What Do Mice Eat?

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Mice eat almost anything, but they prefer seeds, grain and cereals. House mice also take bread, biscuits, sweet foods, nuts, meat scraps and pet food. A mouse needs only about 3 g of food a day, nibbled from lots of places, so a few crumbs are enough to keep it coming back. And no, cheese isn’t their favourite.

What Do House Mice Eat?

The house mouse lives indoors all year and eats what we eat. It goes for cereal, oats, rice, flour, pasta, bread and biscuits first, then nuts, seeds, chocolate and sugary snacks. It will also eat meat, butter, fruit, vegetables and pet food if it can reach them.

House mice also scavenge in kitchen bins, food caddies and bags of rubbish for scraps and leftovers. Paper, cardboard and packaging aren’t food, but mice chew through them to get at what’s inside, and shred them for nests. Inside the house, they gnaw through plasterboard and insulation to make runs between rooms.

A mouse doesn’t finish one packet. It takes a little from many places in one night, which is why you find small chew holes in several boxes. It also leaves droppings and urine wherever it feeds. Throw away any food mice have touched and clean the area properly. Here’s how to clean up mouse droppings safely.

What Do Field Mice Eat?

The field mouse, also called the wood mouse, eats seeds, grain, berries, nuts, green shoots, fungi, insects and snails. With fruit, it often eats the pips and leaves most of the flesh. It stores food in burrows to eat later. Field mice are shy and come out mainly at night, so you’re more likely to see the damage than the mouse.

What do mice eat in the garden?

Bulbs, newly sown peas, beans and seeds, strawberries and other soft fruit, windfall apples, and vegetables such as potatoes and carrots. Spilled bird seed under feeders and food scraps in an open compost heap are easy meals too. Field mice are the usual mice in the garden. In autumn they come into sheds, garages and sometimes homes, looking for stored seed, bulbs and bird food. Not sure which mouse you’ve got? See the types of mice in the UK, and how to keep mice out of a shed.

What Do Wild Mice Eat?

All UK wild mice, including the wood mouse, yellow-necked mouse and harvest mouse, live on seeds, grain, plants, fruit and insects. They carry food back to their nests and burrows to hoard it. Indoors, that means you may find a stash of seeds, nuts or pet food in a mouse nest behind a cupboard or in the loft. Hoarded food goes stale and can draw in other pests, such as beetles and moths.

Can mice eat bread and rice?

Yes. Bread is made from grain, the food mice like best, so a loaf in its bag and crumbs in the toaster or bread bin are a regular target. Mice also eat uncooked rice, pasta and oats, chewing small holes in the bottom corners of bags and boxes. Grains a mouse has eaten are often nibbled out in the middle.

Do mice eat cheese?

Yes, mice can eat cheese and will nibble it if it’s left out, but it isn’t their favourite food. Mice prefer foods high in carbohydrate and sugar, such as grain, seeds, nuts and sweet things, over foods rich in fat or protein. When mice have been offered a choice of peanuts and cheddar, they went for the peanuts first and mostly ignored the cheese.

What do mice like more than cheese?

Peanuts and other nuts, seeds, grain, chocolate and sugary foods. Mice eat butter too, and will nibble the edge of a block left out in a butter dish overnight. That’s why cheese makes a poor bait in a trap. A small dab of peanut butter or chocolate spread pressed into the bait cup works much better.

Do mice eat meat?

Yes. Mice are omnivores, so they eat meat as well as plant food. It isn’t their first choice, as they prefer grain, seeds and sweet foods, but they eat meat whenever it’s easy to get.

Any they can reach: ham, bacon, cooked chicken, sausages, mince and the fat left on plates, in roasting tins, on the hob or in the bin. Meat scraps in an open kitchen bin or a split rubbish bag are an easy meal. Meat-based pet food is another source of protein.

Mice will nibble raw meat left out to defrost, empty meat packs in the bin and scraps in a food waste caddy. Throw away any meat mice have touched, because they leave droppings and urine where they feed.

Do mice eat pet food?

Yes, and it’s one of the easiest meals in the house. Many people keep their own food in cupboards and tins but leave pet food in its bag on the floor of the utility room or garage. Mice gnaw through paper sacks, cardboard boxes and plastic bags to reach it.

Do mice eat grass?

Field mice do, but grass isn’t a main food for any mouse. It’s hard to digest and low in energy, so mice eat the seeds and fresh green shoots rather than the blades. Lawn seed you’ve just sown, long grass going to seed and wildflower patches all draw field mice into the garden.

House mice rarely eat grass. They live indoors and much prefer seeds, grain, fruit, insects and the food they find in your kitchen.

Do mice eat bird seed and small-animal food

Yes. Bird seed and food for rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs are mostly seed and grain, the food mice like best. Spilled seed under bird feeders and around hutches and cages draws mice in from the garden.

How to keep mice out of pet food

• Store pet food in a metal bin or a hard plastic tub with a tight lid, not the bag it came in.
• Pick up food bowls before you go to bed, and wash them.
• Sweep up spilled seed under cages, hutches and bird feeders.
• Keep sacks off the floor in garages and sheds.

If you need advice or help with mice control or any other pest treatment Fantastic Pest Control is here for you and you can contact us 24 hours a day.

Do mice like chocolate?

Yes. Mice like chocolate, especially milk chocolate, which is full of sugar and fat. They can eat it, and they’ll chew through a wrapper or a selection box to get to it. That’s also why chocolate spread is one of the best baits for mouse traps: mice find it fast and have to lick and pull at it, which sets the trap off.

Can chocolate kill mice? Not in practice. Chocolate contains theobromine, the substance that makes it dangerous for dogs, but a mouse eats only a few crumbs at a time. Leaving chocolate out won’t get rid of mice. It just feeds them.

Do mice eat clothes?

No. Fabric isn’t food for mice, but chewed or shredded clothes can be a sign of mice in the house. Mice chew clothes for three reasons:

• Females shred fabric, towels and paper to build and line their nests.
• Clothes can carry food smells, such as a spill on a jumper or crumbs in a pocket.
• Mice gnaw all the time to keep their front teeth, which never stop growing, short.

The same habit damages the home. Mice gnaw wood, skirting boards and plastic pipes, nest in sofas and mattresses, and chew the plastic coating on electrical cables, which can be a fire risk. Here’s how to tell if mice are chewing on wires. Small, neat holes in wool clothes with no droppings nearby are more likely to be clothes moths.

What do mice eat in the attic?

Very little, as most lofts have no food. Mice in the attic usually nest up there and come down inside the walls to the kitchen at night to feed. In the loft itself, they eat anything stored that has food in it: Christmas sweets, bird seed, bulbs, pet food and boxes of old food.

They don’t eat insulation, but they chew it, along with cardboard boxes, books, papers and old clothes, to make nests. They also gnaw wooden beams and cables, which wears away the coating on wires. If there are dead insects, spiders or other dead rodents in the loft, mice will eat those for protein.

If you hear scratching above you at night, find out what kind of animal is in your attic.

How long can mice live without food?

Only a few days. A mouse is small, burns energy fast and feeds many times every night, so it can’t go long without eating. That’s why mice in a home with no food don’t wait it out: they leave to find food somewhere else, often a neighbour’s kitchen, a shed or a bin store.

Mice need very little to keep going, though: about 3 g of food a day, and most get the moisture they need from their food. A few crumbs, a pet bowl or a bin is enough to keep them alive. Storing food well helps, but it rarely starves mice out on its own.

Is food in your home feeding mice?

If packets are chewed or you find droppings near food, mice are already eating there. Mice spoil far more food than they eat, because they leave droppings and urine as they feed. Check the other signs of mice, then follow our guide on how to get rid of mice. Storing food well cuts their supply, but it won’t make mice leave on its own.