They can stand on their hind legs, make small leaps into the air, and roll into a ball. Although they are ground dwellers, mongooses can climb about with skill on cage gratings, trellises, or trusted people. They usually move backward when climbing down. Small Indian mongooses are diurnal , active in daylight, and at night they withdraw into dens. They are usually solitary, the only stable social unit consisting of a mother and her offspring.
Mongooses often stay around human habitations, and frequently are kept as pets.
Most mongooses feed on small vertebrates, insects and other invertebrates, and occasionally fruits. In the Zoo they are fed dead chicks and dog chow. The mongoose sniffs along the surface of the ground and when it finds an insect it either snaps it up from the surface or digs it from its underground home. The small Indian mongoose seldom lives past the age of four years. Females may become pregnant at nine months.