Today we will tell you who the little mouse is. You will find a photo and description of this animal in this article. As the name implies, this animal is very small. Furthermore. The baby mouse is the smallest rodent in the forest. Perhaps, even among mammals, there is no one to compete with her in size. Only the shrew is smaller than her. How much is this moving animal? The mass of this mouse is only 7-10 g. We can say that it is practically weightless. Of course, for blades of grass, on which she moves very quickly thanks to her prehensile tail and hind legs, it will be noticeable.
Cute creature
But if a baby mouse is on a person's hand, he will not feel her presence. From rodents living in houses with an elongated muzzle, it is distinguished not only by its small size, but also by its brighter color. Moreover, the abdomen is lighter than the reddish back. The color intensity varies and does not depend on the habitat. The baby mouse, whose photo can be found in this article, is a pretty cute representative of his family.
Be careful
It is not for nothing that they are afraid of house rodents, and these are happy to be kept at home as a pet. Although this must be done with caution. If the mouse came to the shelves of the pet store directly from its natural habitat, and was not born from responsible breeders, then it can be a carrier of dangerous diseases: tularemia, leptospirosis, tick-borne encephalitis and lymphocytic choriomeningitis. Although the baby mouse is a rodent that harms agriculture, one would not want nature to lose one of its representatives. After all, each of them has its own significance for the surrounding world. Therefore, people are trying to save the population of these mice, which has begun to decline due to the fact that the landscape is often subject to changes under the influence of the human factor.
Location
Where does the baby mouse live? This rodent prefers forests and forest-steppes. Moreover, he lives not only in Russia, but is also distributed in other territories of Eurasia. It can be found in Spain, Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Italy and even Japan. In our country, the baby mouse lives in the Caucasus, in Primorye and Transbaikalia, Karelia and the Urals, near the Arctic Circle. Interestingly, representatives of this species are also found in river valleys, and at an altitude of 200 meters above sea level. The main thing for them is that there is a lot of grass in which they can make their nest.
Tiny House
These mice hide in bushes, weeds and thickets. They do not like to be in the sun, because their small body is very sensitive to overheating. Therefore, in search of food, the baby mouse moves, clinging to blades of grass, staying in the shade, avoiding open areas. OwnShe builds a nest among grass or shrubs, preferring sedge and reeds, at a height of 40-100 cm. In diameter, it reaches only 6-13 cm. In this cozy nest, the offspring of these rodents are born. To make it comfortable for babies, caring parents line it with some soft material from the inside.
All the best for children
The outer layer is usually woven from strong leaves to give the nest strength. Baby mice breed only in the warm season, when it is possible to grow offspring in hanging nests. Moreover, for the period from April to September, one mouse can have several litters. Pregnancy lasts 17-18 days. A separate nest is built for each, in which 5 cubs fit perfectly. Newborns are naked, deaf and blind, but after 15 days they are ready to leave the nest. The life expectancy of these mice is no more than one and a half years. Therefore, next spring, the offspring will itself be ready for procreation.
What's for lunch
In winter, baby mice do not hibernate. Since they do not make stocks, they look for food under the snow or in human granaries. In winter, they often settle in stacks, haystacks, or even in houses. The usual food for these babies is cereals: oats, corn, rice, sunflower, millet and other grains of cultivated plants. They also eat legumes, fruits, seeds of broad-leaved trees. In summer, supplement the diet with insects and their larvae.
Home maintenance
If youdecided to keep this rodent as a pet, first read the rules for caring for him. In the wild, these animals do not live together, only during mating or under forced conditions, for example, they escape from frost in the same granary. But at home they can be settled in one cage, the main thing is that it be spacious. The house is equipped with all kinds of toys, manholes, ropes, wheels, so that the mobile animal can spend its energy. Food is poured into feeders. Baby mice feed in the same way as in nature: grains of corn, millet, sunflower, oats, plant seeds, fruits. All this is easy to get in urban areas. It is also necessary to install a special drinking bowl for rodents in the cage. These animals are clean, although you still have to clean up after them. Their great advantage is that they do not have a strong smell. In good conditions, your pets will live much longer than in the wild. There are cases when these animals lived up to 5 years. On average, they please owners for 2-3 years.
What else is remarkable about the baby mouse?
Fun facts:
- To make a nest, she passes blades of grass and leaves through her teeth to make fine fibres.
- The ball-shaped nest that the baby mouse weaves has no entrance. To get inside or get out, rodents part the blade of grass from which it is made with their paws.
- In winter, about 5,000 individuals were often found in the granaries where these animals hide from frost.
- About the life of onefrom such little mice, the book of the famous writer Vitaly Bianchi "Mouse Peak" was written. This fairy tale in a form accessible to children tells about the life of one rodent. The author describes the difficult life in the wild, the dangers that lie in wait for the baby, and his meeting with people.
In our article we talked about the life of an interesting animal. Despite its small size, it leads an active life, gives birth to offspring, tries to avoid dangers, builds houses in the grass. No wonder people noticed and tamed this cute, peaceful animal.
