Caring for mice?!?

Question

this is my poll on rats vs mice vs hamsters

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080705001903AAY1wd4&r=w&pa=AptqD2bwHTHc7.eFYKIytj5ZmEgPEIPbiLc1DfYwsmSZ8A--&paid=voted

i've decided to get mice, but the problem is now, i don't how many mice i should get. im getting at least 2 females. no males for now ;)

here are some questions;

- how often do i have to care for them during the day and how often do i need to check up on them?

- what toys can i place for them to play?

- bowls with food and water or those upside down bottle thingys?

- are they nocturnal?

- is it ok to keep them in my room?

- how do i maintain their waste?

- do they jump easily , need levels?

- do they respond to name calling?

To mice owners

- what are the best things about mice?

sorry about all the questions!

Answer 1

rats are smarter and cleaner!!!! you can't have a mouse on you for more then 2 mins with out them peeing on you rats will hold on! rats also form a stronge bond with you unlike mice. for a rat they use the same toys but you can aslo get them big balls which they go inside and run around.

you can also teach rats tricks, to come when called, and to do things for there food soooooo much more fun and loving

Answer 2

1. Using common sense, you need to tend to them at least once a day. It is a good idea to keep thier cage in a place you normally walk by so you can frequently sort of peep in on them. But you do need to feed them daily, and preferbly change the water every day, or less. If you would like them to be keen on handling, you will also need to do this daily.

2. Mice do not really need "toys". They play with eachother in chasing games. Lots of hiding places are extremely important. They also need things to chew on, basically anything out of wood and most types of paper. Toilet paper rolls can be tun tunnels and chewing things. You can also give them pieces of cloth to shred. If you find really small hammocks, they might enjoy those as well. And while a bit more expensive, parrot toys are great, like ladder, rope perches, and even just wooden perches.

3. You need a water bottle because a bowl will just get dirty realyl quickly. Food can be in a dish.

4. Generally yes, but they will not necessarily stick to this. I make it a habit to handle and feed my mice some time in the morning so that htey eventualyl change their schedules, and sleep at night. But make this a slow transition from when you first get them!

5. Yes, as long as they are away from drafts. You may also want to get a wheel especially made to spin silently, otherwise they would disturb you at night when you first get them.

6. They can grasp the general idea of litter box training. Usaully, they will choose a particular corner themselves to eliminate in. To encourage the mto use it, pick up their solid waste, as well as some urine-soaked bedding, and move it in that one corner. They will eventually start using it more readily. Females pick this up better than males. You can then just change their corner daily or so, and the rest of the cage will only need cleaning around every 2 weeks. When cleaning the cage, you should scrub it with some soap and hot water.

7. They are very agile and capable of both climbing and jumping. Levels are preferble, but avoid tall cages in case they fall. What's better, find some tall climbable accessories. I use fish tank decorations for my mice, and they both climb and hide in them.

8. Not so much. They are so tiny, and realyl sensitive, so you can imagine how they aren't really attentive. But they are intelligent enough to respond to sound. I've never bothered with teaching them names, but maybe.

9. I love them because they are a really easy pet, while still quite interesting and interactive. I used to have a guy who would sit on my head for hours, grooming me. They are really lovely little things. You'll like having them :)

Answer 3

you should get at least 2 female mice, or more depending on your cage size. if you have at least 2 feet square of floor space, then you can have up to 6 mice at the absolute maximum. i normally only keep 2 in that space, because any number over 4, i think is overcrowded.

now to answer your questions:

-during the day, they will be sleeping as they are nocturnal. feed them every evening and give them fresh water every day. you need to play and handle them at least 15minutes everyday and let them have out-of-cage time for about 20 minutes. if you handling time is included in the out-of-cage time, that is fine.

-lots! you can have toilet rolls, ropes, ladders, cardboard boxes, egg cartons, tubes, hammocks, and the list goes on! you can make things more interesting, for example you can stick lots of toilet rolls to make a pyramid, or you can cut holes in the cardboard box.

-yes, you should have a food bowl. it should be ceramic, or heavy enough so that they can't tip it over. it should be high-sided, especially for mice who love to shovel around their food. avoid water bowls, they get dirty very easily and they soil and kick bedding into the water, making it undrinkable. use sipper bottles instead.

-they are nocturnal, but you can train them to wake up earlier each night. mine used to wake up quite late, but now they wake up a good 5 hours earlier than usual.

-of course, but just clean their cage more often if you dont want your room to stink.

-you can spot clean their cage everyday, meaning you look for particularly dirty areas of the cage everyday and clean it. clean out the whole cage twice a week, by removing dirty bedding and replacing with fresh. each time i clean my mouse cage, i have a different setup of toys to make it more interesting.

-they can jump very high when they want to, especially if they are under stress and want to escape. multiple storeys are excellent because they are lots of fun and mice love them. you can connect the storeys together with ropes and ladders.

-mice are generally harder to train because they are too small to see you as a whole, so they basically see you as a huge cimbling equipment, instead of a human as a rat would.

-and lastly, i think mice are just excessively cute! theyre easy to care for and make great little pets.

Answer 4

1. They can take pretty good care of themselves and if there are 2 they will be fine.

2. a wheel, tunnels and a hut of some kind

3.Bowl for food work well but can sometime be shat in, feeder tubes and feeder water tubes work best.

4.They are diurnal like us, however they do like a siestas.

5/6.Fine to keep their cage in your room, to keep the smell down clean it out once a week.

7.Rodents are natural jumpers and can cover large distances by doing so, levels and ramps are safer.

8. They will respond to food and recognise the people that feed them, but names not really.

9.Mice generally are seen as the safer option as rats can/will bite.

After all of that best piece of advice I can give you is don't feed them sunflower seeds as this will make rats/mice obese.

Answer 5

Hello,

I just got 2 female mice about 6 days ago. They are very social, so it is good to have a another friend, and also they groom each other.

When you first get them [so when they are young], you'll have to regularly [maybe once or twice a day] handle them to get used to being picked up and handled. When you do that you'll see after a while they will become more friendly and will go up to you when you put your hand in the cage.

The toys you can give them are running wheels, exercise balls, toilet paper rolls [or long tubes]. You can give them just about anything but avoid flexible plastic stuff.

Bowls with food are fine, but water bowls aren't good, as the water can get contaminated, so the upside water bottle thingys are exactly what they need.

You can keep them in your room but if your within a metre near the cage they smell really bad. Try put them in a room that is away from areas you go in everyday, so when visitors come it doesn't stink!

They do jump, but not so much that they need levels. Levels are fine but sometimes the wire bottom hurts their feet. I have a 1 story cage with a huge tube that leads to a little area. They feel safe in there!

I don't think they respond to name calling. You'll need to keep an eye on them if they are out of the cage as they can chew wires and destroy lounges, and are hard to catch!

The best thing about mice is that they are friendly pets and are so interesting to watch them play and run around. They are very cute.

Have fun with your mice!

Jess

Answer 6

You should get 1-4 female mice.

- You clean there bowls once a day want check on them 3-10 times a day.

- Just put random little toys in there like little ladders and cat toys and stuff like that.

- Use a bowl for their food and those upside down bottle thingys for water.

- They are nocturnal.

- It's OK to keep them in your room.

- To maintain their p**p just clean their cage twice a week.

- I don't get wat u mean on this queston

- They don't respond to name calling.

Answer 7

You don't have to check on them to often just as many times as you walk into the room that you keep them in and yes it is ok if you keep them in your room but it might get a little bit smelly. No they are not nocturnal. A good way to maintain waste is to keep there cage clean buy cleaning it about 2 times a week. They don't really jump but clI'mbing toys are good for more entertainment for your mice. Things for your mice to chew on that are mice friendly are good like some woods. And unless you get a really smart mouse im pretty sure they wont respond to name calling.

Hope this helps..