What does a vole eat in the steppe, forest, taiga and meadow? Is the field mouse an omnivore?

general characteristics

Mice belong to the order of rodents. In it they form a separate family, in which there are 400 different species. Depending on the area, they are called Asia Minor, Sichuan, Caucasian, and so on. In Russia, the most common types of mice are the house and forest mice. Their closest relatives are hamsters, voles and rats.

Usually the entire length of mice does not exceed 10 centimeters, half of which falls on the tail. The tiniest species is the tiny mouse, which is only 5 centimeters long. These rodents have short, prehensile legs, a small neck and a long tail. The presence of whiskers near the nose allows animals to orient themselves well in the area and in space, regardless of the time of day. Their ears are small, but they have excellent hearing, which often warns them of danger. The body is covered with short hair of different colors: black, brown, gray or white. The coloring can also be unusual: striped or variegated.

How do rodents spend the winter?

How mice hibernate depends on environmental conditions and nearby objects. The rodent lives in the field throughout the warm period.

If there are too many mice or environmental conditions change sharply, disasters occur (fire, drought, flood, early frosts), then they populate the gardens. To set up their homes, they dig burrows at a depth of about 1 m, and in winter they go down to 3 m. Most often, they spend the winter there.

Features of the home:

1. a burrow can be a natural shelter or earthen passages.
2. The length of the burrows reaches 3-4 m. They have 2-4 exits and include an obligatory path to a watering hole.
3. A separate room is a nesting chamber, as well as 2-3 pantries with supplies for the winter.
4. Storerooms with supplies are located at a depth of 0.5-1 m.

Rodents living in swamps do not dig burrows. They build nests using grass for this purpose. They locate such dwellings on tall bushes.

And for wintering, mice use not only burrows, but also haystacks and haystacks left in the fields. Barns, sheds or outbuildings are suitable for this. And the bravest individuals go closer to people.

Habitat

Mice live on all continents. Together with humans, they settled around the world and adapted to different climatic zones. Rodents feel great in the tropics, in the mountains, and in swamps. They are able to survive at staggering heights: 4 thousand meters is not the limit for these small creatures.

Mice usually settle near human settlements. This applies primarily to the brownie and Cairo varieties. After all, in cities and villages, at every step you can find what mice eat. Therefore, she is as comfortable as possible here. But if natural disasters occur - fires, floods or earthquakes, rodents are able to leave their usual habitat and migrate.

Those species that live in steppes or forests are poor swimmers. But marsh mice feel free on the water. Rodent houses come in three types:

• simple minks;
• complex burrows in the form of labyrinths;
• nests made of grass stems.

Mice lead a terrestrial lifestyle. They rarely climb trees, but they easily climb small bushes.

Video “Our Mice”

How mice live in apartment conditions.

Source

Mice are small animals that number up to 400 species, and they differ in both appearance and living conditions. Representatives of this genus are found in almost all corners of our Planet. The most common species found on our territory are house mouse, field mouse and wood mouse. As a rule, they prefer to settle near human habitation, since in such conditions they always have something to profit from. These small animals are practically omnivorous and easily adapt to various, sometimes extreme, living conditions. Therefore, their diet is very extensive.

Habits and behavior

Where mice live, there are usually plenty of treats for them to covet. Getting out of their homes at night, they steal everything that is in bad shape: seeds, berries and other food products. But during the day they can often be seen on the surface, especially in late August - early September, when the harvest is ripening and you need to stock up on food for the winter. This does not mean that mice hibernate; they are also active in the cold season. Simply moving under the snow, they are inaccessible to human eyes. Home improvement and replenishment of supplies continue throughout the fall, right up to the first frost.

These animals are very careful. They are quite timid, always listening to all kinds of sounds. If they feel threatened, they hide or run away. They run very fast. The common mouse, as well as representatives of other species, communicate with each other using squeaks. They can live either alone or in small groups. Families unite in the fall to jointly stock up on food for the winter.

Behavior

Wood mice are active at night to avoid predation. Females may be more active during the day to collect sufficient food. While searching for food, noticeable objects such as leaves and branches are selected and distributed, which are used as landmarks during exploration.

Despite the name, they prefer hedges to forests. During the cold months, wood mice do not hibernate, but they can fall asleep and reduce physiological activity.

Females defend the nesting territory. The mouse squeals and emits ultrasonic signals during defense. Males emit ultrasound during copulation and until 24 days of age. Insensitive to red and infrared light, like badgers (they can be easily observed with a lamp covered in clear red plastic).

What do mice in the wild eat?

They usually love plant foods. These can be fruits of trees, bushes, grass seeds. Sometimes mice feast on insects. Those species that live in meadows and fields feed on grains, cereal stems and seeds. Inhabitants of swamps and river banks readily eat plants, especially their green parts. Various buds, roots, shoots and leaves make up their daily menu.

What does a mouse eat if it is a forest dweller? The answer is simple - everything that trees can give her. These can be cedar and beech fruits, as well as hazel, nuts and acorns. The biggest gluttons, of course, are house mice. In people’s apartments they will find all the most delicious things: cheese, sausage, cereals, eggs. Some rodents eat their own kind. Thus, large yellow-throated mice feed on smaller individuals: forest or field mice. But this is if they are locked in a cage or one room. In the wild, these species coexist peacefully, and there have been no cases of cannibalism between them. This is due to the fact that small mice are more mobile. It is not always possible to catch them in open space.

Who are decorative mice

These animals are distinguished by the type of fur, ears, tail length and color.
For example, there are long-tailed mice, in which the tail occupies 60 percent of the body, and short-tailed mice, whose coat type is curly, satin, curly-satin, long-haired, standard, and even hairless. The variety of multi-colored mice is even greater - they come in striped, motley, tan, and many others. There are even mice that are similar in color to a chinchilla or a Siamese cat.

These rodents have a nocturnal lifestyle, so they will mostly sleep during the day and be awake and rustle at night.

The lifespan of rodents is always very short, and decorative mice are no exception. It is customary to calculate their lifespan not in years, but in days. On average, their age is 650 days, that is, almost two years. This indicator can be increased if environmental conditions are improved, that is, by monitoring nutrition, health, and the presence of predators in the house. However, decorative mice still do not live more than 1000 days.

What do mice eat in captivity?

Some people are crazy about pet, tame rodents. Usually these individuals are small in size and white in color. They are easy to train, get used to people and easily coexist with them. What does a white mouse eat? Yes, with anything. This can be a variety of foods produced by the industry. They contain balanced mineral supplements and grains so that your pet develops properly and always remains healthy. If you want to feed your animal real food, you can give it a variety of grains and grains. Fatty and spicy foods should be excluded. Feed your baby raw mealworm meat once a week.

Feed domestic mice once a day. There is no need to exceed the dosage of food, otherwise the rodent may get sick. The features of each variety are described in the encyclopedia. After reading it, you will learn in detail what a white mouse eats. Based on the information received, you can correctly formulate your pet’s diet so that he is always healthy, active and lives next to you for many years.

What do rodents eat in captivity?

Living near humans, rodents eat any food. Most often these are fruits and vegetables, hard cheeses, milk, sugar, sausage, dried fish, bread. Among vegetables, the mouse willingly eats raw potatoes, carrots, and beets. House mice give birth to offspring up to 6 times a year. The litter contains about 10 mice, which by the age of 2 months are fully mature individuals. When rodents are hungry, they even feed on wood and paper, crushing them with their strong teeth.

If a mouse is kept in the house as a pet, it eats not only human food, but also the imported food offered to it. Such food does not contain husks or coarse grasses. They include nuts and seeds in a small percentage. Owners can provide their pets with a natural diet through seeds, cereals, protein products, vegetables and fruits, herbs, bread and cheese.

Winter diet of rodents

Looking at a photo of a field mouse or a house mouse, you can see that these animals are small. And like all small animals, they have a high metabolism, so they eat often and a lot. During the ripening period, animals can cause enormous damage to agriculture, as they are forced not only to satisfy their daily gluttony, but also to prepare winter reserves. At this time, rodents actively collect all kinds of nuts, grains, seeds and hide them in secret places, but never store food in their burrow.

The Kurganchik house mouse is very interesting in this regard. She lives in the fields of Ukraine, Moldova and Hungary. When the harvest is underway, she picks up fallen spikelets and grains of cereals and carries them to the hole. Here the food is stacked in the shape of a slide. Every day this hill grows, turning over time into a stack that reaches 80–100 centimeters in height and two meters in length. Then they camouflage this hill with earth. Because of this feature, they were nicknamed Kurganchikovs.

General characteristics of mice

These are the smallest representatives of the rodent genus. They are capable of growing up to 15 – 20 cm in height and weighing about 30 – 60 grams. They come in different colors, but only gray, white or brown. There are up to 50 shades of rodent fur. By the age of 6–8 weeks, the female becomes capable of childbearing. Capable of giving birth to 5 to 10 mice at a time.

For copulation, the female and male should be kept apart until the very moment of copulation. The lifespan of mice is 2 – 3 years. They are primarily herbivores, but are essentially omnivores. A small mouse sometimes eats meat, the corpses of relatives, and is capable of gnawing the tail of its neighbor out of hunger. Unlike guinea pigs, mice do not need fortified food at home.

Reproduction

Mice are very fertile. They have no special marriage rituals. The male simply smells the female, finds her and mates. Sometimes there is rivalry and a fierce fight between males for the right to fertilize.

After a short pregnancy, the mouse gives birth to three to ten pups. They develop very quickly, and within three months they can bear offspring. Each female can give birth 3-4 times a year, so rodents reproduce very quickly. The most interesting thing is that some species live together in entire family clans, like people. In one burrow, young mice forming pairs successfully coexist with their parents.

In nature, predators regulate rodent populations. The wide distribution of animals throughout the territory of a certain area makes them easy prey for foxes, forest cats, birds of prey and snakes. If there is famine in the forest, then even wolves and coyotes do not disdain mice. In their natural habitat, animals usually live 7–9 months. At the same time, in captivity, mice can survive as long as 5 years. Therefore, they can become your life companions for years. If you are still in doubt whether to buy rodents for your home or not, then look at the photo of a field mouse. These cute animals will charm you with their innocence and cute appearance, and their rapid reproduction can even become your business and generate income.

Features of behavior

It is interesting to observe the behavior of these rodents. They are smart, active, inquisitive, and capable of playing pranks. In the wild, each animal occupies its own territory. Males require more space. Sometimes they give the females a little space in their area. Males tend to defend their own territory from the encroachments of strangers. Females, if necessary, also rush into battle for a place to live.

Females are more friendly and sociable in captivity. They will not fight if there are several individuals living in a cage. If offspring appear at the same time, they raise them together, helping each other.

Sometimes female mice prefer to place newborn mice separately. Males should not be kept together - just like in the wild, everyone wants to have their own territory. Under natural conditions, they do not help mothers raise their offspring. While in captivity, the male is able to warm the babies with his body while the female rests or eats.

The damage caused by rodents

Knowing what a mouse eats, we can easily conclude why its presence in a house or field is unprofitable for humans. It is understandable that people do not want to share their food supplies with rodents. Therefore, they try in every possible way to get rid of the unwanted neighborhood when they find traces of them in storerooms and barns.

In addition to stealing food, the animals also leave their droppings everywhere, so it is no longer possible to use a bag of cereals in which pests were in charge. Rodents also damage the bark of fruit trees, which can lead to the death of seedlings. In Africa, for example, mice completely destroy coffee plantations, causing enormous damage to people.

Rodents carry many diseases. The most dangerous in this regard are not house mice, but field mice. Their feces and urine contain dangerous bacteria that can enter the human body and provoke an epidemic of pseudotuberculosis, hemorrhagic fever, tick-borne encephalitis and other deadly diseases.

Natural diet

Mice have a fairly fast metabolism. Every 3 hours the rodent needs food. Based on this, you should regularly feed him fresh food. If this is not done in a timely manner, the animal may develop health problems.

A mouse living at home should receive 14% protein, 9% fiber and 10% fat daily. When compiling a diet, it is necessary to take into account the natural needs of the rodent’s body. The menu should include the following food:

• vegetables (cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, etc.);
• fruits (apple, banana, grapes, melon);
• grain (barley, wheat, rye);
• nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.);
• greens (parsley, sprouted grains, dill);
• berries (strawberries, currants, wild strawberries);
• quail egg,
• seeds.

Captive mice are often deficient in protein. To replenish it, you should include dried freshwater crustaceans, boiled quail eggs, and insects in your diet. If there is a lack of calcium and amino acids in the mouse’s body, it is recommended to add canned crickets to the menu.

We should not forget about the young twigs that the rodent needs to grind down its teeth. The mouse will not refuse rowan, apple and pine branches. It is also necessary to provide your pet with access to clean and fresh water.

As a treat, you can treat your pet with black bread and dried fruits. Everyone knows that mice love cheese. However, you should be extremely careful with this product, since its excessive consumption leads to obesity.

Please note that mice love cockroaches. If these insects are in the house, then rodents will hunt for them.

Benefit

It's hard to overestimate her. And first of all, it again comes from what the mouse eats. The diet of some species includes insects. By eating them, the rodent rids humanity of harmful and annoying insects, which can often also be carriers of viruses. At the same time, being a delicacy for foxes and owls, they make their existence possible. When storing supplies near their burrows, rodents do not always use them completely. And the remaining fruits germinate, giving the forest a new tree or the field a fruit crop.

The benefit of mice for humanity lies in the fact that these animals are often used in laboratory experiments. Vaccines and medicines are tested on them, which will bring enormous benefits to humanity in the future. In addition, these animals are excellent pets that do not require special care. Even the smallest child can look after pets. Being unpretentious and small, as well as easy to train, they will become favorites for your entire family.

Enemies of mice

The mouse is a key link in the food chain of many ecosystems. Many wild animals depend on the existence of this small rodent. For mice living in the forest, the main enemies are foxes, martens, arctic foxes, ferrets, stoats, weasels, lynxes and even wolves. Predators easily tear apart burrows and can eat up to 30 small animals a day.

Mice are the main food for snakes and large lizards. Reptiles such as boas, pythons, vipers, and radiant snakes swallow their prey whole. During the hunt, the snake freezes, and then suddenly attacks the victim, biting it with poisonous teeth, and then waits for the animal to become motionless.

There is also danger lurking for mice from above. Among birds there are predators that differ in the power of their beaks, visual acuity and hearing. These are owls, buzzards, hawks, eagles, owls, kites. They hunt during the day or night, making swift attacks from the air.

Reproduction in mice

The mouse is a polygamous animal. In nature, one male fertilizes from 2 to 12 females. Over 12 months, mice have from 3 to 8 litters. The female reaches sexual maturity 10 weeks after birth. At this time, she begins to go into heat, which lasts 5 days and is expressed in special behavior.

If after coating the female fails to become pregnant, a new estrus occurs within a week. If fertilization is successful, the female animal is expected to give birth in 17-24 days. There are from 3 to 9 cubs in one litter. Female mice give birth at night. Babies, when born, are unable to move, hear or see. They have no hair, and the size ranges from 2 to 3 cm. The little mice develop rapidly:

• 3 days – fluff appears on the body;
• Day 5 – the cubs begin to hear;
• Day 7 – the animal’s body weight doubles;
• Day 14 – palpebral fissures appear;
• Day 19 – the mice begin to eat on their own;
• 25 days – the length of the body reaches 500 mm (the tail is 15-20 mm shorter) and the mouse is already sexually mature.

Decorative mice develop a little slower. It is recommended to mate them no more than 2-3 times a year. Repeated births exhaust the female, and each subsequent offspring becomes weaker.