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Great Basin pocket mouse
This pocket mouse can be found in the Great Basin from South
British Columbia (Canada), south to eastern California and east to
southeast Wyoming and northwest Arizona.
The Great Basin pocket mouse can be found in shrub/grassland
communities of sagebrush, shadscale, greasewood, mountain mahogany,
and bitterbrush. Habitats dominated with shrub are useful in
vegetative cover, while also providing better and more diverse food
resources.
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Great Basin pocket mouse
The upper parts of its body are a pinkish buff color, which is
thinly to heavily overlaid with a blackish color, while the
underparts vary from white to buffy. The soft coat of this mouse has
no bristles. One molt takes place in late summer. The soles of its
hind feet are hairy, and the tail is long and bicolored.
Its hind limbs are about the same length of its forelimbs, and the
Great Basin pocket mouse moves about on all four legs. While the
hind legs provide support, the forefeet dig with claws through sand
to find seeds. These seeds are then placed in fur-lined
external cheek pouches, which open alongside its mouth.
Reproduction
From about late April to early August, males are in breeding
condition, while females show the first sign of estrus in April.
Early June is probably when breeding occurs at its peak. Pregnancies
then occur from May to July. Gestation lasts 21 to 25 days. When
there is an abundance of food, females have an average of two
litters per year. Some have even been found to have three litters.
Otherwise, an average of 1.1 litters is produced. Litters vary from
three to eight mice. Juveniles born early in the season are able to
breed themselves by late summer.
Behavior
Most individuals remain underground from December to March, but for
the rest of the year they emerge for an average of sixty days to
ninety days, depending on the abundance of food. They return to
their burrows from late summer to early fall. Great
Basin pocket mice are nocturnal and stay in their burrows during the
day. The entrances of the burrows, usually hidden under shrubs, are
covered with earth in order to maintain a low temperature and high
humidity.
It has been found that the peak population in south-central
Washington during autumn was an average of 320 individuals in a 2.7
ha. study area. The home range was 1,560-4,005 square meters for
males and 508-2,301 square meters for females.
Food Habits
Its diet consists mostly of seeds of forbs, grasses and shrubs.
Along with green vegetation, insects are eaten particularly when
they are abundant.
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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