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House Mice
(Mus musculus)
Description
House mice can be found in almost every home across the continent,
but very few people consider them as anything more then pests.
True they are not pet quality in the sense that they can be handled
and played with, but they are fascinating to watch, and can give
their owner a lot of insight into the origins of their common fancy
mice.
They tend to be about half the size of my domestic mice, and twice
as jittery. Any sudden moves and they will disappear faster then the
eye can see, and it may be several minutes until they finally poke
their noses out to see if the danger is gone.
Diet
They can be maintained on a diet of rodent black and rat or mouse
mix, but should get bits of fruit or veggies regularly.
Cheerios or wheat bread are great treats, in small quantities. Do
not feed chocolate, fried foods, salted foods, candy or junk food!
I've also offered my gerbils crickets and mealworms as treats, which
they seem to adore.
Vitamins like Nutri-Cal are a good addition to their diet, and added
calcium during nursing and growth due to demands on their systems at
those times, but take care not to overdo it.
Water bottles should be offered, but you'll probably need to place a
water bowl in the cage until the mice learn how to use the bottle.
To keep the water from becoming horribly soiled, use a wooden block
about 1 inch thick, to keep bowl elevated off the cage floor.
Ceramic or stoneware food dishes work well for keeping seeds or
fresh foods off the floor, but a wire mesh hopper that allows the
mice to eat the lab blocks through without them falling is ideal.
Habitat
As a rule of thumb remember that if your mouse can fit his head
through it, his entire body can follow.
House mice are particularly good escape artist due to their small
size, and should always be kept in a 10 gallon tank, or similarly
solid cage, with a tightly fitting lid.
A ten gallon should be able to house about four to six house mice,
including multi-level hiding areas and small toys.
A male and his harem of females can be housed together throughout
pregnancy, birth, and family raising. But if left together with the
male, the females can become pregnant again within two or three days
after giving birth.
House mice require multiple "hiding" places such as empty bathroom
tissue rolls, cereal boxes, and other cardboard goodies that are
often thrown away by mistake.
PVC pipe tunnels work really well, as they can't chew through them.
Bedding should be aspen, paper based, or hay. Try to avoid Cedar or
Pine.
Special needs
They need lots of hiding places, and an owner that will be quiet and
slow moving when within their view. They panic very easily, and may
take several generations of captivity before they begin to tame down
enough to be handled. Fostering babies off onto tame domestic mice
can greatly speed up the taming process.
Personality
Attitude - Nervous, flighty, quick to run if they feel danger
present
Tame-ability - Bad to poor, unless fostered onto tame domestic mouse
mothers as pinkies
Trainability - Poor
Activity level - High
Vocal - Not unless very frightened
Minimum owner's age - 12 (if supervised by an adult, and youth
understands that this is a 'look but don't touch' animal)
Reproduction
Lifespan 1-2 years, much less if left in the wild
Maturity 4 weeks
Sexual maturity 2-3 months
Receptive 2 day cycle, post birth
Gestation 18-21 days
Infants show color pigment at 4-6 days
Infants can be handled at 2 weeks, if mother is domestic and gentle.
Wild mother's will kill offspring smelling like humans
Infant eyes open at 16 days
Ready to wean at 4 weeks
Mutations
There are some mutations that occur in wild populations, but house
mice can also be crossed to Fancy mice for color/type variety.
Pet Status
Although there are literally thousands of wild house mice in homes
all over the states, very, very few of them are 'pets' in as much as
being kept in a cage and cared for like a domestic mouse.
Back to
Pet Rats, Mice, Gerbils, Jirds, Voles,
Lemmings and other Rodents
Other rodent pages you might be interested in:
Orphaned babies
Tricks you can
teach your pet
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