By Courtney Wright
Animal ambassadors or a cool new band? Meet Nibbles and the Spice Girls!
Wolf Ridge is thrilled to have welcomed four small (but mighty) mice to our animal ambassador team in January! Nibbles, Ginger, Cinnamon, and Pepper serve as co-teachers in our Small Mammals class, helping students “think small” and explore the adaptations, behaviors, and lifestyles of the many miniscule mammals that we share the world with!
Their story:
Nibbles, a deer mouse, was born in the wild on June 10th, 2023. He was rescued in St. Peter after being found in his abandoned nest with two siblings that had sadly passed away. His rescuer brought him home and raised him as a pet, leading him to be reliant on humans for his basic needs like food, water, and shelter.
Shortly after Nibbles was determined to be non-releasable back into the wild, Ginger, Pepper, and Cinnamon (female domestic mice) were adopted to provide companionship for him. All four can now often be caught snuggling up together in their burrows.
Do mice have personalities?
You bet they do! Each of our mouse ambassadors could not be more different!
Nibbles typically exhibits true wild mouse behaviors, preferring to spend his days digging and hiding in the safety of his burrows, only venturing out during the night to forage for his favorite snacks. Ginger, on the other hand, loves to venture out and visit with humans throughout the day. We often call her our “Wonder Mouse” due to her outgoing and gregarious personality! Pepper can occasionally be seen following Ginger out into the open, using her nose to scope out where some tasty treats might have been hidden, while Cinnamon appears to have a hard time deciding between looking for snacks, running on her wheel, or taking a well-earned nap with Nibbles.
Can you identify each mouse based on their personalities alone? If not, here’s a hint – their sizes and coloration are dead giveaways! Ginger is the smallest mouse, with long, fuzzy, orange fur. Cinnamon is about twice Ginger’s size, with slightly paler orange-tan fur. Pepper is our only black-colored mouse, while Nibbles has larger ears and yes, with a brown back and white belly.