Golden Mouse (rodent)

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iGolden mouse
Fossil range: Late Pleistocene to Recent
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Superfamily: Muroidea
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Neotominae
Tribe: Ochrotomyini
Genus: Ochrotomys
Osgood, 1909
Species: O. nuttalli
Binomial name
Ochrotomys nuttalli
(Harlan, 1832)
A golden mouse
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A golden mouse

Contents

[edit] Size, colour,and name

The golden mouse, Ochrotomys nuttalli, is a species of New World mouse. It is usually 5–8 inches (12–25cm)or 176mm in body length, and has a golden-brownish color.

[edit] Range & Habitat

It is distributed along the U.S. Gulf Coast from East Texas to Florida and northward to Southeast Missouri and Virginia. Forests are a prefered habitat, and usually these rodents are found in grassy areas or bushes.

[edit] Diet

Their diet consistes of 50% invertebrates (meaning half it eats are animals with no backbones). The other half can be berries and different seeds.

[edit] Breeding Season Newborns

The breeding season begins in September and usually ends in June. Its peak time is mid-winter, and usually adult mice may have 3 litters a year. When golden mice have babies, they weigh 2.7 grams and are a reddish colour (after they are pink & naked). Their eyes are closed when they are born but they open after 11-14 days (around a week), and they reach adult size at around 8-10 weeks. 1-2 months after birth they are ready to mate and complete the cycle all over again.