Mice

[ChicoRaton]

Ok so I fell in love with this cute little grey and white mouse at work a few days ago and I've read up on mouse care and behavior and what not and I'm thinking about keeping said mouse. Anybody else had mice before? I had a gerbil for about 4 years, but no mice. Just wondering if anybody else has kept them and what they had to say.

[Dangerdoll]

I had them when I was younger..... could be fun..... they eat hamster seed... at least mine did. We had him in a 20 gallon tank with the bedding stuff, a water bowl and a food bowl... not too much for their care..... and handling them.....

[Lila]

I had one. I loved the little guy too. He was so fun. I had him in a cage with the water bottle, food bowl, wheel and bedding.

I used to put my hand in the cage and he would climb all the way up to my shoulder and sit there. Sometimes, he'd stick his nose in my ears and sniff around; always tickled. I even took him for bike rides. He'd just sit on my shoulder while I pedaled away.

He was one of my most favorite pets from my childhood.

;)

Lila

[Dapple2]

Mice are sweeties! Is it a male or a female? The males are a bit calmer, but they are stinkier too. Just like tetras and barbs, mice should live in groups. As long as you are willing to do lotsa cleaning (the thing the gets stinky the quickest is the wheel, a quick daily rinse will do wonders though), they are awesome pets. It's pretty quick though if you have a cage that snaps together easily.

[ChicoRaton]

The one I'm looking at is, I think, a female, as it's in the female cage but it's difficult to tell because she's (he's?) still tiiiiinyyyyy.

I still have all the stuff from my gerbil so I think I'm about set equipment-wise.

Lila, your sounded cool. :) I am going to try and handle mine a lot so she/he will be like that.

oh off topic but lila's post reminded me... I'm quickly making friends with a little green cheeked conure at work. He does the same thing, he'll ride around on my shoulder and chew on my glasses. Hehe he's so cute...he loves riding on people's shoulders. it usually take a little convincing to make him get back on his perch.

[Dangerdoll]

hehehe, the birds can be a lot of fun too Chico..... sounds like you're gonna be building your own pet safari soon. I just got a Rainbow Lory a few weeks ago, 7 months old. Amazingly, he's already very attached to me.... but ONLY me.... The birds are a lot of fun!

[ChicoRaton]

Hehe the conure only likes people with blue shirts, which includes all the employees and anybody who happens to walk by with a blue shirt. He'll run away from most people, but one lady came in wearing a blue shirt and he hopped right on her shoulder. hehe

[Goldy]

One of the best pets I've ever had was a female mouse that was part wild mouse, part domesticated. My biology teacher bred them and would give the babies to interested students. Her name was Julius. She was very affectionate and a good hunter. She would track down live crickets and grasshoppers we threw in her cage and eat 'em. Sadly, Julius got a large tumor and died.
I also had 2 pet store bought females. They were pretty lame compared to Julius but were kinda fun to watch. I had a male once. Very, very smelly. I would clean his cage very thoroughly and then come back an hour later and it would stink again. I think they mark stuff. I would avoid male mice if possible.

[Rava]

No pine or cedar shavings for them: http://www.afrma.org/rminfo2.htm

A well-ventilated cage should help with the smell. Plastic tends to retain odors, I think. Be sure to get a solid wheel, too. You'll have to clean it more often, but the rungs of wire wheels can easily cause broken limbs or tails. They also cause sores on the legs from constant slipping through.

[ChicoRaton]

yup I'm all read up on small animal care now. I had a gerbil a while ago and they're pretty much overgrown mice that don't pee as much, hehe. I went and picked her up today. she's already amazingly tame and docile for being in a bin with a bunch of feeders...

http://www.hazy8.com/xr/mouse1.jpg

That's maurice, on my hand :)

[Leopardess]

The last of my mice just died a short while ago. Awesome pets. I had 5 females (they do like to be in groups, females particularly; males can fight). Instead of wooden shavings, I suggest you get the recycled paper material kind that are gray. They're a lot softer for the mice, they're obviously not pine or cedar (what you'd want is Aspen - harder to find), and they're pretty cheap. I use them for my hamster now.

I would find food specifically formulated for mice however; hamster food's vitamins/nutrients are a bit different.

They love soft toilet paper or tissues to make houses with - mine would carry them into the houses and pile it up. I had a little mouse house that was made of plastic (no escaping through bars) and it had places for those tubes to go out of it. I had a bunch of those set up and had various "house" pieces that went in the tube sets. Cool stuff.

They really are cute pets. They definitely had individual personalities. I had Gwen (most outgoing, fat, friendly), Pat (at first, she would ...."love" the other mice....so we called her Pat because its a bit ambiguous), Foxy (a beautiful reddish brown, sweet little gal), and the two twins - The Escapee and The Scaredy Mouse.

I have to warn you, they are SO prone to cancer:( 4 of my 5 died of it and had to be put asleep;Gwen died unexpectedly in the middle of the night once and was the only one not to outwardly show any indications of cancer. The longest lived one we had (Scaredy Mouse) lived 1 year 6 mo., I believe.

All of ours were also "feeder" mice:(

VERY cute little mousie you have there, btw! We didn't have any of those color around...one we did have that I wanted but didnt' get was a solid honey/golden color...quite pretty.

[Rava]

I second what Leopardess said. The bedding is called Carefresh. I use it with my 5 hamsters, and we love it! You can also get an off-brand at Wal Mart called Critter Care. I think I've heard Mazuri is good as far as food specifically for mice goes... She is totally adorable! Congrats on your new fuzzy. ;) Will you be getting her a friend?

Leopardess, your mice were too cute!!

[ChicoRaton]

Instead of wooden shavings, I suggest you get the recycled paper material kind that are gray. They're a lot softer for the mice, they're obviously not pine or cedar (what you'd want is Aspen - harder to find),

We have aspen shavings at work but they're rather spendy. I might try it and see how much they expand (they're all compressed and vacuum packed into bales) but it's about $7 for one of the little bitty ones that looks like it'd only do 1 or 2 changes... Right now I have corn cob bedding, with a little nest box filled with shredded paper towels. I know I used to like to use corn cob bedding when I had my gerbil because it's easy to clean and more absorbent and less dusty than wood shavings. The recycled paper does look like a good option though. I'll try that.

At the pet store I work at they have bulk "mouse and rat deluxe menu" but are out right now so we're substituting hamster blend for a few days until the next shipment comes in, so I got a little of that. It has mostly grains with some sunflower seeds, occasional peanut here and there, some unidentifiable balls of food, etc. Should be ok for a few days or a week. The rat&mouse stuff is like the same, but with different mixtures of ingredients I think.

I do plan to get her a friend when a cool one passes through. none of the rest were particularly attractive nor did any have any habits that made them stand out... Also, I'm not 100% sure she's really a she, as she's so tiny it's hard to tell. Wouldn't want to have 2 males fighting. in any case yeah I do plan to get her a buddy.

Anyway thanks for the advice, and those are some cool mice leopardess :D

[edit]
Oh I forgot, a guy bought the conure today.:( I'm gonna miss him, he was cool. I get to work on taming a new one though. hehe might be a painful process, he bites a lot.

[Lila]

Chico and Leopardess: They are all so cute! Makes me wish I could have another one. :(


Lila

[Dapple2]

Watch out with the bulk food. It is very prone to getting buggy. At the stores I worked at with bulk bins, I often suggested that people should freeze the food for a couple weeks just in case. Also, the food in the bulk bins tends not to be very high quality. Mazuri and Reggie Rat (I'm pretty sure they have a food just for mice too, but my store doesn't have it) are both excellent foods.

The corncob bedding is fne for mice, although I'd through in a handfull of timothy hay so she can make tunnels easier (gives them some good roughage too).

Have fun with her! She's cute!

[ChicoRaton]

well I just washed the bulk bins 2 days ago. no bugs yet:P

hehe she's actually sitting on my shoulder watching me type right now :D

Any ideas for names? right now her name is maurice or hubert, but they're not very feminine names :P

[Rava]

Goodness Chico, those are terrible names for such an adorable female mousie! ;)

How about Mia or Maiyn? Just came to mind...

[Dangerdoll]

hehehe, very adorable.... how about Chloey or Pebbles.....

[ChicoRaton]

I still haven't decided what to name the spotted mouse, but I got another one! :D (I a leaning towards pebbles, btw)

she's a little soft grey female with a white stripe on top of her head. She was actually born in the pet store I work in. She's really flippin cute and the two of them get along well. They're already cuddled up in the little nest box after 15 minutes. (awwwwwwwwwwwwwww)

hehe anyway I'll post a picture tomorrow then you guys have to tell me what to name HER! I never name my own pets, lol

[Leopardess]

Thats awesome:) I'm telling you, the more you get, the more fun they are:D (to a point). My 5 would pig pile up on top of each other when they slept! Or they'd all start cleaning each other. It was the cutest thing ever.

I bet your other one is happy to have a friend:)

She sounds really cute.

[Dangerdoll]

that is too cute Chico!! and even cuter that you got another one.....let's see.... Pebbles for the first one.... how about Dale for the second one?