How To Keep Pet Mice

Mice should always be kept in small groups to keep them company and for social needs. They often play with each other, forage together and build nests together, so it's really important they've got the companionship of their own kind along with human companionship. Mice are best housed in large aquariums or you can make your own pet mice tanks out of large storage containers.

They're quite simple to do. You could just cut a large hole in them and place some good secure small-welded mesh on the front. Don't use hamster cages.

These often have quite wide bars and mice are very good at escaping, so the glass tanks are far more suitable as it's going to prevent any escapes. When choosing a tank, the best type is one of these with glass levels in, so they've got a few different areas to move around it, although a standard fish aquarium is fine. Ideally, for 2 to 6 mice, aim for around 3 to 4 feet in length and you want a secure mesh lid for the top.

This will aid plenty of ventilation but also protect them from any cats and dogs that you may have in the home. In the wild, mice would be climbing over all sorts of obstacles, they'll be going underground, and they'll be foraging amongst the ground. So, it's a good idea to be able to mimic this.

Toys for mice don't have to be expensive. You can make lots of toys, and also children's toys are fantastic for mice. Any old children's playhouses and also different types of climbing frames are brilliant for mice to use.

Tunnels for them to rummage through and also different houses and hammocks are also great examples. The best type of bedding is either short shredded papers or a product called Carefresh. This is short chopped egg carton and it's completely safe and absorbent for mice.

Never use wood shavings. It often contains parasites and it can really cause your mice a lot of discomfort. In the mouse's home, provide bedding material for them to actually sleep on.

The best type is shredded soft tissue paper. The types of bedding which are made from cotton balls aren't always ideal as often they can catch around the small mice's toes and legs, so it can cause them a bit of damage. When you're setting up the aquarium, you don't always have to use all the same bedding.

You could consider shredded paper on the base, Carefresh on one of the levels and even some chinchilla sand on one of the other levels. Enrichment is key and hese can be children's toys, simple things like toilet rolls, shoeboxes and cereal boxes for them to hide and rummage through. When it comes to food, don't feed your mice in bowls.

They're going to get quite bored and they're going to get fat. So, providing their food scattered around in their accommodation is going to provide them with natural behaviour. Just have a small amount of a mixed feed and just scatter around in the accommodation.

Make sure their diet is varied. There are many types of different mixes on the market for mice although you would want to add in different things. So you could get a small mix but also add in things such as pasta, rice, and these can be cooked or raw.

Other types of feed you can feed them are these different types of dried herbs and natural flowers and plants from the garden. You can make your own dried herbs and treat but make sure you are aware of what are the safest types of plants to use. Another couple of options would be a good quality cat biscuit which you can also add in to the mix and scatter that around for them and that just gives them extra protein, and also a really good one which mice absolutely love is budgie seed or millet spray.

You can hang the millet spray from the cage and they love eating it and it's really good to help keep their coat in good condition. When it comes to water bottles, the best type is a water bottle with the hanging top here. This way, you can place the metal hook on there and just hang that from the roof of the aquarium and it's quite easy for them t