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Ancestor: Dash Mice

Size: Genus average 9cm head-hind, 14cm head-tail

Dietary Needs: Omnivorous mouse that eats many types grains, and supplements with berries, dates and animal protein mostly from invertebrates such as soil worms and crayfish larvae. They will also eat small, young fish.

Life Cycle: In the North of their range they reproduce all year, but less so  in the dry winter. South of their range winters are wet, but too cold and they don't reproduce at all.

Males attract females with an ultrasonic chirp. This chirp is particularly high frequency, even outside of the range used by other mice species. This makes it distinct, making it easier for individuals to find each other and know what to expect on meeting. The female is able to make this ultrasonic chirp too, but males use complex rhythms and melodic twists and turns, while the female makes a long, plain sound with an upwards sliding frequency. It's a way for females to let a male know that he has been heard and that she's interested.

Males are competitive over females and will chirp, size-up and sometimes fight each other to shake the other's nerves. Females are not competitive over males and are happy to wait their turn to mate. They are however competitive over good tufts of grass to nest in. Some grassy tufts are so large and developed that a small community of the female mice can nest in it, but they all have a sense of personal space and are thus at similar distances apart from each other. Females also tend to fight over food. Males have no involvement in the female or his pups after mating.

The pups are mobile early after birth, just four days and they're walking and eyes are open. They can start with up to thirteen pups, but it's not unusual to lose most of these pups before the survivors become mature.

Pups follow their mother by "biting" her tail (actually, grabbing hold with the lips and tongue, avoiding contact with teeth). Sometimes pups will bite other pup's tails forming a chain. This means that pups aren't left behind when their mother moves quickly.

These tiny mice grow fast and are fully independent within two months. Anywhere between three and five litters can be had in a year, depending largely on latitude.

Other: These mice live within tufts of grass surrounded by water, this is where they feel safest. Grassy wetlands are thus their most preferred habitat. They don't usually dive underwater, most swimming is done on the water's surface, crossing between islands of grass peaking out above the surface of the water. However if they detect aquatic prey they will take an occasional dive to get it.

Their fur is kept water resistant by spreading the secretions of an oily anal gland. In some genera this oil is just waterproof, but in a few genera this oil smells like a mix of cat faeces and rotten cheese but amplified, and doesn't taste much better. Sensitivity varies by cat, but some stilt cats have stopped in their tracks and gagged upon sampling the smell, allowing the mouse to get away. The worst smelling genus is the fetid grassmouse, within which all species have a powerful odour. When frightened they will excrete more of this oil, just to be sure. The genera which produce this odour all coincide with those who will occasionally eat tiny young fish.