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What Do Mice Eat in Nature?

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There are many different species of mice that live in the wild. Depending on location and climate, some mice are omnivores and some are strictly herbivores. Most of these creatures have many potential food sources readily available within their environments.

Herbivores

In nature, mice will eat mostly vegetation. Local fruits and seeds will please a mouse's appetite while these plants are in season. In winter weather, or if fresh fruit is nowhere to be found, plant-eating mice will devour tree bark, roots, oats, corn, or even root vegetables like potatoes.

Omnivores

Some mice will eat a range of substances. Common species such as the wood mice can find nutrition in vegetation such as seeds and fruits, as well as flower buds, mushrooms and other edible fungi. Apart form plant life, wood mice can also make a meal out of various insects, such as worms, centipedes and crickets, and can even eat snails.

Urban Mice

Many mice live outside, but dwell within a city or suburban environment. These mice may live in urban parks, or among the buildings, homes, cars, and everything else that can be found in a busy city. Urban mice can't be too selective about their meals. These mice mainly survive by scavenging through human garbage for food scraps. However, they have also been known to eat seeds, insects, and plants.

Baby Mice

When they are first born, wild mice survive on milk from their mothers. As the babies mature, they will get to know such as corn, grains or fruit. Yet, until the baby mice are fully grown, these foods will be mixed in with a diet of their mother's milk. Baby mice are reliant on the food that their mothers bring back into their nests.