Everyone who lives near the woods gets mice. However, we don’t get the same mice that one gets in the city. I don’t think we’ve ever had a house mouse (Mus musculus) in the house. They have always either been white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) or deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus).
Other than I know that the mice have been of these two species, I can’t tell you much else. Every single guide I’ve consulted to differentiate the two species has been unable to help me.
Part of the reason is that both of these mice are widespread, but because they are mice and don’t disperse over large areas, they tend to develop really unique regional characteristics. That means characteristics that fit a deer mouse in my area might fit a white-footed mouse in another.
Because of where I live, my guess is that the majority of these are deer mice Deer mice prefer cooler forested areas, and white-footed mice like more open and warmer areas.
The two animals are different species. I’ve never heard of any hybridization between the two.
It is a mistake to conflate their names and call them “white-footed deer mice.” I’ve actually heard people use that conflation. It’s a conflation only because it is very, very hard to tell them apart. Throwing the names together seems like a good way to make sure you’re right in your identification. That’s the only reason I can figure out.
However, in doing so, you’re being wrong.
Technically, the genus Peromyscus is the genus for many New World mice that are sometimes referred to as the “deer mice.”
But a white-footed mouse is not the same thing as a deer mouse, even though it’s very hard to tell them apart.
These animals have been domesticated and used for research. There is a large breeding facility for laboratory stock at the University of South Carolina. In their colonies of different species of Peromyscus, there are different color strains. They have performed studies to see how color mutation correlates with biochemistry and behavior, and they are also engaged in truly domesticating these animals as a laboratory animal.
Of course, golden hamsters started out the same way. They were domesticated for laboratory use, and now they are a common pet.
My guess is it won’t be long before this becomes a common scene:
Now, you don’t have to wait until deer and white-footed mice become commercially available as pets. You can easily catch one and keep it as a pet. They are easily captured with cage-type traps, and although they may not tame down, there is a chance that if you get a female, she will be pregnant, and you can tame down her offspring.
That said, I offer two caveats:
1. It may be illegal to capture non-game wildlife in your area and keep it. Check the law.
2. These animals carry Hantaviruses. The deer mice are known to be a major carrier of the infamous “Sin Nombre” (without name) virus. There is a chance that you could develop Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome from a deer mouse and die.
3. They also carry the Lyme disease-causing spirochete and do play a role n transmitting that disease. I would be less concerned about this one than thee hantavirus, just because you also have to have deer ticks to transmit the disease.
But they are so cute.
Who cares if they could kill you?
I don’t know how accurate this is(I’ve never been able to tell them apart, either–they seem more subspecies than completely different species to me), but I read somewhere that Deer Mice were a Western species, White-Footed mice were Eastern–perhaps I saw that in a mammal I. D. book?