Baby mice stay with their mothers for a minimum of 3 weeks. They are virtually deaf and blind when they come into this world. The average life span of a mouse in nature is usually under a year and this is due to several factors. The mouse is a well-sought after prey that is liked by every animal you can imagine. From dogs to snakes, despite all these hurdles, the mouse can find a safe haven in human habitats. You will be surprised to find out that the lifespan of a mouse living inside of a human home is tripled, and this is the reason why it is so hard to move out of the home because there is almost nothing to counter the benefits of a warm home has to offer with plenty of food.
Professional pest technicians are therefore needed to make sure that they will no longer be a bother and a menace to your normal way of life. A mouse will nurse her babies for approximately 3 weeks.
However, she is capable of breeding again almost immediately after she gives birth. In other words, a female mouse can have another litter of babies approximately 25 days after giving birth to the previous litter. In fact, her female offspring have likely already given birth to several babies of their own who are also in the process of breeding by the time a year has passed. The cycle can continue like that for a year, or up to a maximum of 3 years, by which point you can have several hundred mice invading your home.
Sadly, mouse breeding cycle is very quick and at just three weeks old, mice are already grown enough that they can damage your home and belongings.
They are already old enough to gnaw through food packages or start chewing on insulation, wood, and other items that may seem appealing. Unfortunately, the problem continues to worsen as they grow older and produce more babies of their own. Litters range from 3 to 14 mice, with the average sitting between 6 to 8.
Also known as pups, baby mice are blind and deaf at birth. They weigh only 1 or 2 grams and are completely hairless. They begin to grow fur and teeth at one week of age, then open their eyes at 2. At 3 weeks, they are weaned, then at 4, they hit puberty and weigh approximately 10 grams.
Mice grow very quickly. Mice are polygamous and breed year-round. In the wild, they tend to breed more in the spring, when food is more widely available.
In homes, they have no trouble breeding all year round. Males usually mate with several females at once, creating communal nursing groups in which one male protects the offspring of several females. Mice are often quiet when their pups are first born, taking care of them around the clock. This often leads people to believe that the mice in their home have left, only to find several more emerging in the following weeks. The house mouse chooses to live in places where they can find both a good supply of food as well as a place where they have good access to moisture or water.
Leftover pet food, other food scraps and waste bin bags act like magnets for these pesky little critters. And due to their prolific reproduction abilities, if one female mouse moves into your house, then it means that within four short months you could have over two hundred mice making a mess of your house.
And of course, the truth that they are active year round. The incredible birth-rate is kept in check normally by their natural predators in the outdoors. Predators like owls, hawks, cats along with harsh winter and summer conditions can help maintain a rodent population in check. Indoors, however, that is a different story. Once mice find their way indoors they have access to shelter, water and food. They will slowly make their way from one room to another while creating tunnels inside the insulation and behind walls and drywall.
They will be virtually undetected until they make their way inside your living area. The house mouse is not only a threat to your pantry and food stores either.
House mice carry pathogens and can transmit deadly diseases like typhus and the bubonic plague. House mice can also be particularly devastating for your linen, furniture and other home furnishings because the house mouse is known for gnawing and burrowing and not even walls are safe from their fierce teeth.
Knowing how prolifically these pests reproduce should make you realize that it can be devastating to ignore one little house mouse, because that mouse could multiply in no time and at all and before you know it, you could have a devastating infestation on your hands. The answer touches upon how one pair of intruders can multiply its numbers and become a serious infestation problem.
Make sure to check out our control options below to see what options you have to solve an infestation problem. Warning: Be prepared to be overwhelmed—and not just from the math involved! For starters, you have to have two mice, a male and a female. Once a pair successfully mates, it typically takes a little less than three weeks for the gestation period to be complete.
The mother gives birth to between five and seven pups, although twice as many are possible. One of the reasons nature has decreed that animals in the wild have large litters is because of the environmental factors that work against their vulnerable young.
Lack of sufficient shelter or food means that only the heartiest will survive, and mothers may even eat their young ones in stressful situations. According to University of Oklahoma professor Douglas W. Mock, author of More than Kin and Less than Kind , a mouse might devour her offspring for two reasons.
And the fathers take that very seriously, wanting to ensure that it is their genes specifically that are passed along to the offspring. If a male mouse suspects that the litter produced by his mate belongs to another male, he will kill the ones he believes are not his own. Unlike their wild counterparts, pet mice tend to enjoy a safe habitat plus ample food and water. This can create excellent conditions for breeding, as many a surprised new pet mouse owner has woken up one morning to discover!
Pet mice tend to outlive their wild cousins for these same reasons. While most wild mice live less than 12 months, pet mice can live up to 3 years. A female pet mouse will be ready to breed at 6 weeks. A male pet mouse needs another week or so and will be ready at 7 to 8 weeks old.
When the female conceives, she will carry her young for 19 to 21 days. Once she gives birth, she can become pregnant again within 24 hours! How many babies can mice have at once? Pet mice can produce up to 15 litters in a single year and can have 10 to 12 pups per litter.
Pet mice clearly fare much better than their wild cousins in this department — comfortable, safe housing and plentiful food and water can keep the parent mice popping out pups at an astonishing rate! In the wild, however, mice have what may just be the longest list of natural predators of any prey animal.
For this reason, a wild mouse has less time and energy to produce young and must spend a great deal of time hiding and foraging for food. Also, the shortened lifespan less than 12 months for a wild mouse versus 3 years for a pet mouse impacts how many litters of pups a wild mouse can raise.
Have you ever kept a breeding pair of pet mice or rescued a baby wild mouse pup? Please drop us a comment to share your story! And, if you enjoyed this guide, you might enjoy reading more about mice in our other articles!
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