Facts about Mice

Facts About Mice In A Nutshell:

• The lifespan of a mouse is about one year.
• A female can start breeding when two months old.
• A female will have about 10 litters in a year.
• Each litter will have about 12 pups so having between one hundred and one hundred and fifty pups a year.
• They will eat 15-20 times a day.
• Mice are nocturnal animals.

Let’s start the facts about mice with the name of this rodent. The word, mouse comes from the Sanskrit word, “mus,” and means “thief”, the name of a house mouse is Mus musculus (read more on wikipedia). It was so called for obvious reasons, as mice are forever stealing food in a house, and in ancient times it was no different. Mice will live for about a year in the wild, but as pets they can live for up to three years.

A female mouse can have her first litter of babies when she is just two months old, and over the course of her year of life, on average, she could have up to 10 more litters. The average size of a mouse litter is around 12 pups. One female mouse could be responsible for between 100 and 150 pups during the course of her lifetime.

The babies are hairless when born, as well as being blind and deaf. After just three weeks, the pups are fully weaned and on their own, and in just a few weeks more they can each be a mummy or a daddy themselves. This is one of the facts about mice that is quite alarming!

If you have mice in your house, it is because they have found a source of food, and they like the warmth that your house provides. They will build their nests near the source of food, because they like to eat 15 to 20 times a day. Mice are nibblers and they like to gnaw through things too. Go here to fully understand how to get rid of mice if you have an infestation.

Mice are nocturnal, which means they are most active at night. They sleep up to 12 hours a day, mostly during daylight hours. They are surprisingly noisy animals, considering they are so small. Anyone with mice in their attic will know just how noisy they can be. When mice are active they will squeak a lot, as well as run around a lot, usually depriving humans of sleep in the process, one of the less attractive facts about mice.

Mice can crawl through a very small space. Small holes and cracks about the size of the tip of your index finger is all it takes.

Deer mice are a potential health hazard and can spread the hantavirus, which can be potentially fatal to humans, you can read about it at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can become infected by breathing in the fumes of their urine, or even just handling an infected mouse. Mice also carry parasites, which can transmit diseases. Now that you know the facts about mice, get rid of them from your home as soon as possible. Follow this link to read a review of the best mouse traps.