How To Gather Pet Mice Supplies

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 gather pet mice supplies.

First of all, before bringing in any mice at home, make sure you have got all the equipment needed to care for them. You need to choose a suitable accommodation, bedding, food and enrichment for them before you can bring them home. First of all, you'll need to find a suitable tank.

You can find these at your local pet shop, your rescue shop, or if you go for a larger aquarium like this, you may be able to find them at your local recycling center or charity shops, so search around for them. Glass tanks like this are the best type of accommodation for your mice. They're safe and secure from escaping and they provide lots of space for you to add with enrichment.

The other option that we've got here is a storage container. These can be purchased at many shop outlets and places that stock stationary as well, so have a look around. These are easy to make your own design tanks, so you can find these again in many shops.

Once you've chosen your accommodation, you're then going to need to kit it out. So first of all, let's start with bedding. The best option is to either use short shredded paper and this is obviously free, if you've got a paper shredder at home, you can be making your own mouse bedding.

The other option is a product called Carefresh and this is available in most pet shops and rescue centers. It's short egg carton and it's absorbent and safe for your mice to use. Never use wood shavings as this can often contain parasites and bring on breathing issues and allergies that you and your family may have.

You would then want to purchase some soft paper bedding for them to sleep in and again, this is available in nearly all pet shops and also any local rescue shelters you may have. Don't use the type of cotton ball, the best one is soft tissue paper as this doesn't wrap around their legs and their feet as the cotton ball type can. But again as I mentioned, most pet shops do stock these.

You're going to need a good quality water bottle. Ideally, purchase two of these in case one ever gets broken, you've got an instant one to replace it with. Most of these are available from pet shops, your local rescue shelters and even on the internet.

If you are going for a style of accommodation which is a large aquarium, it's best if you can purchase a water bottle with a hanging top. That way, they can be hung from the cage quite easily. Otherwise, you might not be able to use a water bottle quite so easily.

These should be cleaned out at least once a week and refreshed daily with fresh water. You then also want to consider a toy and enrichment for your mice. You can make these, so you could start saving your old toilet rolls, you could be saving cereal boxes, shoeboxes and any old cardboard boxes as well, really, and they're fantastic if you cut lots of holes in and make all sorts of houses and tunnels for them.

You could also get any old blanket so they'll jump at and you can create little hammocks inside their homes as well, so it's lots of ideas such as children's toys that you could be using for mice enrichment. You could also go to a local pet shop or rescue shelter and they often stock a variety of different types of enrichment. Try to keep your enrichment as natural as possible.

Treats and toys like these where they can chew with them are really brilliant for their teeth. They can run through these tunnels and as I mentioned, they can crawl on them as well. You'll also find different types of Play Stix like these which could be bent to different shapes.

They can run underneath them, they can sleep on them, and crawl across them as well. So, be inventive with your enrichment. You don't have to purchase it, there are loads of things you can make and find at home as well.

Lastly, a good pet disinfectant,