Mice
Why Should I Be Concerned About Mice?
Mice explore their limited home range of 10 to 30 feet daily for newly introduced objects. They can live inside the walls of your home. Nocturnal. Most activity and feeding takes place between a half-hour after sunset and a half-hour before sunrise. Omnivores. Seeds (preferred food), cereal grains, fruits, vegetables and meats. Mice frequent many feeding sites –often 20 to 30-during their active period, eating small amounts of food from each site. Daily consumption: 1/10 ounce. Water is not essential to survival if food contains at least 16 percent moisture.
House Mouse Reproduction Cycle
Mice sexually mature and mate in as little as 5 weeks. Generally, sexual maturity is reached in 5 to 8 weeks.
Female mice reproduce up to 8 times in their life span, with litters averaging 4 to 7 pups. Therefore, a single female may produce up to 56 offspring annually.
Mice and rats reproduce rapidly, as is generally the case with small prey animals. Their relatively short life spans, short gestation periods and rapid sexual maturity make effective rodent control critical. The reproductive cycle and number of rodent offspring increases with adequate food, water and harborage.