Assorted Mouse Facts

Physical Characteristics

Mice have tails that are as long as their bodies.

Mice see best in dim light. Their eyesight is weak, but their other senses are acute.

Their whiskers are used to sense smooth and rough surfaces, temperature changes and breezes.

Like all rodents, mice have teeth that never stop growing. Mice teeth can grow up to 5 inches a year.

The average mouse has a life expectancy of just 2 years.

When they are full grown they weigh between 1/2 and 1 ounce.

Colonies of mice have been found thriving in the supplies used on polar expeditions.

Mouse tails have scales that help with climbing.

Mice squeak at very high frequencies, often above the range of human hearing.

Mice can jump down 12 feet without injury; they also have a 12-inch vertical jump.

Mice can scale rough vertical surfaces and walk along thin ropes and wires.

Mice constantly leave droppings in the areas they frequent.

Fresh mouse droppings are dark, soft, approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch in length and pointed at both ends.

Mice prefer to travel adjacent to walls and other edges.

They forage only for short distances from their nest, usually not more than 10 to 25 feet.

Mice explore their territory daily, showing no aversion to new objects (neophobia).

The average mouse consumes 3-4g per day, preferring cereal grains and seeds.

Mice may make 20 to 30 visits to different food sites each night taking as little as 0.15g at each site.

Mice can chew through anything softer than their teeth, including electrical wiring a fire hazard.

Mice produce 6 - 10 litters of 5 -10 pups per year. They begin breeding at two months of age.

Mice can transmit salmonellosis (bacterial food poisoning) when food is contaminated with infected mouse feces.

Mice also transmit rickettsial pox, lymphocytic choriomeningitis, leptospirosis, ratbite fever, tularemia, dermatitis, and hantavirus.

Mice originated in Asia and spread throughout Europe centuries ago.

Mice arrived in the Americas in the 1500’s on the ships of the Spanish explorers.

Rat and mouse bones have been found in caves where cavemen lived.

The word mouse comes from an ancient Sanskrit word meaning "thief".

According to some cultures, if you dream about mice, you are going to die soon.

Ancient Jewish folklore forbade the eating of any mouse-chewed food because it could cause forgetfulness or a sore throat.

Some believed that the devil came on board Noah's Ark in the form of a mouse and gnawed a hole in it to make it sink.

In ancient Egypt, a cooked mouse was used to cure a variety of ills including stomach aches.

The Roman writer Pliny recommended mouse ashes mixed with honey to cure earaches.

Cooked mice were once used to treat whooping cough, smallpox, measles and many other ailments.

Some people believe that fried mice or mouse pie is a cure for bedwetting.

Mickey Mouse was born in 1928.

Mice are ideal laboratory animals because they are small, don't eat much and can breed very quickly.

Pet mice are available in at least 70 different colors and combinations.

There are at least two popular music acts named after mice: Modest Mouse and Mouse on Mars.

In 1998, artists Ebener and Winters trained several mice to gnaw through computer network cables.

From personal experience, snap traps work best, far better than poisons.

Dropping heavy objects on mice works too, but is not for the squeamish.