Diet of Florida Mice 135 



3.5 cm) of a juvenile red snake (Elaphe guttata) that was caught 

 half way in the trap. An adult male caught on Anderson-Cue in 

 October 1987 ate the viscera of a juvenile Florida mouse also caught 

 in the trap. A litter of three young was eaten on one occasion 

 when a male and two lactating females were in one aquarium. 



Acorn Preferences — Unpredictable acorn supplies made it impos- 

 sible to run tests with identical acorns in 1988 and 1989. Additionally, 

 the majority of acorns on the ground already contained weevil larvae 

 or were otherwise spoiled. In 1988, I concentrated on determining 

 which acorns were eaten by Podomys. I presented acorns from six 

 species of oaks — Chapman's (Q. chapmanii), live (Q. geminata), turkey 

 (Q. laevis), laurel (Q. hemisphaerica), myrtle (Q. myrtifolia), and water 

 oaks (Q. nigra) — to four captive animals. Five of these species belong 

 to the red oak group, which generally contains three or four times 

 more tannin (Briggs and Smith 1989) than species of the white oak 

 group (which includes Q. chapmanii). Each mouse was presented with 

 turkey oak acorns in combination with acorns from two other species; 

 two-four trials were run per animal for a total of 12 trials. Although 

 the sample was inadequate for statistical analysis, I noted that mice 

 opened acorns of all species, and in all but one trial turkey oak 

 acorns were opened in the smallest numbers. 



In 1989 Chapman's and live oak acorns were not available, so 

 I gathered acorns from Q. laevis and two different trees of Q. 

 hemisphaerica, one from an old pasture near Ross Lake and the 

 second from a hammock past Anderson-Cue. I expected that acorns 

 of Q. laevis, the predominant oak on Smith Lake, would be preferred. 

 I tested nine animals, two trials each. I analyzed the results of the 

 first trial only, because there was no difference in ranks of first and 

 second trials. Results indicated that acorns were not opened in equal 

 numbers (Friedman test, T = 26.75, P = 0.01). For multiple compari- 

 sons at a significance level of P = 0.01 (Conover 1980), acorns from 

 Ross Lake (Q. hemisphaerica) were opened significantly more often; 

 differences between acorns from the hammock and from Q. laevis 

 were not significant. These results indicate not only a preference for 

 laurel oak acorns, but an ability to distinguish acorns from two indi- 

 viduals of Q. hemisphaerica. 



Mice did not eat blackened nutmeats, but I did not test 

 preferences of sound acorns versus acorns with larvae. On one occasion 

 an adult female immediately ate a larva from an acorn opened but 

 not eaten by another female. Semel and Andersen (1988) suggested 

 that such differences in behavior might be due to mice being unable 

 to detect larvae in unopened acorns, or that larvae are detected but 

 avoided by some individuals. They also suggested that tooth marks 



