#SILLY POCKET MOUSE HOW TO#

I honestly don’t know enough about northern grasshopper mouse dietary preference to know if that’s enough to entice them into the trap, or if they’re just curious and investigating (which is true of shrews and probably many of the mice). That’s a great question! It’s actually kinda funny because Mike and I use a mix of oats and birdseed (millet, thistle) to bait – no meaty bait at all! That mixture does attract crickets and beetles (and slugs). Size and Habitat Characteristics of Home Ranges of Northern Grasshopper Mice ( Onychomys Leucogaster). But has good pictures, good descriptions (lengths, weights, color), and succinct life history information. Ĭlearly, most of the range information is specific to Kansas. This site has photos, skeletons/skulls, life history information, range, and usually some tidbits from recent studies. University of Michigan’s Museum of Zoology Animal Diversity Web. Jasmine’s favorite s’mammal information sources: At least I don’t use something silly like a plastic bag… : )

#SILLY POCKET MOUSE HOW TO#

Many readers will remember my very serious technical piece on how to use a wheelbarrow as a photo studio, for example. They don’t tend to sit still and pose, do they? Second, I have not hidden my photo techniques in the past, and on the rare occasion when I use something like a cardboard box to get a photo that would be otherwise impossible, I try to be transparent about it. First, have YOU ever tried to take a photo of a grasshopper mouse in the wild? Exactly. The result was the first photo used in this post.Įditor’s Note: Ok, two things, gigglepants. I think these critters have a compelling story, and I look forward to our future studies and new research questions so that we can expand our understanding of the awesome, fierce northern grasshopper mouse.Ĭan you spot Chris’ black camera? You may think that Chris spends a lot of time wandering through prairies flipping over leaves, but really, the majority of his photos are staged in a cardboard box… This is a behind-the-scenes look at his photo setup during our first field day, when Mike and I brought a grasshopper mouse to show people before we released it. It could also be that northern grasshopper mice are only especially territorial during the mating season? A small study in Colorado found that several individuals shared a burrow in the winter. Greg Wright, a wildlife biologist at the Crane Trust says he’s seen reports that grasshopper mice might hunt as family units, which could explain the densities we were catching. This seems like a much higher density than one would expect for a highly territorial species, especially one that is known to have a fairly large home range in relation to its size. However, Mike and I have been catching several northern grasshopper mice within 10-14 meters of each other. For example, most natural history sources will tell you that the northern grasshopper mouse is very territorial and will fight to the death any other grasshopper mouse that wander into its territory. While the life histories of some small mammals are pretty well understood, it seems to me that there is some updating to do in terms of the natural history descriptions of northern grasshopper mice. Learning more about their habits will not only aid in our management of our prairie, but could potentially help fill some gaps in the broader scientific literature. The sandhills portion of the Platte River Prairies – habitat of the northern grasshopper mouse. Most of the grasshopper mice I caught were approximately the size of my fist, maybe a little smaller, about 33-45g (for reference, pocket mice are generally 8-12 grams). The majority of them are silky gray-brown on top and white below, though there are a few whose backs are more cinnamon-y than gray. If you’re wondering if you’ve seen one, northern grasshopper mice have big eyes, big ears, and relatively short tails that are consistently about 42 mm long (Mike and I measured many grasshopper mouse tails). They’re able to shrink out of pretty much any corner I try to limit them to, and their pointy carnivorous teeth ensure that I am very aware of the distance between my fingers and their mouth! They are a handful to work with – very aggressive, and surprisingly agile. This is a mouse made for fighting, for pouncing, for striking fear in the hearts of the other lil s’mammals (I haven’t obtained any critter statements about the last part, but if I was pocket mouse-sized, I’d be wary). There is no other way to describe this critter except beefy. I thought I’d kick off this series with one of my favorites, the northern grasshopper mouse ( Onychomys leucogaster). See the note at the end of this post about how this photo was taken.

Silly pocket mouse