Mice are very popular as pets and can be very entertaining and fun to watch as well. They come in a wide variety of colors and coat types from ‘smooth’ to ‘frizzy’.
Intelligent and curious, they are social creatures that can be kept in same sex groups as long as you give them plenty of room and loads of things to keep them interested and entertained.
Careful to make sure your multiple groups are same sex or you can be overrun with mice in a very short time!
They enjoy a variety of foods, and are easy to tame with time and patience. Affectionate toward people, your mouse will enjoy hanging out in your shirt pocket, play with you in a carefully enclosed and supervised area and more!
The average lifespan of fancy mice is around 1 1/2 to 2 years but some have been known to live longer.
Since mice can squeeze through most barred cages, a tank or bin makes the best habitat for mice. You can make a home-made cage from a storage bin as well. Click HERE to see!. You will want a secure and well-ventilated lid, and you will want to give lots of space for more than two mice kept in one cage.
Mice are extremely active and need this extra space regardless of the fact of how tiny they are!
Cage -As usual, the bigger the cage the better! Mice need lots of room, places to climb and play and a cage easy enough for you to clean. Avoid cages with wire mesh flooring to prevent irritated feet and broken limbs.
Water bottle - Mice drink allot of water, so the more mice, the more bottles you need! Bottles should be hung on the outside of the cage with the spout poking through the wire to prevent chewing and leaking into the bedding.
Food Bowls - Mice need bowls they cannot tip and due to the fact they like to ‘keep house’ and are actually neat, clean creatures, you may do well with two to three bowls to keep commercial mix/blocks and fresh fruits and veggies.
Food - Commercial mix and ‘lab blocks’ are available in all pet supplies that sell rat products. Additionally they will need fresh fruit and vegetables from your kitchen. See out charts for safe foods for rats and mice.
Bedding - Paper based bedding is ideal as well as Aspen shavings. Avoid pine, cedar, and corncob as these can cause ill health in mice. Please try to use paper only as it is a much more comfortable bedding.
Other cage accessories:
Igloos/Houses - I would avoid any plastic housing materials for rats. Like hamsters and gerbils, mice tend to gnaw and chew and ingesting plastic bits can cause harm or death. I would stick with wood and cardboard which are inexpensive and easily replace when worn out or chewed to bits.
Wheels - mice like to climb on, around, above and all over the wheel! Getting a wire mesh wheel is your best option to give them the gripping and climbing space needed for the comical antics that are guaranteed to take place! Please never use a runged type wheel as it is the perfect antagonist for broken limbs and tails!
Toys/ladders/baskets/other - Here you can certainly use your imagination! Boxes, wooden sticks, branches from outside, anything to keep your mice amused is the trick. Mice like to make use of toys and accessories like turning them into sleeping areas as well as play areas! Again, you are limited only by your imagination!
* Keep in mind that any items that are chewable will be chewed so choosing your items carefully is a must. It has been known that some animals have had problems with plastic and ingesting the small chewed off bits. If you see your mouse or any other small caged animal chewing too aggressively and it concerns you, take the plastic out, especially the chewed off bits and either replace these things often or find wood or safer items like paper or cardboard to give them.
~ by Joan A Walker ©
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