Mice are very opportunistic and voracious eater creatures. They prefer to find places to build their nest that are warm with access to food and nesting materials. They enter into your house in search of foods, shelters, and water. However, mice do not need much water, because they get most of their water requirements from their meals. If you have found your house attacked by mice, you may wonder “What Do House Mice Eat?” In this article, you will get a list of the foods that mice like most to eat. You can apply all of these foods as bait to catch them easily.
About House Mice and Their Activities
House mice are normally dusty grey with cream-colored bellies. Their fur color varies from light brown to dark grey depending on their locations. An adult house mouse is small and slender and around 1 to 2 inches in length excluding tail. The house mice have large ears with some hair, pointed nose, and small eyes. And the tail of house mice is as long as their head and body combined.
House mice usually live in structure but they can survive outdoor also. They prefer to nest in dark and scheduled areas such as ceiling voids, storage boxes, in walls, or under appliances. They often built their nest out of paper products, packing materials, cotton, fabric, and wall instruction. Even though house mice are nocturnal still they can be spotted in your home during the daytime.
Moreover, house mice are an excellent climber and can run up any rough vertical surface. They’ll run horizontally along ropes or wires and can jump up 13 inches from the floor onto a flat surface.
Food Preference | What Do House Mice Eat
The house mice much like humans, they are best known as omnivores. That means they can eat both meat and plants. They will search for an easy food source to support their nest. There is a list of the food that mice like to eat most in your house.
Seeds and Grains
Most house mice prefer to eat grains and other seeds, they store these foods for later use. They often infest farms and granaries as they eat large amounts of stored grains and seeds. Grains regarded to be the great food source of house mice. They consume any kind of grains such as rice, corns or wheat. Sometimes, they may look for testy seed like oats, from your pantry, flowerbed or garden. Moreover, they also like to eat grass seeds, bird seeds, cooking, and baking items.
Check: What Do Moles Eat?
Fruits
If you have a mice problem in your house you may notice that they also eat your fruits items. Yes, house mice also prefer to eat fruits very much such as apples and various kinds of berries. They consume fruits and berries at every opportunity. So, different kinds of berries such as raspberry and blackberry as well as apples can serve as magnets for the house mice.
Nuts
Another food that house mice love to eat most is nuts. They can eat almost all kind of nuts including peanuts, walnuts or hazelnuts. In fact, Nuts can serve as enough nourishment for the mice. Moreover, nuts considered to be the high-protein energy source for mice or rodents.
Insects
Besides eating a steady diet of grains, fruits, and seeds house mice will also consume insects, lizards, bugs or worms. They’re perfectly happy to attack nests and feed small birds and their eggs or insets and their larva. An adult mouse can eat constantly to support its metabolism rate. However, it should be clarified that house mice do not hunt for insects, they simply eat whatever insects they find on their runway.
Pet Foods
If it’s good enough for your pets, it also good enough for the mice which are living in your house. They like dry cat food most it likes delicious to them. They will not limit themselves when they find cat or dog food, either. Mice will eat anything you feed your pets including grains, seeds, fish food and so on.
Cookies
You may already face this problem is that mice eat cookies inside your house. Mice love to eat cookies very much because of its crunchy flavor. They consume both types of sugary and none sugary cookies. As they love cookies to eat most, you can use it as a bait to catch them in your house. Just breaks the cookies up into small pieces and set them into the traps.
Sweet and Salty Food Items
Two of the biggest source for house mice are salty and sweet treats. They will consume these items as much as possible from food and non-food sources. The most common items such as jerky, gumdrops, or chocolate attract mice with their high sugar and protein content.
Bottom Line
Have you ever wondered What Do House Mice Eat? Well, mice can eat almost anything they found in your home. So you should better keep all of your food items in a safe place where they cannot attack easily. The best way to keep your food safe is to use glass storage containers. They will not be able to chew through the glass and your foods will be safe here. Using metal containers are also an excellent idea at keeping mice out.
