{"topic_id":"exotic_pet_profile_mouse","category":"exotic-pet-profile","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_pet_profile_mouse\ncategory: exotic-pet-profile\ntitle: \"Fancy mouse (Mus musculus) — species profile (taxonomy, geographic range, habitat, physical description, behavior, wild diet, reproduction, lifespan)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.org, University of Michigan) — species account Mus musculus\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/exotic-profile-2026/mouse.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-28\ntokens_estimated: 0\nverified: true\nverification: c1_substring\nsource_document: \"Animal Diversity Web species account (Mus musculus)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.org, University of Michigan)\"\n  title: \"Fancy mouse (Mus musculus) — species profile (taxonomy, origin, lifespan, husbandry basics)\"\n  url: \"https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Mus_musculus/\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-07-28\"\n  ref: \"ADW species account Mus musculus\"\n  doc_type: \"expert species account (.edu, compiled from primary literature)\"\n  needs_review: false\nauthority_tier: T3\nauthority_tier_basis: \"T3:expert-db\"\nauthority_tier_date: 2026-08-04\n---\n\n# Fancy mouse (Mus musculus) — species profile (taxonomy, geographic range, habitat, physical description, behavior, wild diet, reproduction, lifespan)\nAuthoritative first-hand species account (Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan). All bullet facts are verbatim from the cited source and C1-substring verified.\n\n## Geographic Range\n- Mus musculus may have originally been distributed from the Mediterranean region to China, but it has now been spread throughout the world by humans and lives as a human commensal.\n\n## Habitat\n- House mice generally live in close association with humans-- in houses, barns, granaries, etc.\n- They also occupy cultivated fields, fencerows, and even wooded areas, but they seldom stray far from buildings.\n- Some individuals spend the summer in fields and move into barns and houses with the onset of cool autumn weather.\n- Because of their association with humans, house mice have been able inhabit inhospitable areas (such as tundra and desert) which they would not be able to occupy independently.\n\n## Physical Description\n- Their fur ranges in color from light brown to black, and they generally have white or buffy bellys.\n- They have long tails that have very little fur and have circular rows of scales (annulations).\n- House mice tend to have longer tails and darker fur when living closely with humans.\n- They range from 12 to 30 g in weight.\n\n## Behavior\n- In the wild state, house mice generally dwell in cracks in rocks or walls or make underground burrows consisting of a complex network of tunnels, several chambers for nesting and storage, and three or four exits.\n- When living with humans, house mice nest behind rafters, in woodpiles, storage areas, or any hidden spot near a source of food.\n- They construct nests from rags, paper, or other soft substances and line them with finer shredded material.\n- House mice are generally nocturnal, although some are active during the day in human dwellings.\n- House mice are quick runners (up to 8 miles per hour), good climbers, jumpers, and also swim well.\n\n## Food Habits (Wild Diet)\n- In the wild, house mice eat many kinds of plant matter, such as seeds, fleshy roots, leaves and stems.\n- Insects ( beetle larvae , caterpillars , and cockroaches ) and meat (carrion) may be taken when available.\n- In human habitation, Mus musculus consumes any human food that is accessible as well as glue, soap, and other household materials.\n- Many mice store their food or live within a human food storage facility.\n- Primary Diet omnivore omnivore Animal Foods carrion carrion insects terrestrial non-insect arthropods Plant Foods leaves roots and tubers wood, bark, or stems seeds, grains, and nuts fruit Foraging Behavior stores or caches food stores or caches food\n\n## Reproduction\n- House mice have a polygynous mating system.\n- The recent discovery of ultrasonic songs produced by male mice, when exposed to female sex pheromones, suggests that this behavior may be involved in mate choice.\n- Mating System polygynous polygynous Mus musculus is characterized by tremendous reproductive potential.\n- Breeding occurs throughout the year, although wild mice may have a reproductive season extending only from April to September.\n\n## Ecosystem Roles\n- Where house mice are abundant they can consume huge quantities of grains, making these foods unavailable to other (perhaps native) animals.\n- House mice are also important prey items for many small predators.\n- Species Used as Host Humans\n\n## Predation\n- House mice are eaten by a wide variety of small predators throughout the world, including cats , foxes , weasels , ferrets , mongooses , large lizards , snakes , hawks , falcons , and owls .\n- House mice try to avoid predation by keeping out of the open and by being fast.\n- They are also capable of reproducing very rapidly, which means that populations can recover quickly from predation.\n\n## Conservation Status\n- Commensal populations of Mus musculus are generally stable and densities can be as high as 10 mice per square meter.\n- In the wild, populations are less stable and densities may be less than 1 mouse per 100 square meters.\n- Overall, populations are flourishing and are in fact aided by human construction of houses, barns, and other structures.\n## Lifespan\n- If a house mouse is a pet, the average life span is about 2 years\n","sources":["exotic-pet-profile — Fancy mouse (Mus musculus) — species profile (taxonomy, origin, lifespan, husbandry basics) (retrieved 2026-07-28)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-profile","title":"Fancy mouse (Mus musculus) — species profile (taxonomy, origin, lifespan, husbandry basics)","url":"https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Mus_musculus/","retrieved":"2026-07-28","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Animal Diversity Web species account (Mus musculus)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-profile-2026/mouse.txt"},"source_document":"Animal Diversity Web species account (Mus musculus)","source_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-profile-2026/mouse.txt","trust":{"authority_tier":"T3","fidelity":"verbatim","license":null,"display_grade":"B"},"tokens_estimated":1084,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}