Mice as Pets - what can you tell me? *They've Been Named*

[domesticzookeeper]

Long story short:

I brought home two mice tonight (males), bought from a pet store a week ago as birthday presents :td

I've never actually had mice before, so I'm kind of flying blind here (can you believe that's the one small animal we've never owned?).

Any helpful tips or suggestions?

They're living in a 10 gal. aquarium (which desperately needs to be cleaned), and they have a nice solid-bottomed wheel and nestbox. Anything else? They have mouse food and fresh water as well :grin

Oh yeah, and I need to name them...

[Amber]

Mice can make fun little pets, I had a couple in high school. Their front teeth never stop growing, so you might want to pick up something for them to chew on. I can remember getting little wood pieces shaped like carrots for mine. Also, some pocket pets (I can't remember which ones right now) can become allergic to cedar chips and they will lose their hair. But I used cedar chips with my mice and didn't have any problems. Also make sure the cats can't get to them...I had to weight the screen lid down so our cat couldn't get to mine :rolleyes

[arwen]

thank God you didn't get a male and female...
we had mice before and we were having baby mice coming out of our wazoo all the time :giggle

[Heather Micaela]

actually I prefer rats becuse they are pretty hardy around little kids, but the care is about the same.

Only certian table scraps are ok - avoid citurs. Primarily depend on a mix designed for mice. Give them something to gnaw on. Replace the shavings once a week and then clean the cage well every 2-3 weeks. Keep fresh water.

[domesticzookeeper]

Here they are!

Mr. Mouse #1 (the mellow one):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/spacemonkey1812/MM1_1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/spacemonkey1812/MM1_2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/spacemonkey1812/MM1_3.jpg


Mr. Mouse #2 (the hyperactive one):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/spacemonkey1812/MM2_2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/spacemonkey1812/MM2_1.jpg

...and not the greatest shot, but it shows you the coat pattern:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/spacemonkey1812/MM2_3.jpg

[Heather Micaela]

they are very cute :heart
I had a rat that looked like #2

Have you thought of names? (I like Fiflel - like from American Tale - but cant think of a companion name)

[domesticzookeeper]

Oooh, that's a good one :tu American Tail was one of my favorite movies growing up :-)

No names yet, they're just going by "this" and "that" :giggle

[Heather Micaela]

here is a list of famous mice :grin

http://www.themouse.demon.nl/Mouse1/alfabet.htm

[Iansmama]

Awww they are so cute! :grin

[Teribear]

I vote Pinky and the Brain for names.

[boonpnutsmom]

They are adorable and I love the names....this and that. My dad's birds are him and her.

[greenemama]

really cute. my brother had mice but they escaped and were eaten by the cats. :/

[domesticzookeeper]

Um, yeah...lets just say that the cats (all four of them) are really enjoying their new live entertainment. And that's as far as they're going to get ;)

Besides, I've discovered a fool proof method for weighing down the lid of the aquarium - my oversized science textbooks :giggle

Over $100 worth of books and this is the best use I have for them at the moment :rolleyes

Thanks for the name suggestions :tu I've considered "This" and "That", along with "Thing 1" and "Thing 2". More than a few of my friends are lobbying for "Pinky and the Brain" :P Hopefully they'll be named by this weekend, but we're kind of picky about names here (Dad wanted us to wait a year before naming the kittens so that we could get to know their personalities better :think)

[Amber]

I really like Pinky & The Brain.

I have a great picture from when I had my mice of our family cat sitting on top of the mesh lid just starting down at them. The mice never seemed to mind having the cat above them :shrug

[Teribear]

Thanks for the name suggestions :tu I've considered "This" and "That", along with "Thing 1" and "Thing 2". More than a few of my friends are lobbying for "Pinky and the Brain" :P Hopefully they'll be named by this weekend, but we're kind of picky about names here (Dad wanted us to wait a year before naming the kittens so that we could get to know their personalities better :think)


*Snicker* Thing 1 and Thing 2 are the cats here.

[domesticzookeeper]

I have a great picture from when I had my mice of our family cat sitting on top of the mesh lid just starting down at them. The mice never seemed to mind having the cat above them :shrug


Unfortunately, the lid that came with the aquarium doesn't have clips. And these are the cats that have opened cabinets and drawers before, so I wouldn't put it past them to lift the top off the tank :/

I'm going to be getting a new lid, or at least some clips, very soon.

[domesticzookeeper]

*Snicker* Thing 1 and Thing 2 are the cats here.


That is awesome! :rockon

[Iarwain]

Just wanted to say how incredibly cute those little critters are! I had mice in high school and they were awesome pets as long as they were accustomed to being handled regularly. I started out with one (female) and then my sister got one that was supposed to be female but was really prepubescent and MALE! We put them in the same cage because that's all we had and soon we had oodles of mice. They were awesome. We raised them for a few years and sold them to pet shops. I had a couple that were sooo friendly. My first mouse, Ketchup, used to give kisses and was such a sweetie. Another (one of Ketchup's sons) was an escape artist and he would get out of his cage in the middle of the night and I woke up with him in bed with me nesting in my hair a couple times. Ah, the memories...

I hope your furry little friends give you much joy. A word about males... Sometimes two males in the same cage will fight but sometimes they get along OK. In any case male mice need to have their cage cleaned pretty regularly because the males tend to get stinkier than the females.

[domesticzookeeper]

Yeah, I've definitely started to notice the smell :crazy2 :giggle

I'm really hoping these two will stay best buds; as it is right now, they snuggle and groom each other :grin Maybe since they've been together since they were little, they'll get along better? :shrug

It's good to hear how friendly they are. These ones certainly seem to be sociable :)

[Sanveann]

They are SO cute! I just love mousies :)

This site may have some helpful info for you: http://www.rmca.org/Resources/mousefaq.htm

[domesticzookeeper]

Well, we've finally settled on names for the little guys...

Martin

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/spacemonkey1812/MM1_2.jpg

after Martin the Warrior, central figure in Brian Jacques' Redwall series (http://www.redwall.org/dave/news.php).


Chuck

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/spacemonkey1812/MM2_2.jpg

after Chuck E. Cheese ;)

[Iarwain]

Martin the Warrior! I love it! :tu We have some big Redwall fans in this house!