Habitat: Although called the wood mouse, this little rodent will live just about anywhere it has enough cover to hide from predators. Besides woodlands, it inhabits newly plowed fields, hedges, and gardens. In urban environments it lives along railroad embankments and in undeveloped areas. The only place the wood mouse does not live is above the tree line, unless there are walls and buildings to give it shelter.
The wood mouse spends its life within an area about 600 feet in diameter. It burrows underground and digs a series of tunnels and entrances. Inside the tunnels it makes storerooms for food and a nesting chamber for the young. Several adult wood mice may live together in the same network of tunnels. The wood mouse is a shy creature that is easily disturbed by man. When wood mice are nervous they often wash and groom themselves.

Breeding: Wood mice mate beginning in March and continuing through the end of autumn – even into winter if the weather is mild and food is plentiful. The female gives birth just under four weeks after mating and can produce four litters a year, although two or three litters is more common. Four to seven young are born in the nesting chamber, deep in a burrow. They are naked and blind at birth – their eyes do not open until they are 16 days old. By then they have grown a full coat of fur, although it is a darker color than the adult’s, and their teeth begin to come through. Wood mice live for little more than three or four months. The greatest population occurs in early autumn, and April when breeding season starts. The young spend their first few weeks in a nest lined with leaves, moss, and grass. After three weeks the mother forces the young out of the nest.

Food and Feeding: The wood mouse is primarily herbivorous, eating a diet of seeds, buds, fruits, and nuts. When these are scarce, however, it will eat snails, earthworms, and insects. The wood mouse hoards food – seeds and nuts in particular – to supplement its food supply during the winter. It packs its underground storerooms, then takes out seeds or nuts one at a time. When feeding, the mouse holds a nut in its forepaws as it nibbles through the shell to reach the soft fruit inside.

Enemies: The wood mouse is a vital food source for many nocturnal animals: the fox, weasel, stoat, and badger, as well as the domestic cat. Many species of owl also prey on the wood mouse. Many people view the wood mouse as a troublesome pest. The wood mouse inflicts serious damage on both vegetable gardens and farmland alike, digging up seeds before they germinate and nibbling grain crops down to the ground.

Naturewatch: The wood mouse is difficult to spot in natural settings: it is nocturnal – even bright moonlight can keep it from emerging – and it is tiny. Wood mice that live indoors are distinctive from house mice because of their larger ears, eyes, and hind feet. They also leave larger droppings.

Key Facts:
Sizes:
Length: Head and body up to 4 in. Tail 2 ½ -4 ½ in.
Weight: Up to 1 oz.

Breeding:
Sexual maturity: Male at ½ oz. Female at ¼ oz.
Mating season: March through early winter
Gestation: 21-26 days
No. of young: 4-7. Up to 4 litters a year

Lifestyle:
Habit: Several adults may live together in a network of underground tunnels
Diet: Mainly seeds, nuts, buds, insects, and arthropods
Lifespan: Up to 1 year

Related Species: Within the subfamily to which the wood mouse belongs there are 408 species in 89 genera
Distribution: Found throughout Europe (except northern Scandinavia and Finland) east to the Altai and Himalayan mountains.
Conservation: The most common mouse throughout its range, the wood mouse is considered a pest but is not under any threat.

Features of the Wood Mouse:
Feet: Large; give the mouse a slight hopping motion when it moves.
Coat: Sandy colored with white underparts. Very large ears. The tail is longer than that of other species of mice.
Hind feet: When the wood mouse explores, it stands up on its hind legs and sniffs the air.
Feeding: The wood mouse is a good climber and often scales branches to reach fruit or berries.

Did You Know: 
The family Muridae, which includes the wood mouse, is larger than ant other family of mammals, including man. Muridae contains 1,082 species in 15 subfamilies and 241 genera.
The wood mouse’s sense of smell is so acute that it can detect the exact location of each seed in a newly planted row. It digs directly down to the seed rather than digging at random along the row.
Young wood mice produce ultrasounds as their temperature drops, attracting their mother’s attention.

To return to animal menu click here