How to Raise Pet Mice
Mice can make lively, even lovable, pets. Quiet, small and inexpensive to keep, they are ideal for apartment dwellers. And mice have come a long way since the albino mouse popular in the past; domestic mice, otherwise known as fancy mice, exhibit beautiful colors, including beige, silver and coffee. In addition, fancy mice have been specially bred to be friendly toward people. Just because mice are easy to care for does not need they are no-maintenance, however; they depend on you for food, water, clean and spacious housing, exercise and sociability. Mice will breed with little difficulty, but make sure you have plenty of loving homes lined up for the babies.
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Instructions
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Keeping Mice
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Visit a reputable pet store, or better yet, a local mouse breeder to buy your fancy mice. Never buy "feeder mice" that are sold as fodder for snakes; they will be neither friendly nor healthy. Select mice that look healthy, with full, glossy coats, bright eyes, a lively manner and no discharge or staining near their tails.
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Keep your mice in groups of two or more, unless you plan to spend a lot of time playing with your single mouse. Mice are very social animals. Groups of females are best; males will often scrap, sometimes harming each other. If you want to breed mice, a single male and female are the best combination. If you feel strongly that you want to keep male mice, the chances of them getting along are increased if they are littermates, or if they are put together before 5 weeks of age.
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Provide your mice with proper housing. A glass tank, with the floor covered with an ample layer of commercial mouse bedding, is a good habitat. A five-gallon tank is sufficient for a pair of females. Although a glass tank is a safe and inexpensive way to keep your mice, the mice will need toys to play with and interesting climbing surfaces for exercise. A fitted screen lid provides good security to prevent escapes.
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Position the tank on a secure, level stand in a location free of drafts and drastic temperature changes, and out of direct sunlight. Make sure the area is secure from pet cats and dogs.
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Provide your mice with safe and appropriate toys and hiding places to enrich their environment. Exercise wheels, tunnels to crawl through and ladders to climb on are all ideal. Add a sleeping box for the mice; it can be any washable container, and doesn't need to be fancy--a jar or an empty oatmeal box can work nicely. Add nesting material, such as tissue, paper napkins or paper towels; the mice will shred the material into cozy fluff they can nestle in. Your mice will appreciate fresh, clean hay as nesting material if you can get it.
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Feed your mice a good commercial rodent mix that is formulated specially for mice, and use a sturdy, non-tippable, washable bowl. This feed will supply a mouse with all its nutritional needs, but to avoid boredom, you should augment this diet with judicious amounts of occasional treats. Small bits of leafy greens, broccoli, apples, carrots, cereal, bread and commercial "mouse treats" are all good choices.
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Attach a sipper-style water bottle to the side of the tank, and keep it filled with clean water. Make sure the spout extends down far enough so the mice can reach it.
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Replace the soiled bedding every three to five days, and clean and disinfect the tank and accessories once a week. A tank that is properly cleaned should have very little odor.
Breeding Mice
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Ensure that you have a healthy breeding pair by making sure that the female is at least 3 months old. Both mice should be healthy, intelligent and well-disposed toward people; this will help ensure healthy, friendly babies. If possible, don't breed mice that have kinked tails. According to the Fancy Mice website, this may be a sign of a spinal defect that could be passed on to future generations.
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Watch your female mouse, or doe, for signs of pregnancy. This is easy to spot, as she will swell up considerably. Provide the pregnant mouse with extra nesting material and a quiet, secure sleeping box. The gestation period lasts about three weeks, after which the doe will deliver a litter of one to 32 pups, with eight to 12 being the norm.
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Remove the male from the cage when the babies are born, and let the mother and pups have quiet and privacy. The male mouse doesn't pose a danger to the babies, but female mice come back into heat within 14 hours after giving birth, and the male may try to breed again with the female, causing her stress.
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Wean and separate the babies when they are 5 weeks old to prevent unwanted early pregnancies. Weaning is a simple matter, as the pups will begin nibbling at adult food on their own.
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Handle the weaned babies often to tame and socialize them.
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Tips & Warnings
Mice like to eat live mealworms. According to the Pet Mice website, the hunting and pouncing involved in catching and eating the worms is great emotional and physical stimulation for your pets.
To handle and tame your mice, move slowly and gently, and offer plenty of treats as incentive. A reluctant mouse may be picked up by grasping the tail near the body and moving the mouse gently onto your open palm. Do not allow the mouse to dangle by its tail.
Never feed your mice chocolate, peanuts, citrus fruits, onions, garlic or raw meat. These foods are all either toxic to mice, or capable of causing serious adverse reactions.
Don't use scented wood chips, such as pine or cedar, as a bedding for your mice. These contain oils that can cause respiratory problems in mice.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Little mouse image by Multiart from Fotolia.com
