|
House Mouse
 
Don't see what you're looking for? Click here for more examples.
Need to control House Mice? Click here.
COMMON NAME: House mouse
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Mus musculus Linnaeus
CLASSlORDERIFAMILY: Mammalia / Rodentia / Muridae
INTRODUCTION: The house mouse is probably the most commonly encountered and economically important member of the commensal rodent family. Norway and Roof/Black rats are the other two members. The House mouse are not just a nuisance, damaging and destroying materials by gnawing, eating and contaminating stored food, they also create serious human health concerns and/or vectors. Most consider rodents to be from Central Asia, but is now they are distributed worldwide and found throughout the United States. Control is best achieved through capitalization on their habits.
RECOGNITION: The adult total dimensions are 2.5-3.5" , with the tail length 2 3/4-4", and weight about 1/2-1 oz. The body fur is smooth and the color is dusty gray above and light gray or cream on the belly with some being brown to darker gray, but fur color will vary considerably from area to area. The feet are short and broad and have a uniformly dark, scaly, almost naked tail. Adult droppings are the most frequent visable sign oof their presence and are from 1/8-1/4" long, rod-shaped, lack ridges. Do not confuse them with some cockroach droppings which have ridges, with pointed ends.
SIGNS of PRESENCE and INFESTATION:
1. Gnaw marks. Fresh gnawings or sometimes holes tend to be rough whereas, old gnawings are smooth from wear often caused by entry and frequent ingree and egress by the mice.
2. Scatology is the study of fecal droppings and fresh droppings are soft and moist whereas, old droppings are dried and hard. The house mouse's droppings are about 1/8-1/4" long, rod shaped, and with pointed ends vs American cockroach about 1/8 long and with ridges (the ridges are to compress the available water from the dropping).
3. New tracks / footprints are 4-toed for the front foot and the print is in front of its hind print with 5-toes. Fresh tracks are clear and sharp whereas, old tracks are often partially obscured by dust.
4. Burrows. At the entrance, it is usually not cluttered with construction material packed or compressed, rub marks are sometimes visible. Indoors, they often nest in different materials such as insulation, paper. Or other material common to attics. If active, they are free of dust and cobwebs.
5. Damaged goods. Most damage is evident on the preferred food which are seeds or cereals
6. Runways. Mice frequently use the same pathways, usually along walls, stacked merchandise, etc., and to interior objects. Active runways free of dust and cobwebs, with fresh droppings and signs of urine, i.e. dust accumulated in an area along the trail. Tracks may be visible. Ultra-violet light I s used by professionals to detect urine, which fluoresces under UV light.
7. Rub marks. The markings are usually fewer and less than those of rats. The physical size of rats makes it more likely that they will create a rub mark.
BIOLOGY: The house mouse is a prolific breeder. They reach sexual maturity in just 35 days. Pregnancy lasts an average of 19 days and the young are blind and naked except for vibrissae (long whiskers), and are weaned within about 3-4 weeks. Average litter size is 6, with approximately 8 litters per year. It is not uncommon for a female to have a new litter every 40-50 days. More than one litter can be present in the nest at one time. The mouse life expectancy is less than a year, but mice have been known to live up to 6 years.
Mice do have keen senses, except for sight and they cannot see clearly beyond about 06". And they are color blind. Mice are excellent climbers and can run up almost any roughened walls. Mice can swim but would prefer not to do so. They are good jumpers and can jump 12" high and down from about 8 ft high without injury. Mice can survive and thrive in cold storage facilities at approximately 140F. They can run horizontally along pipes, ropes, and wires and use these often as runways throughout the structure they infest. They defecate or urinate everywhere they go which can equate to about 50 droppings each day.
Over a 6-month period, a pair of mice will eat about 4 pounds of food, produce about 18,000 droppings, and void about 3/4 pint of urine. The most common way mice transmit disease organisms is by contaminating food with dust from their their droppings and/or urine.
The most common and threatening organism spread by mice is Salmonella, a cause of food poisoning, spread via droppings. Other transmittable organisms include tapeworms via droppings, rat-bite fever via bites, infectious jaundice/Weil's Disease via urine in food or water, a fungus disease of the scalp either by direct contact or indirectly via cats, plague and murine typhus via fleas, Rickettsial pox via the mite Liponyssoides sanguineus (Hirst), lymphocytic choriomeningitis via droppings, and possibly poliomyelitis (polio). Another problem is house mouse mite dermatitis which is caused by these mites should they feed on humans, which occurs more often than not.
HABITS: Mice are extremely social. Related males and females are compatible, but unrelated male mice are typically very aggressive toward one another. Social hierarchies with one male dominating lower-ranking males result in the maintenance of territories, which may include a large number of females as well as lower-ranking males, most of which will be related. All mature mice tend to show aggression towards strangers of either sex that come into their territory, which is marked with urine. Remember that urine is placed along trails and pathways. Territory size and area varies but it is typically very small. When food and shelter are plentiful, they may travel no more than 4-5 feet from their nests.
Mice are curious. During the daily territorial run, they will explore anything new or changed, and establish new travel routes if necessary. Mice are nibblers and eat very small amounts of food at any one time. Although mice will eat many kinds of food, seeds are their preference. There are 2 major periods of feeding activity. Dusk and just before dawn, with many other 'mini" feeding times in between are those periods.. They will sample new foods but return to the old food unless the new food is preferred. Required moisture is obtained primarily from their food but they will intake free water when available, especially as they are feeding on high-protein food. When given a choice, they prefer sweetened liquids over plain water.
The preferred nesting sites is a dark, secluded place where there is abundant nesting material nearby and little chance of disturbance. Nesting materials include paper products, cotton, packing materials, wall/attic insulation, fabrics, etc. Mice are nocturnal creatures and travel about primarily at night. The required opening to gain entrance is no greater than ¼”.
They travel in straight lines and are aided by their whiskers to detect obstacles. They will “memorize” trails easily. That is why they can race along where one would assume their vision is supreme.
|
