Mouse Care Questions

[Jeri]

One of Sonja's mice seems to be acting funny and we're not sure what's wrong with her. To give the whole story, we have to go back a bit.
After the heartbreak of trying (and failing) to raise a pinky mouse, we bought four larger mice as pets. we had them for a few weeks, and the area we were keeping them in got a little too cold. We lost two of them, but with a little care and a heating pad, we saved the other two. They seemed to be doing fine, and soon we got two more. (they are all female, so we weren't having small litters)They all got along and were doing fine for several weeks, when one of the original mice (Judy) started acting a little slow. The other mice were picking on her and she stayed seperated in the cage. We put her in her own cage and after a few days she seemed better.
A few days later, the other original mouse started acting the same way, but when we tried to save her, she died in Sonja's hands.
Now, the first mouse we seperated is acting oddly. She cleans herself constantly, is very twitchy, and seems to breathe heavy when sitting still. She's eating and drinking fine, and has a lot to chew on.
We were wondering if she might not be missing something in her diet, or maybe she just has asthma. We tried searching for 'mouse care,' but it only came up with caring for snakes by feeding them mice. I know to most people (not all, but enough) on AB view mice as a feeder, but we like our mice and would like to keep them for awhile, and Judy is Sonja's baby. If anyone could provide advice or direction on how to help our little rodent, it would be very much appreciated. :worship:

Two very worried Mommies,
Jeri & Sonja

 

[Crotalus]

Hello

I dont know on what substrate you keep them but the respitory problem might be caused by wrong substrate. Or simply you have bought old mice that are dying of old age.

I keep mine in laboratory cages, with shaven wood as substrate, a few newspaper pages thatr they can build with and a few rolls of empty toiletpaper to occupy them with.

I have a waterbottle on top of the cage and feed them mainly laboratory rodent food.

I dont have additional heat source to them, mice do better in room temperature then in warmer temps.

/Lelle

 

[Stylopidae]

The pet store where I shop sells feeder mice that are basically burnt out breeder mice. Old age could very well be the case. Just my two cents

 

[MyNameHere]

If age has been ruled out then the next obvious thing to look at would be the bedding. People who keep small mammals as pets generally recommend a substrate of reconstituted paper-type product (like Care Fresh, or Critter Care, an off-brand sold at Wal-Mart).

If you're going to use any kind of wood shaving or pellet for your substrate you'll want to go w/aspen. It's generally regarded as the safest of available woods. Cedar and pine smell good, but these smells irritate the tiny respiratory systems of mice and could lead to respiratory problems.

Also, what kind of cage are you using? With that many mice I'd really go for some kind of wire cage. The urine of female mice is less stinky than that of male mice, but in a glass tank/enclosed KritterKeeper type enclosure the fumes would build up pretty quickly from 4 mice and would also cause respiratory distress.

Best of luck to her!

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Dear Arachnobaron,

Glass is both heavy and breakable.But the "wire mouse cages" that I have seen tend to drop "stuff" through their sides.

Where could I find one that won't?

Most enquiringly yours,

Louise Esther Rothstein.

 

[pinkzebra]

Louise, I have rats, not mice, but what I do to avoid the stuff dropping out is to use old clean cloth as bedding. They love to curl up in it and play with it and it doesn't fall out of the cage and make a mess. Just don't use terrycloth because that will catch their claws. I just throw it in the wash to clean it. I assume that if it is ok for rats it will be ok for mice but you may want to check with another mouse keeper to be sure.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Although mitten mice sometimes "camp" "above ground" they often transform their bedding into a new "underground cave" with a "door" and a "roof." I don't think that cloth would offer them an equivalent outlet.