Golden mouse facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Golden mouse Temporal range: Late Pleistocene to Recent
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Genus:	Ochrotomys
Species:	nuttalli

The golden mouse (Ochrotomys nuttalli) is a type of mouse found in North and South America. It gets its name from its beautiful fur, which can be golden-brown or even a burnt orange color. These mice are usually about 5 to 8 inches (12 to 25 cm) long, including their tail. The name Ochrotomys comes from ancient Greek words: "ochre" means a yellow or brown color, and "mys" means "mouse."

Where Golden Mice Live

The golden mouse makes its home in the southeastern United States. You can find them from southeastern Missouri all the way to West Virginia and southern Virginia. Their range also stretches south to eastern Texas, along the Gulf Coast, and into central Florida. Right now, there are plenty of golden mice, and their population is considered healthy across this wide area.

Golden Mouse Homes

Golden mice love to live in thick forests and swampy places. They often hide among vines, small trees, and bushes. They especially like areas where plants like honeysuckle, greenbrier, and red cedar grow. In the south-central United States, these mice live in places that are hot and wet in the summer but dry in the winter.

Their nests can be built high up in trees or down on the ground. Ground nests are often found near leaf litter, sometimes in dips in the soil or under logs. Building a nest on the ground has good and bad points. For example, floods or very wet soil might force them to move to a tree. But a ground nest can be safer from predators because it's well hidden. Also, a mouse on the ground can escape a predator more easily, and it takes less energy to build a nest there since they don't have to carry materials up a tree.

Golden mice are also clever! They sometimes take over old bird nests and fix them up to be their own homes. If they build a nest from scratch, it's usually about 4 to 8 inches (100 to 200 mm) big. They use whatever materials they can find nearby.

The inside of a golden mouse nest is soft and cozy, made from things like milkweed, cotton, feathers, or fur. Around this soft layer is a thick layer of woven plant fibers. The outside is tough, made of leaves, grass, and bark to protect them. Most nests have just one entrance, but some have been found with many!

What Golden Mice Look Like

A golden mouse's body is usually between 2 to 4.5 inches (50 to 115 mm) long. Their prehensile tail is almost the same length, from 2 to 3.8 inches (50 to 97 mm). Female golden mice have six teats for feeding their babies. Their whiskers are either black or grey.

The top part of their body is covered in thick, soft golden fur, which gives them their name. But their feet and undersides are white, and their tail is a creamy color. Their cheek teeth have thick folds of enamel. Like other mice, they don't have canine teeth or premolars. Their incisors (front teeth) are long and sharp, with a space called a diastema between them and their cheek teeth.

The exact shade of their fur can change a bit depending on where they live. For example, golden mice near the Atlantic coast in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia are a brighter reddish-yellow. Those from Texas and nearby states might have more yellowish fur. Because of their pretty color, golden mice have even appeared in books, like the novel Poppy.

What Golden Mice Eat

Golden mice mostly eat seeds. They search among trees for buds, berries, seeds, fruits, leaves, and sometimes even insects. They especially love sumac seeds and honeysuckle. They also enjoy berries from plants like dogwood, greenbrier, blackberry, and wild cherry.

Life Cycle and Reproduction

Golden mice can have babies all year long, but the busiest breeding times change depending on the area. In Texas, they mostly reproduce from September to spring. In Kentucky and Tennessee, it's from March to October. In Missouri, it's from spring to fall, usually April to October.

When golden mice are kept in captivity, they tend to have the most babies in early spring and late summer. Since their pregnancy only lasts about 25 to 30 days, a female mouse can have many litters (groups of babies) in one year. Litters are often bigger in the fall than in the spring. Some captive mothers have had up to 17 litters in just 18 months!

A typical litter has two or three young, but it can range from one to four. Once the babies are born, all other adult mice usually leave the nest, except for the mother. Newborn golden mice grow up very quickly. They can live on their own by three weeks old and become ready to have their own babies just a few weeks after that.

Golden Mouse Behavior

Golden mice are mostly active at night or during twilight hours (dawn and dusk). They are also arboreal, meaning they spend a lot of time in trees, though many also live on the ground. They are most active about 3 to 4 hours before the sun comes up.

These mice are very quick and agile. They use their prehensile tails (tails that can grip) to help them balance when climbing trees. They can even hang from branches or hold onto a tree limb while they sleep!

Newborn golden mice are quite coordinated from birth. At just one day old, they can take their first steps. By two days, they start showing their tail-gripping abilities. At four days, they have a good sense of balance and can even hang upside down! By 10 days, they like to crawl upwards, and at 15 days, they can jump. Between 17 and 18 days, they become even more active but are still gentle if held. They start trying to clean themselves at 7 days old, and by 12 days, they try to wash behind their ears, though they're still a bit wobbly. From 12 to 21 days, they clean themselves often and well. By 21 days, they spend a lot of time outside the nest. If young golden mice are handled gently every few days after their eyes open, they become calmer and easier to manage as adults. If not handled often, they might be wilder.

Golden mice are social animals and don't usually fight over their territory. Because of this, the areas where many individual mice live might overlap. In fact, up to eight golden mice have been found sharing a single nest! These groups can be made up of family members or even mice that aren't related. The most common groups are mothers and their young. Many scientists think that living in groups helps them save energy. This is especially true in winter, when huddling together helps them stay warm. Golden mice build two main types of nests: one for eating and another for resting and living.