Common Name: Harvest Mice
Scientific Name: Micromys minutus
Background: Captive Bred Males & Females
Origin: Europe
Description: Small, cute, but fast! The harvest mouse is the smallest british rodent and is the only mouse to have a truly prehensile tail meaning that they use it as a third limb as an aid when climbing. 
Requirements: A glass tank or vivarium with a mesh lid to provide good ventilation and climbing space for them, a taller enclosure is preferred but not essential as well as a good amount of floor space with a minimum of approx 26 inches by 16 inches. Its best to try and mimic there natural habitat by offering clean hay, straw, sticks and nesting balls of some type as well as sticks or branches of "safe" wood such as apple or hazel. A good substrate which we use is auboise. Harvest mice do not need to be cleaned out as much as the normal pet fancy mouse as they are much smaller and produce practically no odour what so ever. Its advisable to clean your harvest mice every 3 - 4 months, cleaning out your harvest mice to much can cause stress and could cause them to be insecure and is not advised by those who do conservation work.
Size: 2-3 Inches
Life Span: Up to 5 Years
Diet:Harvest mice in the wild feed mainly on seeds, fruits and bulbs, but a tiny proportion of their diet is made up of insects, particularly in the summer, as well as roots, moss and fungi. In captivity we offer a wide range of seeds and grain such as canary mix, budgie mix, millet spay and any other small seeds available to us and mix them together. Harvest mice will drink either from a bowl or a water bottle
Wild Status: At present harvest mice are not legally protected in Britain. Their priority status places them on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, under the category of near threatened. They are not a UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species but are included in some Local Biodiversity Action Plans. Harvest mice are also protected by the Wild Mammals Protection Act, 1996.