Types of Mice in Canada: Identification Chart for Homeowners

What Types of Mice Live in Canada?

Types of mice in Canada add up to about 13 species, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia, but only a few of them come into homes. Most live in forests, grasslands and wetlands and never see the inside of a house. The ones you are likely to meet indoors are listed below, and each one has its own profile further down.

Mice Common in Canadian Homes

Mice common in Canadian homes are the house mouse and the deer mouse, which are both found throughout most of Canada, plus the white-footed mouse in parts of the east. Here is a quick chart:

• House mouse: grey-brown all over, usually a lighter grey or buff belly, large ears, small black eyes, nearly hairless scaly tail, often a musky smell. Found in buildings across Canada.
• Deer mouse: brown or grey back, white belly and white feet, larger eyes and ears, tail often sharply dark on top and white underneath, usually no strong smell. Found across Canada, often in cottages, sheds and outbuildings.
• White-footed mouse: usually a reddish-brown back, white belly and feet, tail only faintly two-toned. Generally found from Nova Scotia west to Saskatchewan.

Which Mice Are Native to Canada?

Native mice make up most of the species in Canada: the deer mouse family (including the deer mouse, white-footed mouse and western harvest mouse), jumping mice and pocket mice. The house mouse is generally thought to be the only one that is not native. It likely came to North America with the first European colonists, originally from Asia, and in a cool climate like Canada's it usually depends on people for food and shelter (Alberta Agriculture). That is why house mice are the classic indoor pest, while native mice mostly come inside when the weather turns cold.

Is a Field Mouse a Type of Mouse?

A field mouse is not a single species. The Canadian Encyclopedia notes that many familiar "field mice" are actually voles, a different kind of rodent with a short tail and small ears. People also use "field mouse" loosely for the deer mouse, which lives in fields and woods. If someone tells you that you have field mice, check the features below to know which animal it really is.

How Does Mouse Identification Work?

Mouse identification comes down to a few features you can check on a clear photo or on a mouse caught in a trap. Size alone is not enough, because most small mice look alike at a glance. Never handle a live or dead mouse with bare hands: wear gloves, since Health Canada notes that the deer mouse is the most common carrier of hantavirus.

Belly Colour

Belly colour is the fastest clue. Deer mice and white-footed mice usually have a bright white belly and white feet, often with a clear line where the brown back meets the white underside (UC IPM, Health Canada). A house mouse has a belly that is only a little lighter than its back, grey or buff rather than white.

Tail

The tail is the most reliable single feature. A house mouse tail is nearly hairless, about as long as its body, usually with visible scale rings (Alberta Agriculture). A deer mouse tail is covered in fine fur and is two-toned, dark on top and white underneath, and Health Canada calls this white underside an easy way to tell a deer mouse apart. A very short tail usually means a vole, not a mouse.

Head Shape

Head shape helps confirm the type. House mice have a slightly pointed nose, large sparsely haired ears and small, black, somewhat protruding eyes. Deer mice have larger eyes and ears than house mice. Shrews have a long pointed snout and tiny eyes, and voles have ears that are partly hidden in their fur.

Size

Size is only a supporting clue. An adult house mouse measures about 65 to 90 mm (about 2 1/2 to 3 3/4 inches) in body length and weighs about 10 to 30 g, according to Alberta Agriculture. Deer mice usually weigh around 10 to 24 grams. Adult mice of these types overlap so much in size that a very big mouse with a big head and big feet is more likely a young rat (described under Young Rats).

Smell

Smell can point to a house mouse. House mice often have a characteristic musky odour, which UC IPM says is common in large or long-term infestations. Deer mice usually lack this odour (Alberta Agriculture).

A quick mouse identification checklist:

1. Look at the belly: crisp white usually means deer mouse or white-footed mouse, grey or buff usually means house mouse.
2. Look at the tail: furry and two-toned usually means deer mouse, scaly and almost bare usually means house mouse, very short often means vole.
3. Look at the head: big head and big feet on a small body usually means a young rat, a pointed snout with tiny eyes often means a shrew.
4. Notice the smell: a strong musky odour in the area points to house mice.

If you are not sure whether you are dealing with a mouse or a rat, our guide to mouse vs rat identification covers the differences in detail.

How Do You Identify a House Mouse?

The house mouse (Mus musculus) is a small, slender, usually grey-brown mouse with large ears and a nearly hairless, scaly tail. It is the classic indoor mouse in Canadian homes.

House Mouse Size

House mouse adults measure about 5 to 7 inches (about 13 to 18 cm) long including the tail, which can account for about 3 to 4 inches (about 8 to 10 cm), according to UC IPM. They weigh about half an ounce, or roughly 10 to 30 g according to Alberta Agriculture.

House Mouse Colour

House mouse colour ranges from light brown to dark grey, with a lighter colour on the belly (Health Canada). Alberta Agriculture describes it as greyish-brown throughout with a grey or buff belly. There is usually no sharp line between the back and the belly, which is often the main colour difference from a deer mouse.

House Mouse Tail

The house mouse tail is usually about as long as the body, nearly hairless and marked with obvious scale rings. It is one solid colour, not dark on top and white below.

Where House Mice Live

House mice usually live around people in Canada, because in a cool climate they tend to depend on buildings for food and shelter (Alberta Agriculture). They are mostly active at night but are sometimes seen during the day, and they seldom travel more than about 30 feet (about 9 metres) from their nest and food (UC IPM). A female can have 5 to 10 litters a year, which is why a few mice can turn into an infestation quickly. Learn more about where mice live and how often mice reproduce.

How Do You Identify a Deer Mouse?

The deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) is a native Canadian mouse with a brown or grey back, a white belly and white feet, and a tail that is usually dark on top and white underneath. It is common throughout Canada and it is the type of mouse that matters most for your health.

Deer Mouse Colour

Deer mouse colour usually runs from greyish to reddish brown on the back, with white underparts and white feet (Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan). The line between the brown back and the white belly is sharp, so the mouse looks clearly two-toned.

Deer Mouse Tail

The deer mouse tail is covered in fine hair and is usually distinctly two-toned, brown or grey above and white below, with a well-defined line between the two colours (Alberta Agriculture). Its length varies a lot between populations, so look at the colour rather than the length.

Where Deer Mice Live

Deer mice live across most of Canada, generally north to the tree line, in prairies, bushy areas and woodlands. Forest deer mice nest in stumps, logs and brush piles, and also in cottages and outbuildings. They store food for winter and do not hibernate, so they often move into sheds, garages, cabins and homes near fields and woods in the colder months. A deer mouse you find indoors in a cottage or a rural home is not unusual.

Deer Mice and Hantavirus

Deer mice are the most common carrier of hantavirus in Canada, according to Health Canada. UC IPM notes that the virus is shed in their saliva, urine and droppings, and it can be breathed in when dried material, possibly including nesting material, is disturbed. The Public Health Agency of Canada lists the deer mouse, the white-footed mouse and the red-backed vole as hantavirus carriers that are widespread in Canada. House mice are not known to spread hantavirus (HealthLinkBC). This is the main reason to identify the mouse before you clean up.

How to Tell a White-Footed Mouse From a Deer Mouse

A white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) looks almost the same as a deer mouse: brown back, white belly, white feet. The usual clues are a tail that is only faintly two-toned and a pale to rich reddish-brown back, while the deer mouse has a longer, sharply two-toned tail (Animal Diversity Web). In Canada, white-footed mice live roughly from Nova Scotia west to Saskatchewan, most often in woodlands and brush.

Even experts find the two species hard to separate where their ranges overlap, so you do not need to decide which one you have. Treat both the same way: both can carry hantavirus, white-footed mice may also carry the deer ticks that spread Lyme disease, and NC State Extension notes that mice can indirectly transmit diseases via the pests that live on them.

What Other Rodents Look Like Mice?

Other rodents that look like mice include jumping mice, the western harvest mouse, voles, shrews and young rats. Most of them live outdoors, but they turn up in traps, garages and gardens often enough to cause confusion.

Jumping Mice

Jumping mice are native mice with very long tails and large hind feet built for leaping. The meadow jumping mouse, common across Canada, has a dark band down its back, yellowish-brown sides and a tail of about 108 to 165 mm, usually longer than its body, and can leap high when startled. The woodland jumping mouse of eastern Canada has a white-tipped tail and often hibernates for six months or more of the year (Animal Diversity Web). Both live in moist meadows and forests, not in houses.

Western Harvest Mouse

The western harvest mouse is a tiny native mouse generally found in Canada only in BC's Okanagan and Similkameen valleys and at one site in southeastern Alberta (COSEWIC, Government of Canada). It has large ears, a tawny back and a long, bicoloured tail, and its upper front teeth have grooves running down them. It is considered a species at risk, so if you think you have found one outdoors, leave it alone. The European harvest mouse you may have seen in photos does not live in Canada.

Voles

Voles are stocky rodents with short legs, a short tail, small eyes and ears partly hidden in fur. The meadow vole has a body of about 63 to 94 mm and a tail of up to about 50 mm, and it rarely climbs, living instead in tunnels and surface runways through grass (Alberta Agriculture). Voles are mainly an outdoor problem, girdling seedlings and young trees, and the red-backed vole is one of the hantavirus carriers listed by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Shrews

Shrews can look like small mice but have a long pointed snout and tiny eyes (UC IPM). A shrew in a trap is not a mouse, so check the snout and eyes before you decide you have a mouse problem.

Young Rats

Young rats are often mistaken for adult mice. A young rat usually has larger hind feet and a larger head in proportion to its body than a house mouse (University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension). If that is what you see, read our guide to mouse vs rat identification, which covers droppings, size and the right next steps.

What Should You Do After You Identify the Mouse?

What you do after identifying the mouse depends mostly on whether it is a deer mouse or a house mouse. Deer mice call for careful cleanup, while house mice call for fast, steady control before they multiply. In both cases, look for the signs of a mouse infestation to judge how big the problem is.

Cleaning Up After Deer Mice

Cleaning up after deer mice or white-footed mice must follow the Public Health Agency of Canada hantavirus steps. Do not sweep or vacuum droppings, because that puts virus particles into the air. Wear rubber or plastic gloves, and an N95 respirator in a confined space such as a cabin, shed or crawl space. Spray droppings and nesting material with a disinfectant or a mix of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water, let it soak for 10 minutes, then wipe it up with paper towels or a wet mop and double-bag everything. Our guide on how to clean mouse droppings walks you through each step.

Removing House Mice

Removing house mice works best when you combine trapping with sealing. Health Canada says snap traps and electronic traps are very effective if well positioned and set properly, and that poison baits should never be the only method. Mice can squeeze through cracks as small as a dime, so seal gaps with steel wool, wire screening, metal flashing or cement. If you use a rodenticide, choose one with a PCP number on the label and place it in a tamper-proof bait station wherever children or pets can reach. For step-by-step help, see how to get rid of mice and our best mouse trap picks.

When to Call a Pest Control Professional

Calling a licensed pest control professional makes sense when you keep catching mice after a few weeks, when you find droppings in several rooms, or when a cabin or shed has a heavy deer mouse problem you do not want to clean up yourself. A professional can confirm the species, find entry points and seal them. Read when to call a mouse exterminator, or get a quote from a recommended local exterminator through Pest Agent's referral form. For everything else about mice, visit the Pest Agent mice hub.