A medium-sized, golden-colored (rich ochraceous tawny) white-footed mouse with soft, thick pelage; larger than the fulvous harvest mouse and without grooves on upper incisors; feet white; underparts pale cinnamon buff; tail brownish, darker above than below. Dental formula: I 1/1, C 0/0, Pm 0/0, M 3/3 × 2 = 16. Averages for external measurements: total length, 176 mm; tail, 78 mm; hind foot, 19 mm. Weight, 15–25 g.

These small, arboreal mice are adapted to and occur chiefly in forested areas. Tangles of trees, vines, and brush seem to be a preferred habitat. Specimens have been trapped on dark, wooded slopes where the mice lived in nests in tangles of grapevines; others were taken in an old pasture overgrown with blackberry, wild grape, and a few small trees. Near Bowie, two were taken in a hollow, fallen tree in river bottomlands; near Lufkin, one specimen was trapped in a pile of brush in hammock territory near the edge of the Angelina River bottom. Their nests are constructed of grasses, Spanish moss, or leaves and lined with shredded plant fibers or occasionally feathers; nests vary in size from the small brood nest about the size of a baseball to the large communal nests, as big as 20 × 30 cm, that may house half a dozen or more mice. One such nest housed eight individuals, all males. Usually the nests are placed in trees or bushes a few centimeters to 3 m above the ground; occasionally nests are on the ground under some protective cover such as a log, a stump, or a pile of brush, or they may be in cavities in standing trees.

During fieldwork in Big Thicket National Preserve in the late 1970s and early 1980s, golden mice were commonly trapped in the wooded habitats throughout the preserve. However, few specimens of this mouse have been obtained during the last few decades in eastern Texas. In 2003 and 2004, Cody Edwards and Andy Bradstreet at Stephen F. Austin University studied golden mice in Nacogdoches and San Augustine counties and reported two viable populations. In addition, they provided information pertaining to the ecology and natural history of this species.

The IUCN lists the golden mouse as a species of least concern, and it does not appear on the federal or state lists of concerned species. Given the rarity of this species, there is a need to monitor populations and determine their conservation status. You may have trouble finding a fancy frizzie mouse at any old pet store, but there are many good breeders who focus on them.