Growth and Development of the Golden Mouse, Ochrotomys nuttalli nuttalli

Adaptive Features of Mammalian Reproduction

“…N. magister Poole (1940) Wirtz (1965) 7. Ochrotomys nuttalli Linzey and Linzey (1967) inter (1970) .... (1963) 18. P. m. blandus Dice and Bradley (1942) Carmon et al( 1963) ;..…”

Survivorship and Reproductive Success of Released Laboratory-bred and Native Golden Mice within a Forest-edge Habitat

“…The golden mouse is a small, semi-arboreal, rodent found from lower Florida to eastern Texas and Oklahoma and as far north as West Virginia and southern Illinois (Linzey and Packard, 1977;Feldhamer and Linzey, 2008). They are considered a habitat specialist that prefers dense vegetation, typically edge habitat, which provides food resources, nesting sites, and refuge from predators (McCarley, 1958;Dueser andShugart, 1978, 1979;Dueser and Hallett, 1980;Wagner et al, 2000;Christopher and Barrett, 2006;Wolff and Barrett, 2008).…”

“…They are considered a habitat specialist that prefers dense vegetation, typically edge habitat, which provides food resources, nesting sites, and refuge from predators (McCarley, 1958;Dueser andShugart, 1978, 1979;Dueser and Hallett, 1980;Wagner et al, 2000;Christopher and Barrett, 2006;Wolff and Barrett, 2008). Golden mice are characterized as a docile and social small mammal species (Goodpaster and Hoffmeister, 1954;McCarley, 1958;Linzey and Linzey, 1967;Linzey, 1968;Linzey and Packard, 1977;Feldhamer and Linzey, 2008). Communal nesting occurs regularly for this species, especially during autumn and winter months (Goodpaster and Hoffmeister, 1954;Packard and Garner, 1964;Dietz and Barrett, 1992).…”

“…and Aug., following a spring breeding season (Goodpaster and Hoffmeister, 1954;Linzey and Linzey, 1967;Rose, 2008), whereas peak abundance for southern populations occurs between Dec. and Mar., following a winter breeding season (Ivey, 1949;McCarley, 1958;Rose, 2008;Pratt and Barrett, 2012). Therefore, season-of-release of laboratory-bred golden mice could affect survivorship, reproductive success, and social behavior of the golden mouse when released into their natural habitat.…”

“…The black rat snake [Elaphe obsoleta (Stejneger and Barbour)] emerges in early spring and feeds primarily on birds and small mammals along edge habitat (Blouin-Demers et al, 2000;Blouin-Demers and Weatherhead, 2001). It appears the winter breeding season observed for southern populations of the golden mouse (Layne, 1960;Linzey and Packard, 1977) precedes snake predation in spring. However, snake predation juxtaposes with reproduction and survivorship of laboratory-bred golden mice released during early spring.…”