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Fulvous harvest mouse
Reithrodontomys fulvescens can be found in southeast Arizona,
southwest and east Texas, east Oklahoma, southeast Kansas, southwest
Missouri, west Arkansas, Louisiana, and west Mississippi.
This mouse occurs mostly in low grassy or weedy areas or along creek
bottoms with tangled vines and bushes. In southern areas, R.
fulvescens lives in "arid inland valleys where temperatures are high
and the soil is sandy or rocky".
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Fulvous harvest mouse
This mouse resembles the house mouse but differs in its hairier tail
and grooved upper incisors. The length of the tail is
greater than half of the total body length.
Ears of R. fulvescens are large. The hair on the upper body is a
mixture of reddish brown and black, creating a salt and pepper
effect. R. fulvescens has a tail that is much
longer than its body and its under parts are white to buff. The
adult plumage is brighter than that of the juvenile and adults molt
once a year. Females have six mammae. A typical harvest mouse weighs
about 18 grams.
Reproduction
Peaks in reproduction for R. fulvescens occur in late spring and
early autumn with a breeding season that extends from February all
the way through to October. The gestation period is approximately
twenty days with an average litter size of about three or four. Each
newborn weighs about one gram. By the second week, the young are
well-furred and by about nine to twelve days, the eyes are open. At
three weeks, the young leave the nest and by five weeks, they are at
full size.
Behavior
Perhaps the most fascinating habit of the fulvous harvest mouse is
its ability to build large, above-ground "penthouses" in grasses,
low shrubs, or small trees. These may be
constructed of the materials in the animal's habitat or may be
converted bird's nests. The solid, globe-shaped nest has one or two
exits near the bottom end which can be clogged up. Sometimes, R. fulvescens makes use of the burrows of other animals, although it
does not make its own. R. fulvescens is nocturnal.
Food Habits
The diet of R. fulvescens mainly consists of seeds, the green shoots
of vegetation and some insect larvae. The fulvous harvest mouse
seems to enjoy butterfly larvae.
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.
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