Distinctive features and behaviours

Uniformly brown-grey mouse, right down to the tail.
Typical mouse profile, small feet with big eyes and ears and a pointed snout.
Its almost hairless tail is the same length as its body but is thicker and scalier than the tails of other species of mice.
Strong smelling – you will know if they are sharing your house with you!

Diet

House mice need to eat around three grams of food a day. Despite cartoons and the commonly held belief, cheese is not their favourite food – they really favour cereals.

House mice and people

House mice and humans have been closely entwined throughout history, equally horrifying and benefiting each other throughout the ages. They have taken advantage of human settlements to gain easy access to food and shelter. They have even colonised new continents with the movement of people, originally being native to Asia.
Our relationship with house mice has been rocky. They have a poor reputation to say the least since they transmit disease and contaminate food supplies. On the flip side, house mice have been domesticated for pets and fancy mice. And as laboratory mice, they’ve played a significant role in developing our biological and medical knowledge.