Golden Mouse
The golden mouse lives in thick woodlands, swampy areas, among vines, and within small trees and shrubs. It especially likes to live where honeysuckle, greenbrier, and red cedar grow. The climate its range in the south-central region of the United States is hot and wet in the summer and dry in the winter. Its nest may be located in the trees or on the ground. Ground nests, frequently located near leaf litter, may be fabricated within sunken areas of the soil or beneath logs. Ground nests have both advantages and disadvantages. Floods or wet soil may force golden mice to leave their ground nests and relocate into the trees. However, if the ground nest is undisturbed, it can lower the risk for predation for the following reasons: the nest is well hidden, a mouse on the ground is more likely to escape a predator, and less energy is required to build a nest on the ground since the mouse doesn’t have to keep running up and down a tree with nesting materials.
Golden mouse
The body length of O. nuttalli ranges from 51 to 115mm. The prehensile tail is from 50 to 97mm in length, generally the same length as the body of the mouse to which it belongs. The golden mouse gets its common name from the thick and soft golden fur that covers its upper body. However, its feet and undersides are white and its tail has a cream coloring. The male golden mouse has a baculum tipped with cartilage. The female has six mammae. The cheek teeth of the golden mouse contain thick folds of enamel. As in other Muridae, this mouse has an infraorbital foramen with a distinct keyhole shape. Neither canines nor premolars are present. The incisors are sharp and long, separated from the cheek teeth by a diastema.
Reproduction
The golden mouse reproduces all year long. However, the majority of O. nuttalli reproduce from September to spring in Texas but from March to October in Kentucky and Tennessee. Golden mice in captivity tend to reproduce most frequently during the early spring and late summer. Because the gestation period is only about thirty days, females can produce many litters in one year. Captive mothers have been known to produce up to seventeen litters in an eighteen month period. A litter of golden mice typically consists of two or three young, but ranges from one to four. Aside from the mother, all other adults leave the nest when the litter is born.
Behavior
A golden mouse has been known to remodel an old bird nest into a home for itself. Otherwise it creates the 100 – 200mm nest from scratch using different elements, depending on what is available in its environment. The inner lining consists of soft materials such as milkweed, cotton, feathers, or fur. A thick layer of woven fibers surrounds the fluffy layer. The protective, surface material contains leaves, grass, and bark. The nest usually has one entrance although up to three have been noted.
Food Habits
The golden mouse is granivorous, eating mostly seeds. It prefers sumac seeds but also consumes honeysuckle and other seeds as well. Sumac seeds are poor quality food because they contain tannin, which reduces the efficiency of enzymes in the mouse’s digestive pathway. Studies have shown that females fed year-old seeds, which have more calories, have significantly higher mean ingestion and assimilation rates than females that eat freshly matured seeds. Flooding is a problem for the golden mouse because the water causes the seeds to be unobtainable, to sprout, or to spoil.
In captivity they should be offered a complete diet of rodent lab blocks, and rat or mouse mix, with bits of fruit or veggies regularly. Cheerios or wheat bread are great treats, in small quantities. Do NOT feed chocolate, fried foods, salted foods, candy or junk food! They may enjoy crickets and mealworms if they are captive bred, never feed wild insects as they may carry parasites. Vitamins, like Nutri-Cal are a good addition to their diet, and added calcium during nursing and growth due to demands on their systems at those times, but take care not to overdo it. Water bottles should be used to proved constant, clean water. Ceramic or stoneware food dishes work well for keeping seeds or fresh foods off the floor, and a wire mesh hopper that allows them to eat the lab blocks through without extra waste.
