House mice can live and breed in houses, buildings and other structures such as garden sheds, which gives them protection from the cold and wet weather and which provides them with the three essentials for survival - food, water and shelter. Although an abundant supply of food is preferable, house mice can survive on relatively poor diets, eating between 3 to 4 grams of food a day and can survive without access to free water, obtaining their daily needs from their food.

The ideal environments for house mice are buildings with dead spaces and harbourages free from disturbance and close to food and water. They are extremely good climbers, climbing walls, pipes, cavities and ductings. They have very hard incisor teeth which can penetrate materials such as concrete, lead and aluminium. This can result in expensive damage and even fires when electric cables are damaged.

In urban areas, house mice are able to breed throughout the year, producing between 5 and 10 litters each of about 4-8 young. They can live for more than two years, though the average life span is about 10 months.