Facts About House Mice
You Probably Never Knew. Created by Julie Villarreal
Mice have big appetites.
Despite their tiny bodies (and even smaller stomachs!), mice eat between 15 and 20 times a day. Because of their frequent eating habits, they prefer to build their homes near food sources. 2
They are little gymnasts….
Mice are good jumpers, climbers and swimmers. In fact, mice can jump a foot into the air, allowing them to easily climb up onto kitchen counters or into pantries to access food. 3
Mice can squeeze through openings as small as the size of a dime.
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They have relatively short lifespans. In the wild, mice usually only live for about five months, mostly because of predators such as cats, snakes and foxes.
In a lab setting, mice can live for up to two years.
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A house mouse produces between 40 and 100 droppings per day.
Mice use urine as markers to determine where they have been. So, house mice constantly give off micro-droplets of urine as they travel around their territory every day. 6
A female house mouse can give birth when they are only two months old , and they are able to have to up to a dozen babies every three weeks .
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References
Dr. Jim Fredericks. Tuesday, January 15, 2013. Eight Fascinating Facts You Never Knew about Mice. Retrieved from http://www.pestworld.org/news-and-views/pest-articles/articles/fascinating-facts-you -never-knew-about-mice/
Alicia. April 4, 2012. 12 Facts You Didn’t Know About Mice. Retrieved from http://www.rentokil.ie/blog/12factsaboutmice/
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