Statistics
Living in the wild
Keeping as pets
German: Europäische Zwergmaus
French: Souris des moissons
Dutch: Europese dwergmuis
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Index:
Statistics
German: Europäische Zwergmaus
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| Looking: | Small mouse with redish-brownish coloured back, hairy tail, big and long skull. |
| Length of mouse: | 5.5 to 8 cm |
| Length of tail: | 5 - 7.9 cm, as long as the body, sometimes a little bit longer |
| Weight: | 5 - 10 g, pregnant females about 13 g. |
| Appearance of teeth: | Between the 7th and 10th day |
| "Baby-fur" complete: | On the 10th day |
| First leaving of the nest: | With 11 to 12 days |
| First solid food: | With about 12 days |
| First drinking: | About the 14th day |
| Independence: | With 15 days (by normal litter size!) |
| Fertility: | 5 to 8 weeks |
| Teats: | 8 |
| Litters a year: | 7 |
| Litter size: | 2 - 8 |
| Gestation period:: | 21 days |
| Lactation time: | 18 days |
| Age: | About 4 years |
| Living in the wild: | activity-time: night and day; climbs very well, lives in high fields |
| Distribution: | From North-Spain and The South of England to Middle and East Europe up to Japan. Does not exists in the North of Skandinavia |
| Additional: | To keep them as pets you need a special permission in some countrys. |
The harvest mouse is the smallest member of the Family
Muroidae (mouse-like rodents) in Europe. This animals look in the
fur a little bit like the yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis).
They have big eyes, round ears and a strong tail, which they use when
they are climbing.
They build their nests in 30-80 cm heighs. These nests
have one to two entries, they are very stable and wind or rain can not
destroy them. The nest is a typical sommer nest for growing-up litters.
In the winter the harvest mouse lives in the underground
or in old buildings. They eat grass-seeds, grain, plant parts, small insects
and their lavas. They prefer oats and wheat.
In danger the animals stop to move. Their enemys are
bigger rodents, hedgehogs, shrews and beasts of prey.
After the birth the animals have a weight one gramm
and a lenght of 2 cm. Young mice love to play around. When the young mice
are independend, the family leaves the nest. They love to sit in the sun.
The best cage will be one, which is not too low! A
good size is 0.5 x 0.5 x 1m (l x b x h -- Schwammberger). You should give
them possibilities for climbing! The need hay for building their nests.
They do not smell a lot, so they are fine pets. They can become very tame
in short time.
Very important is that they have enough water. Give
them the following food: grain and food for small birds, even protein is
important: give them insects (meal worms) or dry food for cats. Some mice
like vegetables, too.