleeping dens and hiding opportunities. Hay and straw should be provided as nesting material. The floor should be covered with a suitable substrate. There should be several feeding bowls. Water should be provided in a drinking bottle positioned in a way that it cannot be chewed by the mice. A minimum temperature of 15ºC should be maintained, in places higher (radiators). The day phase should be around 12 hours.

The diet consists of cereals and other seeds supplemented with fruit and vegetables (tomatoes should not be offered because they contain oxalic acid which may damage the mice’s kidneys). In addition, house mice need animal protein, e.g. shrimp pellets, live meal worms, snails etc.