05/24/2026
Looking forward to this summer's research on Peromyscus spp!
The mouse in the garage with enormous eyes and white feet isn't a house mouse. She's a deer mouse — native, and the most common wild mammal in North America.
The house mouse is uniformly gray-brown with small eyes and a naked tail the same color on both sides. She's introduced, lives permanently in human structures, and chews wiring. She's the one that colonizes kitchens.
🌿 The deer mouse has large dark eyes, white belly, white feet, and a sharply bicolored tail — dark on top, white below. She lives outdoors in woodlands and fields. She enters garages and sheds in fall for warmth but doesn't move into the house.
She eats seeds, berries, insects, and fungi. She's a primary food source for owls, foxes, and snakes.
🐾 The one-second diagnostic:
- Large eyes + white feet + bicolored tail = deer mouse. Native.
- Small eyes + uniform gray + scaly uniform tail = house mouse. Introduced.
One safety note: in some regions, deer mice can carry hantavirus. Don't sweep or vacuum droppings — wet-clean with disinfectant and ventilate the space first.
Two mice. One native visitor, one permanent resident. The eyes tell you which 🌿
