Harvest Mice As Pets

If you have recently come across harvest mice as a possible new pet in the rodent world – join the club.

Harvest mice make great little pets – and they can bring so much joy to their owners with their adorable cuteness, climbing dexterity and the great ways you can set up their habitat…

Although they are not always easy to locate with breeders, they are out there and finding a breeder with a colony already will be a much better starting point that just grabbing some from a store.  You will have plenty of questions in your first few weeks – and your breeder will be someone great to have on tap.

Harvest mice themselves:

These mice are tiny little mammals – one of the smallest rodents in the world – clocking in at around just 5-6 grams when adult.  When they are pups – they are even more cute (if that is even possible).

Harvest mice are best housed in colonies depending on the size of habitat – although it isn’t always happy families in there.  They are known to have the odd squabble and sometimes quite like their own space.

They are difficult to sex for the non-experienced (apart from the dominant male) however in a small habitat it is very common for only the dominant male and female to mate – and they can be seasonal breeders, so your collection shouldn’t get out of control.  In larger, warmer habitats filled with natural grasses however, multiple pairs will breed throughout the year resulting in a very fast increase in your numbers…

Harvest Mice Cages:

Well, this doesn’t exist actually as harvest mice are so small that they can most likely escape from any barred cage – even the ones designed to be really small for fancy mice.

Basically, you will need to house your harvest mice in a tank – preferably one that is taller rather than wider – as harvest mice love to climb.  So do look for height so that they can live out a more natural existence.

Exoterra-type tanks are great for this – as they have been designed to hold tiny things too (like live fruit flies as food for exotics) and size-wise overall – nothing can be too big here. 

However, as harvest mice are so tiny – big for them doesn’t have to be big for you!  Anything bigger than 30cm x 30cm x 60cm (shown set up below) for up to 4 harvest mice is a good starting size.

You can have great fun with the set up inside the tanks too as being native mammals to both the US and Europe – they can have virtually anything in their tanks that you would find out on a walk in the countryside.  Displays of tall grasses, thin branches and twigs as well as ropes and ceramic flower pots can all make a really visually-pleasing enclosure.  And all perfectly safe.

You will see we have used sand for a base (we use bird sand – but NEVER mineral bird grit as it is toxic). Anything damp or moist like soil or moss as a substrate can make the bedding and natural features of your display to go mouldy – and this includes any food they drop down to the floor too.  The drier the better for the mice.

Harvest Mice, as pets, are still classed as exotic mammals due to their low numbers and special habitat requirements – and we would imagine vet care and treatments are very limited.

What do harvest mice eat?

Their diet in the wild is mainly grains and seeds, but they will also eat fruits, berries, flowers, blossoms, hips and haws as well as the odd bug or grub.  They even enjoyed seeking out the lichen on some oak leaves we put in?

There are several specific mouse foods out there – but many have extruded pieces (the large coloured biscuits and blobs of hard stuff) and larger seeds etc which are fine for pet mice – but your harvest mice will find difficult to hold in their tiny hands.  

Many of these foods are designed for fancy mice (which are much bigger in size) or some for both rats and mice – which are slightly different to our little semi-wild furries.  Rats and mice are less grain-based in their eating habits – and much more likely to eat anything they find whereas harvest mice are a lot more picky about what they will eat (although mine went mad for some curly kale the other day?).  

Try a food with tiny pieces in it and more seeds like Versele Laga Mouse Nature, or make your own mix of dried grasses, canary and finch mixes as well as millet sprays (both yellow and red – with red being the more popular with ours), berries and native plants fresh from the garden where possible and the odd mealworm or cricket thrown in…

I also buy in several dried flowers, herbs and grasses which they love as well as picking fresh hawthorn twigs – resplendent with fresh leaves from the countryside – as well as hazel and willow twigs, thistle tops, dried sunflower heads, hogweed seeds, sweet chestnuts, blackberries and rose hips.

Do harvest mice bite?

Well, like all rodents – they have the equipment to do so – but so far, all who we have spoken to who are keeping harvest mice as pets have not been bitten.  We try not to handle then too often due to their small size and also because so far they are more than willing enough to walk into a jar – however, they are very hand-friendly and often hop on us as we poke around in their enclosure. 

If you don’t want to handle them, you can health check, sex and keep them secure in the jar for a short time and everyone’s a winner. Why would you risk squishing, dropping or losing them when you didn’t need to?

Also, many people keep harvest mice to simply watch them – they don’t need hands on cuddles or play time.  In their beautifully curated habitats – believe you me – they are great to watch – and you can lose track of time.  And watching doesn’t involve any restraining or handling – so no chance of any nips anyway.

Some people have said that harvest mice can get ‘stressed out’ really easily from too much handling or changing their set up too often – but so far, all the harvest mice we have seen are quite chilled around humans.  We poke around in the tank every day to check the water and to add in some new foods or plants etc and clear out anything chewed to pieces or no longer fresh.  They are so not bothered – apart from very young harvest mice who seem to jump at everything anyway.

Our brood certainly don’t freak out during our daily pokings in the tank, or even when we move around the room (whereas my gerbils scatter at the first signs of anything).  

Harvest mice are super chilled in their domain and are happy to approach your hand in their tank.  We also know someone who handles hers regularly and there don’t seem to be any obvious signs of stress – they just act totally the same as they would in their tank.

Ours get a bit scatty when we start to move who branches around though – but then who wouldn’t be startled if the staircase suddenly moved – or the bedroom was suddenly in the loft instead?

Do harvest mice make great pets?

Harvest mice are quite an acquired taste – but certainly make great pets.

They need a specialised tank set-up and a food mix that you have to experiment with or create yourself – however, you will have so much fun doing it.  It becomes a mini obsession to make it even better (ask my local garden centre).

The bonus is that now ALL store sections are available for browsing – small mammal, bird, reptile, outdoor plants, dried flower displays, wild bird and even home furnishings…

Harvest mice are seemingly very versatile in their colonies and unlike other small animals as pets – they can be moved around between tanks and returned to old friends without too much trouble.  They can squabble in their tanks if there aren’t enough separate twigs to perch on at various heights – but we find it is usually the males that do this in a mixed sex enclosure – so keep a high point in all four corners if you can.

There can be serious fights to the death according to information already online – but in general – they live quite contently in a colony as long as there is space and food for all.  Too many males are less likely to get on in smaller spaces, but if they are a clan of JUST males – there is no squabbling at all?

They do, as a species, have very high water requirements – as high metabolism runs on water.  To digest their food and stay warm and mobile – they need all the water they can get.  Also, not only do they drink a lot individually – but because there are many mouths in your family group – they really get through the water.

And it has to be offered in a bowl, not a bottle.

Many people say – and we have found – that harvest mice can’t effectively use the ball-bearing water bottles common for so many other indoor rodents and rabbits.  These balls are quite heavy – being made of metal and all – and there are two of them in there.  Because tiny harvest mouse tongues don’t have the strength to push both of these balls up the tube over and over and over again for atiny drop of water each time, they end up going without water instead, which makes them ill.

You can offer a bottle AS WELL as a bowl – but unfortunately we know of people who tried the bottle alone for their harvest mice (finding the bowl annoying (for them)) and all their mice died as a result.

Harvest mice work much better with an open water dish – refreshed at least once a day, more often where possible.  And we think they can smell fresh water (?) as whenever we put the dish in fresh – more than half of the inhabitants come straight over to drink – even if the bowl wasn’t empty of water before we refilled it.

Great opportunity to watch the little ones together too – we always recommend hanging around after putting anything in you harvest mouse environments…

Currently (2017) we are trialling a Ferplast Sippy alongside a bowl for an experiment – even though they do obviously prefer to drink from the bowl.  Water is disappearing from the Sippy, but we am not sure if they are drinking it or just tapping the dongle with their bodies? They then (2018) chewed apart the lid of the Sippy and kept falling in the water?  Needless to say, we took it out and gave up.

More experimentation needed…

Enjoy your new little friends…

26 thoughts on “Harvest Mice As Pets”

  1. Hi there,

    I’m working on a natural history series for Plimsoll Productions, we’re looking for to film some harvest mice this week, I wondered if you might be able to give me a call please [number supplied].

    Thanks very much,
    Katrina

    Reply
  2. I have wood mice and they are completely nuts lol but are happy to live in same sex groups.
    I cant wait to get harvest ones aswell should be next week all going well wat sex ratio do you recommend

    Reply
    • I haven’t ever worked to a specific sex ratio myself as I keep some quite large complex colonies and sexing of all new pups is difficult. I recently had a lovely stable colony that I rehomed where all but two were female on sexing. And other all female colonies have worked a treat. Male groups (where the males have been taken from a mixed sex colony) haven’t gone well with me yet, but I haven’t yet tried an all male colony from pups.

      I have had a 2×2 starter colony (2 sisters and 2 unrelated brothers) that really didn’t hit it off at all. Not sure whether it was their ages (very young males and much older females) or just the equal numbers – but it led to massive fighting between them (where splitting to two couples resolved the issue). I also have a current larger colony that has started fighting – so I may well actually sex them out at the next clean out just so I can start keeping a record of colonies mixes.

      I will check my references again and see if there are any recommended ratios from other breeders. All very interesting.

      Reply
    • Hello Jacob.

      Harvest mice aren’t so easy to come by and certainly you wouldn’t want just one as they a colony living animals (and they do have a capacity limit so once you have decided on the enclosure size you can accomodate, you can calculate the maximum number of harvest mice it can hold).

      I suggest as with the comment above/below that you join some US or international FB groups to find out more about the species you wish to keep and if they know of any breeders who could supply you. We came across our quite by chance so sometimes you need to keep asking and asking and then finally things can come your way. If you do find any stockists, please update this comment and I can add the details to our articles to help future searchers like yourself.

      Good luck Jacob.

      RodentZone

      Reply
        • Hello Lauren.

          And as of yet, We can’t seem to confirm with anyone we know in the US as to anyone with harvestmice (I assume you mean either species?).

          We will obviously keep asking – but are you also on any of the rare rodents/rare mammal FB groups – would certianly be worth an ask on there?

          We’ll keep looking too – and let us know if you find anything so we can make a note of them!

          RodentZone

          Reply
  3. I recently rescued a harvest mouse, I believe western or plains. It is doing great, but I feel like he is lonely. I’ve searched and searched and can’t find any breeders. Any tips so I can find some friends for him?

    Reply
    • Hello Victoria.

      They are indeed hard to find at the best of times – unless you know any good exotics breeders – however, we haved homed many to outdoor type set-ups in zoos and wildlife parks – so potentially this could be an option for you; either to home your guy into a great enclosure, or see if they have an excess of stock.

      Alternatively, would be to join a FB group like ‘US Exotic Rodent Association’ or the ‘International Rodent Information Society’ where you can find out if there are any breeders who can identify your mouse for sure and let you know if its wild/pet status (just incase it is a protected species). and go from there.

      Good luck with your search and I hope the little guy is alright on his own for the short term – make sure he has plenty of places to hide in to relieve any stress while you do your research. Do let us know what you find and I can add anything reelvent to the article for sure.

      RodentZone.

      Reply
  4. Hi, I’ve recently taken in a small group of female harvest mice. I realised the other day that the Mum of the lot was pregnant, which explains her behaviour towards her young (I also resexed them all and they’re all 100% female so must have happened before I got them).

    Anyway, I’ve split the pups from Mum as she was getting increasingly aggressive. I was just wondering when it would be ok to reintroduce them?

    Thanks in advance 🙂

    Reply
    • Hello Jaremi.

      We have had many clans on these lovely little things and although they ae prone to squabbling at times (especially when the lead female is in heat and around babies sometimes) we haven’t ever had any trouble with al the babies remaining in the enclosure with mum and other siblings.

      The only times we start to spot problems with continued squabbling is when the population density is too high for the enclosure. and don’t forget that a harvest mouse enclosure is three-dimensional, soyou need to have many perches going differnt places and many different dens at different levels as well as a naturally grassy corner where they can make a communal natural nest if they want.

      Often – as many of our enclosures are extended family groups (rather than same sex) we only start to notice we have too many new pups when we start getting squabbling – they tend to lend themselves well to tunneling and hiding in places!

      So, if you think your enclosure and set up is big enough for the mum and pups to perch and sleep apart – then I would put the pups back in the family enclosure along with plenty of seed, a few fresh branches and some hay or other nesting materials.

      The only problme you have of course – and which the breeder couldn’t really have done anything about when taking them straight from the colony – was that you are most likely going to have male pups in the new litter. So let’s hope there are either 0 or 3 male pups – and then you can go get yourself a second enclosure!

      Have fun with the new babies – they are even more adorable than usual!!!

      Reply
  5. Hi,

    Thanks for your article, I’ve found it very useful!

    I’ve just got my first colony of harvest mice 3 weeks ago, supposedly 4 males.

    I’ve noticed a lot of bickering in the last few weeks and frisky behaviour and I can finally see that I actually have 3 males and a now quite pregnant female!

    The breeder I bought them off has said I should separate the female out now but I don’t currently have a separate enclosure.

    Is it possible to keep the female in the tank with the other males? Would my enclosure be over crowded if I kept them and the young together?

    If i do separate her, Once she’s given birth and the young are old enough can I return her to the original colony? I’ve read elsewhere if you do this she won’t breed anymore, have you found this true?

    Also as I may be able to temporarily house the babies with a makeshift enclosure I don’t really have the space for a permanent one. What are some good ways of rehoming? I know I could try selling online, but I doubt I’d be good at sexing the young!

    I have a 45cm X 45cm X 45cm vivarium with plenty of grass, branches, rope, woven nest balls etc.

    Thanks for your help in this, it is appreciated as someone new to harvest mice suddenly finding I’ve got a breeding colony!

    Reply
    • Ooh lots of questions there Nathan – so we shall try to answer them all broken down.

      Harvest mice colonies are self-sustaining – so if you only want them as ‘on off pets’, then you will need to remove the female at some point (and all her female pups).

      We find that colonies with more males than females always bicker and can result in some nasty injuries for the losing males. WE try to keep my colonies at around 50:50 or all same sex only. Not always possible, but we can only work with what nature gives us sometimes!

      The breeder is right in one sense as if all the 4 babies are already related, then brothers, uncles and grandads will all be breeding with the female pups and granddaughters over time – which is of course not ideal. However, you will have the same issue with your own pups when your male pups are born – unless you have space to put them all back in with the older males and hope they settle in without issues (they usually do, but need lots of individual high perches we find).

      Having said that, keeping the female and her offspring in there wouldn’t be an issue in terms of the society balance, as the females are often ‘the bosses’ in the enclosure anyway and their children sort of have protection. However, if you wait, the mum will become pregnant again in a constant cycle potentially (although our females often don’t produce live pups (and we are not sure if it is through her choice in mating, or the loss of them in the nest).

      What you COULD do if you had space – and this includes using all the available height of the enclosure in a network of branches, platforms and nesting places – would be to add in another female or two from a different bloodline, so then the pups wouldn’t be so inter-related – and then make a point of pulling out 5 or 6 young harvest mice every so often to restart/sell a new colony elsewhere.

      As for pulling her out for the pups then putting her back – this is possible – as we find that mixing most individuals and colonies work – it wouldn’t be too helpful to you – and you would then still have all the pups? Unless they are all the same sex you can’t really leave them together as a sealed colony and even if they are all the same sex, you need a permanent second enclosure which you don’t have currently anyway or the space for (would be great if they were all female to leave with mum). But yes, if you can get another enclosure – you could do all males and females and end the breeding cycle.

      We have no evidence that a female won’t get pregnant again after her first successful litter – and although we have no experience of taking a female out to have a litter and then returning her (not sure why that would make her sterile/non-productive of itself – but if you have proof of that it would be really good to know)) – we find that pups are always produced by nearly all my females. There doesn’t seem to be any stopping them – even in old age?

      As for selling them on in a new colony – we would leave them with their mum and try to return them to the buyer. They should be willing to take the return (unless they were sold as all one sex for sure in the first place) and then they could set up a new colony with them using unrelated stock from their own supplies. If this isn’t possible for whatever reason, then you can sell them on to wildlife parks or other outdoor visitor attractions, other pet homes or even education groups.

      They are very easy to sex – because of the females’ nipples and the males’ conkers! And the best way to sex them is to catch them in a totally clear jar (standard jam jar size) put the lid on and look at them from underneath. There have not been many times we have got it wrong – but there will always be the odd young male who hides his materials if he is very low in the hierachy!

      We hope this at least answers everything you asked or were thinking of – but please do get back in touch if you want to ask more. It is great for us to talk about it as it reinforces and put into words what we have seen with our own colonies rather than just storing it all in our brains.

      Speak soon and good luck whatever you decide,

      RodentZone

      Reply
      • Thanks for the reply and all the advice! Unfortunately I can’t physically get back to the breeder due to a local lockdown. So for now, I’m going to separate the female out into a temporary enclosure and once the young have been born hopefully divide up the males and females, depending on the numbers I’ll figure out the next steps, including hopefully finding a better second enclosure and clearing some space.

        Thanks again!

        Reply
        • No worries – hopefully we gave you enough info even though you can’t travel right now?

          Make sure you give her plenty of options and nest material for a new nest if she looks due – and potentially keep it extra warm the first few days incase she has the pups before she can make one cosy enough.

          We have found many exo-terras online for a great price – but maybe not so easy if you are still locked-down. We do love a bargain and are really missing out on bargains!

          Reply
    • Hi Linda.

      Just wondering if you mean European Harvest Mice (Micromiys minutus) – as a recent ask for them on a FB group came up as a No. Doesn’t look like anyone has imported any for a while that anyone knew about.

      However, there is one company who is very active on social media called Excelsior Exotics – so perhaps they could be your first port of call? Try messaging – excelsiorexotics@gmail.com and see if they can set you in the right direction.

      Good Luck – and let us know how you get on…

      Rodentzone

      Reply
      • Hi there I am just starting out on breeding harvest mice in Lincolnshire UK i have three tanks set up with 5 females and one male in each tank and I thought only the dominate female would breed but I have noticed males are mateing with several females

        Reply
        • Hello – and great to hear you are working with these teeny rodents. It is so rewarding.

          As for breeding in colonies, we heard that only the dominant female breeds when we first started out and it seemed to be true in some of our smaller enclosures and therefore smaller colonies where one female was much larger and more chestnut in colour – but there was often the odd exception.

          However, since we greatly increased the enclosure size – several females would birth at the same time and we constantly saw more than one pregnant female at a time and hardly EVER see a giant ‘red’ matriach anymore. So I really think it has many factors working for or against it.

          Very interesting though…

          Reply
  6. Hi I was wondering if you would happen to know if Harvest Mice (The Eurasian ones not US natives) are legal in the US specifically California?

    Reply
    • We are not sure on that one – there seems to be a lot of rodents currently in ‘the grey zone’ regading imports and ownership.

      We are not sure still on the new legislation in the UK itself on these species as they are now classed as ‘near threatened’ – but of course across the rest of Europe they are of ‘least concern’.

      We will certainly ask around on this ourselves – and hopefully update here on your thread when we find anything useful – and hopefully you can do likewise if you beat us to it!

      Thanks…

      Reply
  7. Hi, I have recently acquired a group of four harvest mice and after initially thinking they were four females it’s now become pretty evident we have at least two males and one very pregnant female. The fourth one is a bit difficult to determine but I am thinking they may be a female as well.
    I wondered if it would be safe to remove the males into a new tank then add any male babies once they are old enough or if it would be better to leave them in the tank together then move babies and adults together, to give them a chance to meet each other rather than try introducing the young males into the other’s habitat? I would ideally like to separate before the female gives birth to prevent her becoming pregnant again but wouldn’t want to be at risk of serious fights between males if I separate then have to reintroduce them?
    I may just be being extra cautious as my main experience is with keeping rats and introductions with same sex, even females, is a bit of an involved process and sometimes still involves personality clashes.
    Any help is greatly appreciated 🙂

    Reply
    • Hello there.

      What a situation – and we know how hard it is to sex young harvest mice especially if you already have one or two obvious males already in the group (younger or less dominant males can keep thing VERY well hidden to avoid conflict).

      We always get asked about the reintroduction part and most of the time – and luckily harvest mice are very pliable with welcoming new group members of either gender. The only time we have had trouble with new arrivals is where the ratio of males to females gets to high in mixed groups. We do also have a bit of squabbling overall under various circumstances – but which usually resolves itself with extra perches (plant material with a singular end point) and distributed nests both on the ground and up in the air.

      As for timings – it would be ‘safer’ to act immediately as if the first mouse gives birth and/or third mouse is a female and you still have the males in there – you could have even more pups on the way.

      If they were ours – we would remove the two visible males into a new enclosure and then keep a watch on the third – because if they are male – they may appear more male-like in just a few days anyway – then take them out and trio up with the existing males. Groups or males are far more stable when there are no females present – so make sure there is plenty of scented distractions (fragrant hays/wild flowers/petals) in the enclosure before adding to the existing as he will smell strogly of her scent short term.

      Adding a nice amount of nesting material to the female enclosure will allow them to create a lovely nest and then sexing young harvest mice can be easier as the nipples are very clear in young females. We tend to stick with the rule of ‘are they defo female’ for gender spotting – as identifying a young male can be near impossible if you aren’t very experienced. You may have to resex and resex regularly to be sure.

      It is unlikely – but not impossible – that if the second female is indeed a female – that she could be pregnent too – but they may well nest together anyway so nothing extra needed – just make sure you have at least 3 different nest holes and plant material incase they want to create a natural one from scratch.

      How exciting!

      Reply
      • Hi,

        Thanks for this advice it’s been really helpful 🙂

        We’ve got a second enclosure and after an afternoon of checking discovered we had two males and two females. The males have settled well into their new enclosure well and seem pretty happy.

        I think from watching the females we ended up with two nests! So may have quite a few babies on the way. Although I have noticed the females seem to be squabbling now they’re on their own and wasn’t sure if this was normal, if they were maybe each just being protective over their nests?

        Reply
        • Possibly – it can really change the dynamics when splitting the sexes – and with all those hormones right now – we’d imagine they are just settling down. Always tense with things like this as we can’t really intervene. Just have to hope the two mums let things settle. You can never be sure that they don’t take things out on the pups, but unfortunately – there might be more pups to come and so unless you want to seperate the females, it is a bit of wait and see.

          Offer plenty of enrichment and nesting materials – more than usual – and really keep those mums active and well fed! Hydration is very important with Harvest Mice – so if you can perhaps offer more than one of each feeding and watering stations to be sure that isn’t the reason for the squabbling.

          Glad the guys are OK at least!

          Reply

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