How To Buy Pet Mice

Hi, my name's Marie. I'm the deputy manager of the Small Animal Department at Wood Green Animal Shelters and I'm going to tell you how to care for mice. I'm going to tell you how to buy pet mice.

By far, the best option is go to your local rescue shelter. Hundreds of mice end up in rescue shelters every year across the country and in other countries as well. So please make sure you do look into this.

You may be able to find details on them on the internet or in the yellow pages as well, so check them out, go to your local rescue shelter. When you're going to buy mice, make sure that you're able to see them in their accommodation and that you're able to handle them. They should be healthy, they should be active and they should be alert.

Their coat should appear shiny and nor sparse. They should be quite alert and be foraging around in feeding, and you should be allowed to be able to handle them as well. Mice should always have a nice weight on them, so if they feel quite underweight or very fat, then there would be concern of whether they are going to be suitable mice for you.

Make sure you're happy with the accommodation they've been housed in. Ideally, mice should be housed in large aquariums and they should be housed on either shredded paper or Carefresh. Often, mice should not be housed on sawdust and wood shavings, it can often have parasites.

So check their coats if they appear to have any red, bald patches or any hair loss, there's a likelihood they might have parasites, so make sure you check this out first before you're taking them on. If the mice are going to be for children, it's a really good idea if you can go to a local recue shelter that you're able to handle the mice. So speak to a member of the staff, you'd be able to sit down on the floor with them and the children could have a little go and make sure that the mice are right for them.

See if the children are happy to handle them and the mice are quite comfortable to walk around on them and the children also possibly haven't got any allergies to them as this can sometimes be the case. Mice should always be kept in pairs or in small groups, so make sure that wherever you are going to, that they have got their mice in groups and you're able to choose a nice pair you wanted. Always make sure you've got same sex groups as mice can breed very quickly.

Please be responsible, there are hundreds of mice in rescue shelters, so try to just keep a small same sex group and you'll have healthy mice. So as I said, go to your local rescue shelter, ask to handle them, see where they've been kept and make sure you're happy that they are in good condition. And that's how to buy mice.