Biology

The House mouse arrived in Britain around the 10th century B.C. it was originally a wild species, coming from the steppes of Russia.

The mouse is a rodent, one of over 1500 belonging to this group. They are placed in this group due to their continuously growing incisor teeth, this means they need to gnaw to keep their teeth down, it also means their teeth become razor sharp allowing them to bite through wood, soft metal and even some types of stone.

Reproduction rates of mice are impressive, and in theory nearly 2000 offspring in one year could come from one breeding pair. Each female can have 4-16 young in each litter and up to 10 litters each year. Males and females become sexually mature at only 8 weeks! Wild mice only live about 12 months. They are fiercely territorial. Mice can fit through the smallest of spaces, if you can pass a “Bic pen” under a door a mouse can also pass under it!

Not the most pleasant of subjects but let’s talk droppings. As you can see from this picture there is a real size difference between Rat and Mouse droppings.

Mouse droppings tend to appear dry so it’s hard to tell how old they are. Fresh rat droppings will appear moist. Mice produce around 80 droppings per day whilst also being incontinent they dribble urine on all surfaces they walk on.