Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, also known as the "red-bellied mouse"

The Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse is a endangered mammal.

Scientific name: Reithrodontomys megalotis

Size: The body length 2.75 to 3.0 inches. The tail can be the same length as the mouse or longer. It weights about 3/10s of an ounce.

http://www.iep.water.ca.gov/suisun/photos/wildlife.html

Description: It has a dark brown coat. Its belly is and sides are pinkish cinnamon to yellowish-brown. The tail is bicolored, which means it has two colors.

Food: It is nocturnal, which means it is active at night. At night it feeds on pickle weed plant and drinks salty water. It also eats seeds, fruit, grain, and green vegetation. It eats fresh green grasses in the winter and eats pickle weed and salt grass the rest of the year.

Food chain: Here is a food chain: detritus (decayed animal and plants), pickle weed, Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, Marsh hawk. It is a herbivore which means it eats only plants! Salt marsh harvest mice are good swimmers and climbers!

Habitat: They live in nests. They can live in bird nests or they make their own. Most of their nests are found in mashes where there is pickle weed. It likes shady slopes and grassy places. There are two known subspecies (smaller group of species). One is the Northern species, which is found in Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, and northern Contra Costa counties. The other is the Southern species, which is found in San Mateo, Alameda, and Santa Clara. Some small groups are found in Marin and Contra Costa counties.

I used information from these web sites:
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation: January 21, 2003
The California Department of Water Resources Interagency Ecological Program (I.E.P.) January 21, 2003

http://sacramento.fws.gov