The
life expectancy of the average mouse in the wild is generally
short and can be calculated in weeks or months. Pet mice,
however, can live up to 3 or 5 years. They have in-built
homing instincts but are almost certainly colour-blind,
viewing their world only in black and white.
Like
most rodents, mice need to take in little water. They
produce almost all they require under normal circumstances
by "burning" the carbohydrates in the food they eat and
using the water that is released in their bodies as a
by-product of the "burning". This metabolic water is produced
by larger animals, including man. But to these larger
animals, it is a minor source of water as their relatively
massive bodies demand far more water than such an internal
spring can provide.