Pet Mice

Pet mice are fairly common, they are easy to care for and tame well. There is a dizzying array of colors available. Pet mice are a fairly social animal and enjoy the company of their own species. It’s important not to put two males together that have bred females as they will probably fight.

Housing

When selecting a cage make sure the bars have minimal spacing. Pet mice are very good at wriggling into and out of tight spaces. This is especially important if you are going to breed them, as the young can get through the bars. All glass fish tanks work well also as long as you have a tight fitting cover.

Pet mice love having a nest box I always use a tissue box or something similar. They will chew it up and make various doorways to scurry in and out of. Another mouse favourite is toilet paper or paper towel tubes. They will play with these for hours on end.

Proper nutrition is important for your pet mouse

Pet Mice

Pet mice are very easy to feed, for a mainstay there are a number of commercially available diets that are nutritionally complete. In addition to this you can feed seeds, fruit and vegetables. Pet mice love sunflower seeds, make sure they are still in the shell and unsalted.

Whenever you prepare fruits or vegetables make sure to feed your scraps to your pet mouse. A carrot top doesn’t sounds appealing to use but for a mouse it is gourmet! Watering is best accomplished with a water bottle. A water bowl is acceptable but, will get filled with shavings and food several times a day.

Breeding

Breeding is easily accomplished. Pet mice become sexually mature at around six weeks of age. If you have no interest in breeding it is important to keep the sexes separated.  Breeding is easy enough and takes care of itself. The gestation period lasts approximately three weeks. Litter size can vary drastically from half a dozen to fifteen or more.

Provide a nest box with toilet paper, or tissue paper for nesting material. Your mouse won’t need any help giving birth and you may stress them out if you are poking about when they are giving birth. If stressed out a female will cannibalize her litter. Newborn pet  mice are called pinkies, they are born without hair, with their eyes closed and ears tucked against their head.

By one week of age fur will start to develop and the ears will stand off of the head. Around ten days to two weeks of age pet mice start to open their eyes. At this point they will begin to forage for food and drink water by themselves. Once they are three weeks old they are old enough to be weaned from their mothers. Within three weeks your weaned pet mice will start to become sexually mature so bear this in mind when housing littermates together.

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