What Foods Do House Mice Eat
I got all of my information on mice from cartoons. So I assumed, as long as I didn’t have a huge block of cheese in my house, I wouldn’t have a Mouse problem. Turns out I was wrong, Mice eat almost anything.
House mice are omnivores, this means they eat both plants and animals. Almost everything in your house could be potently food for mice. This includes pet food, birdseed, and even chocolate.
If you suspect mice may be in your home check out my article Signs You Have Mice in Your Home.
House Mice Diet
Here is a list of foods a mice may eat:
- Fruits
- Seeds
- Meat
- Insects
- Chocolate
- Anything they get their hands on
Mice commonly search for foods that are high in carbohydrates. Although mice will almost eat anything, one of their favorite treats is chocolate. Additionally, mice eat continuously throughout the day. Most mice eat between 15-25 times per day. In fact, if you know where the mice have been feeding their nest will be close by. This is good information to provide if you hire a professional for your mice problem.
“What if I hide all of the food so the mice can’t eat?”
You may think this would solve the problem, but it doesn’t. Mice can survive for about 4 days without any food. Also, mice have been known to resort to cannibalism to survive. Mothers will eat their young if they need to. In stressfully enough situations mice have also been known to eat their own tails!
Messy Eaters
Mice are also very curious creatures. They will explore your home and try different foods. They will chew through different food containers just to take a bite. This will result in many packages and containers being destroyed and causing a mess. Mice also will gnaw on items that they are not eating. Gnawing is typically used to find materials for a nest. Common Items that are gnawed are wires, paper, cardboard, cloth, and even drywall.
Solution
The best solution is to hire a professional. In another article, Signs You Have Mice in Your Home I talk about the different traps and poisons you can use to solve a mice problem. There are both lethal and non-lethal solutions.
Chances are if you think there is a mouse in your home, there is more than one.
