Deer mice are small rodents that range from 6 to 8 inches long including their tail. They have large round ears, bulging eyes, and can live up to 8 years. Deer mice are active year-round, do not hibernate, and have 4 litters per year containing 2-7 babies each. They eat various seeds, fruits, insects, and fungi. As a common species, deer mice are an important food source for many predators like coyotes, owls, and snakes. They typically make nests in tree stumps, under logs, or abandoned squirrel nests using materials like moss and leaves.

1. Deer Mice By: Rosemary and Genesis

2. Description The average size of a deer mouse ranges from 6 to 8 inches long (including its tail). Deer mice can live up to 8 years. It has large round ears. Their eyes are large and very bulgy.

3. Everyday Habits They also have 4 litters a year, that usually contain 2-7 babies. They are active year round and don’t hibernate throughout the winter. During the summer they eat seeds, small fruits, berries, beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, and an underground fungus called endogone. Since deer mice are common, they are major food source for carnivores. Some of these carnivores include coyotes, foxes, bobcats, weasels, skunks, badgers, grasshoppers mice, snakes, owls, and other birds of prey. Deer mice are an important link in the food chain because when plentiful, they become a major food item for a variety of predators. For example, at times many owl pellets have been found containing over 40% of deer mice bones in it.

4. Habitats They usually make their nest in a hole found inside a tree stump, under logs and sometimes even in an abandoned squirrel nest! They usually make their nest out of moss, shredded bark, leaves and other materials. They can be found in North Carolina in the Appalachian Mountains, Maryland, and Virginia.