featuring the photography of Paul & Joyce Berquist

Cactus Mouse
Peromyscus spp.

The cactus mouse is found in western and southwestern Arizona. It is about the size of an ordinary house mouse, but it has large ears, a haired tail and usually white feet. The cactus mouse is buffy gray above, then shading to a brighter buff along the sides, and white underneath. Its ears are large for its size and sparsely covered with a sprinkling of short, fine hairs, or, in some species, completely bare. Long silky whiskers give its face a woodrat appearance. Its tail is sparsely furred with brown hairs above and white below. It lives anywhere: rock crevices, hollow trees, flotsam remaining from desert flash floods, old barns, sheds or houses. Its food consists mainly of seeds, nuts and small berries. Most of its time is spent gathering desert grass seeds. It is also an adept climber and will climb trees and shrubs for any acceptable food. In such exposed locations, many are caught by owls. On the ground, it is prey for all nocturnal predators from shrews to bears. However, its high reproduction rate allows the animal to survive attacks on its numbers.