For many centuries, these small creatures have lived next to humans. And, the attitude towards such rodents, and we will talk about them, is very ambiguous. On the one hand, rodents harm and spoil products, and on the other hand, imagine at least one medical and research laboratory in which laboratory rats and mice would not live. And, since these creatures can live in laboratories, then why can’t they live in our homes as pets? We have already written about the features of keeping decorative rats on our website - read about it. Now, it’s our turn to talk about decorative mice.

What are the peculiarities of keeping such pet mice, what to feed such rodents, and how to care for them? Our publication will try to answer all these questions...

Relatives of ordinary house mice today are decorative mice. It’s just that if the first ones are destroyed, then the second ones are groomed and tender. Of course, such a house mouse is an excellent candidate for the role of a pet if you have limited living space and free time. But who should not have decorative mice are those who are pathologically afraid of these creatures, or cannot stand the specific mouse smell (no matter how you clean and wash the cage, the smell will still be in the air), as well as those who suffer allergy to rodents.

Features of keeping decorative mice at home

In principle, if you are familiar with the peculiarities of keeping decorative rats, and such rodents lived in your house, you should not have any difficulties associated with keeping decorative mice. These cute animals, with beady eyes, quickly adapt to new conditions, are unpretentious in matters of maintenance, have different colors and are very funny. Mostly their waking period occurs at night - this means that your biorhythms coincide, and with good care these creatures can live for 2 years. They are very prolific - this applies to those who are going to get a pair of mice - immediately think about where you will put the mice, and they reach sexual maturity early. Rodents quickly get used to their owner, become tame and can even learn a couple of simple tricks...

Where to buy a decorative mouse

As for the number of decorative mice you purchase, if you get a female, you can choose another female for her company - the rodents will enjoy being in the company, and they will be friends. But, if you add another male to the male, then you cannot do without bloodshed.
But the cohabitation of a female and a male will inevitably end in numerous offspring.

It is better to transport mice home in a special box or in a box with holes for ventilation.

Colors of decorative mice

If you think that decorative mice are all gray or brown without exception, then you are mistaken. Breeders have bred quite interesting varieties of mice, which can differ from each other in the type of their fur (mice can be curly, satin, long-haired or short-haired) and their color. At the same time, the colors can be monochromatic - when the rodent is painted in one color, black, white, red, steel, blue... There can be such colors as tan - red, with existing tan marks on the main background, and fox - with white tan marks. When determining the type of color, it is worth taking into account the location of color zones and spots. Depending on this, the type of color can be determined - ribbon, broken marked, Dutch. The colors of decorative mice can also be variegated, when colored specks are located on the main white background.

Also, there are such categories of colors of decorative mice as agouti, chinchilla, sable, Siamese... You can also find completely hairless hairless mice (they look like). In any case, you have plenty to choose from...

Caring for decorative mice

As a rule, to keep decorative mice you can use a metal cage, the volume of which should be at least 20 by 30 centimeters for each mouse living in this cage. The cage itself should be spacious - mice are active creatures, and absolutely safe for keeping a rodent. That is, you must remember that there should not be any cracks, wooden doors, etc. in it.

Line the bottom of the cage with shavings or strips of unpainted paper. It will also be necessary to additionally install a house, potty, feeder, drinking bowl, as well as various accessories for games in the cage. Also, you can additionally equip the cage with ladders, branches, shelters and a running wheel so that the decorative mouse can have fun when you are busy.

This small tailed animal is gray in color, 9–11 cm long. Tail is 7–10 cm, body weight is 12–93 g. A typically synanthropic species. From time immemorial, it lives near people, getting along even in the largest cities.

In the summer, some house mice move “out into nature” - into fields, orchards and vegetable gardens. By winter, mice return to human buildings again, as they do not tolerate the winter cold well. In the southern regions of Russia, some mice live in nature all year round.

The house mouse feeds mainly on seeds and succulent parts of plants. It spoils food supplies in homes, chews and stains cereals, bread, meat and dairy products. It leaves traces of its presence in the form of gnawed bags and sacks, the walls of cabinets, scatterings of elongated grains of droppings and an unpleasant mouse smell in cabinets and on shelves. Mice often damage furniture and chew books.

Traces of careful steps of a house mouse in a dark basement

The paw prints of this rodent are rarely found indoors, but if you go down to the village basement where food is stored, then on the soft layer of dust you can see small traces of both the house mouse and other rodents. In cellars, especially towards the end of winter, in addition to house mice, various voles, wood mice, shrews, gray and, in some places, black rats often appear. Following the rodents, small predators also penetrate here, especially often -. So basements and cellars are very interesting places for trackers.

Often, authors of books about animal tracks emphasize that mice usually move in leaps, so their tracks are arranged in the form of a trapezoid, where the prints of the larger hind paws are in front, and the small tracks of the front paws are behind them and closer to each other.

Behind the tracks is often visible a long strip left by the animal's tail. Unlike wood voles, house mice have longer jumps (over 25 cm) and a longer tail stripe remains on their tracks. Unlike mice, all species of the genus of gray voles (, field vole, etc.) more often move with a quick mincing step, and then their tracks lie in a slightly winding stripe, or a paired gallop, leaving a two-bead pattern with short gaps between subsequent pairs of prints (10–20 cm ). The short tail leaves a mark on the snow much less often. If this were always the case, then using these features it would be easy to distinguish the tracks of mice from the tracks of forest voles, and the tracks of the latter from the tracks of gray voles.

In order to find out what traces various small animals leave, I set up a kind of trail area in the basement, like a border trail strip. I removed everything unnecessary from the intended place - slivers, lumps and other debris. After that, I rolled out a layer of dust with a glass bottle, achieving a smooth surface. At the end of this area I set a trap with bait. It was impossible to get to the bait without leaving clear traces on the layer of dust.

It turned out that in the complete darkness of the basement, all the animals move differently than in the forest or field. Here they are forced to move at a slow, careful step, navigating, apparently, by smell and feeling the path in front of them with long vibrissae. With this movement, the paw prints are arranged in pairs in a winding stripe. The small print of the front paw is in front, and the print of the hind paw is slightly behind, sometimes partially covering the print of the front paw.

The toes on the front paws of these animals are quite widely spaced. On the back, the three middle fingers are only slightly spaced and look forward, and the lateral (first and fifth) fingers are strongly protruded to the sides. The tail imprint on the dust is usually not visible. This is how mice and voles move in a dark room.

Looking closely at the tracks of house mice returning to houses at the beginning of winter, I noticed that here they most often do not jump, but move with a quick mincing step, leaving a winding strip of paired prints. True, in this case, the larger prints of the hind paws appear in front of the small hind tracks. And if the animals had not been caught, their tracks would have been more likely to be taken for the tracks of voles rather than mice. On snow or ground, mice move with more confident long steps.

If in the basement the step length was 2–2.5 cm, the width of the track was 3.5 cm, then in the snow the length of the steps increased to 3.5 cm, and the width of the track decreased to 2.5 cm. At the same time, by many tens of meters I did not notice a single stripe left by the animal’s tail, because the mouse does not drag its tail, but holds it straight out above the ground. That is why tail marks usually remain only when a rodent jumps on loose snow.

The size of the print of the front paw of a house mouse is 0.8 × 1, the back one is 1.2 × 1.1 cm. The droppings have the appearance of small, blackish, elongated grains with a slightly pointed end on one side, measuring about 0.5 × 0.2 cm. On average, it is smaller than that of the forest mouse, and especially the yellow-throated mouse, and darker and more pointed than that of voles. However, it would be unnecessary to assume that it can always be distinguished from the droppings of other small rodents.

For a long time, mice and humans have lived side by side. Therefore, it is not surprising that one day the owner of the house had the idea to tame this tiny creature in order to turn it from a pest into an object of care and a source of joy. This is how the domestic mouse appeared - an extremely funny and cute animal that does not bring much trouble, gets along well with humans, and is quite easy to care for.

Reason for choosing a mouse

Decorative pet mice are an ideal option for those who have decided to have their own animal or teach a child to take care of the weak, but are limited by time, funds and square meters.

You can squeeze the mouse

Unlike phlegmatic fish - other inhabitants that do not take up much space - they are able to respond to affection: you can stroke them, feel the warmth of a small body in a fur coat, they are quite affectionate and enjoy sitting in your arms.

Varieties: mouse and mouse are different

Oddly enough, tamed and domesticated mice are divided into only two types. The first species is the albino mouse, also known as the white laboratory mouse. The decorative house mouse is an animal weighing on average 30 grams. with a body 7-12 cm, a tail of the same length, hard, medium-length fur, often one-color: black, brown, gray, sandy color. The lifespan of this miniature animal is on average 2-3 years.

White mouse

The white mouse stands apart - the ancestor of the entire mouse movement. Bred before our era, this creature was a frequent guest in the homes of Chinese emperors, and later, brought to England, quickly won the sympathy of all pet lovers.

In the 19th century, they were attracted to participate in laboratory experiments, as a result of which a separate species appeared - the laboratory mouse. She was bred to participate in laboratory experiments to study social behavior patterns, test medications, and much more that directly benefits humanity. For pet lovers, this species is not so attractive, although albino mice can still be found in city apartments.

Each animal needs its own special space, which it will consider “its place” - sacred and inviolable. Therefore, before you bring mice home, you should take care of where they will live. It was before, not after. Because jars and cardboard boxes are absolutely not suitable for rodents. And any move is always stressful.

Avoid aquariums as well. They are cramped, stuffy, hot, the mouse will not be able to move normally in them and arrange a secluded corner for itself. The best solution would be a spacious cage with metal bars.

Rodent cage

Be sure to make it yourself or buy a small house - a hole where the mouse will spend all day long.

Add a wheel to provide your pet with physical activity and fulfill his need for movement. For the same purpose, take care of shelves, ladders and ropes. The animal will be happy to show you its dexterity, and you will also have fun watching its amusing movements.

Sawdust for rodents

Litter is a very important element. The layer should be quite impressive - at least 5 mm. Animals use it not only for its intended purpose, but also to decorate their house, and when there are drafts or low temperatures, they burrow into it to keep warm.

The material should be natural and preferably inexpensive: sawdust, dry peat crumbs, shavings, hay. Avoid cotton wool and sand - the first absorbs odors too well and gets tangled between your fingers, and the second can become a breeding ground for lice. But something tells us that you don’t want such neighbors.

Care: mouse by mouse, and cleaning on a schedule

In fact, the house mouse does not need any special care. But taking care of the cleanliness of the cell is the most important condition. And not only for the animal, but also for the owner. The life cycle of these rodents is so intense that the cage needs to be cleaned at least twice a week. Otherwise, you are guaranteed to have a mouse smell in your apartment.

Cage cleaner

By “cleaning the cage” we mean changing the bedding and wiping all objects in the cage with a special product or soapy water. If you take the trouble and purchase a cage with a retractable tray, the cleaning process will be greatly simplified and will not take much time.

Feeding

Domestic mice, like their wild relatives, are omnivores. But under natural conditions, the mouse age is short and is marked by various diseases. It is in your power to avoid trouble and make sure that your pet eats well, does not get sick and does not cause trouble throughout its mouse life.

The mouse eats

The main rule is the same as for humans: a balanced diet. For you this means a combination of dry and succulent food:

• Dry: grains and seeds, as well as bread, crackers, mixed feed. Mice also happily eat food mixtures and even dry food for and;
• Juicy: apple pieces, sprouted grains, green beans, not very juicy herbs. It is useful to offer insects in the diet from time to time: flies, butterflies and even cockroaches;
• Supplementing with vitamins and minerals once a month will also not be superfluous.

But what you absolutely cannot do is feed rodents with leftover food from your own table: food additives, spices and excess salt can harm your pet. If only occasionally indulge in a piece of cheese or other natural product, but not as the main diet.

Be sure to respect the feeding area. Food is only in the feeder. Otherwise, the mice will dirty your cage so much that you will get tired of cleaning it.

Communication

Get ready for the fact that mice are nocturnal creatures, which means that most of your waking hours they will sleep or hide in their house or nest of litter, and rustle at night. But even with this way of life, a mouse, like any living creature, needs communication. At the same time, a lonely mouse needs much more of it than a family of mice. If you devote too little time to the rodent, it will soon become gloomy, withdrawn, quickly run wild and will hide when a person appears.

Don't let the mouse run wild

To make your pet active and friendly, talk to him, sit him in your palm, and play more often. It won’t take much time and won’t require excessive effort, but the return will not be long in coming and will be like in that cartoon: you come home, and he is happy with you.

And remember - we are responsible for those we have tamed!

Decorative mice - care and maintenance, diseases, photos of mice. - 4.5 out of 5 based on 37 votes

Decorative mice - care and maintenance

Decorative mice adapt quickly, are unpretentious in maintenance, do not require much space, come in a variety of colors and are very funny. These small animals from the order of rodents are awake mainly at night, are very fertile and reach sexual maturity early. Decorative varieties easily get used to humans and become tame.

Colors of decorative mice

Breeders have developed interesting varieties of mice, differing in the type of coat (standard, long-haired, satin, curly) and a wide variety of colors.

Solid colors - animals are painted in one color - white, black, blue, red, silver, etc. Source: decorative mice

The colors are “tan” (red tan on the main background) and “fox” (white tan).

The marked colors take into account the location of spots and color zones. These are tape, Dutch, broken marked, etc.

Variegated - colored specks are located on a main white background.

There are many more options, in particular the wild color agouti, sable, chinchilla, Siamese and many others. You can find short-tailed and hairless mice, so anyone who decides to have this curious animal at home is sure to find a pet to suit their taste.

You can keep the mouse in a metal cage or in a glass terrarium with a wide bottom and low sides (the top is covered with a mesh). When choosing an enclosure, remember that the mouse is capable of chewing through wood and many other materials, as well as squeezing into narrow crevices. It is better to choose a spacious room; animals are very active and need movement.

The bottom is lined with shavings or strips of unpainted paper. A house (box, jar, pot, etc.), a stable feeder, a drinking bowl and all kinds of devices for games are placed in the cage. Levels, ladders, branches, shelters are suitable, you can buy a running wheel.

Rodents are more timid than other pets and do not get used to humans very quickly. At first, be prepared for the fact that the animal you purchase will avoid contact with humans. Try to equip the cage in such a way that the mouse has the opportunity to hide in cover if necessary.

At first, when a mouse just begins to settle in a new place, it, as a rule, spends all its time inside the shelter house, leaving it only to eat the food offered.

The mouse is a herd animal. If one rodent lives in a cage, it needs to be given much more attention than two or more individuals. Otherwise, the animal will gradually withdraw into itself and will constantly sit in the house. To prevent this from happening, you can offer the mouse to play with a small ball, wooden cubes or figures.

After giving wooden toys to a rodent, you need to make sure that there is no paint or varnish left on them, which, if they get into the animal’s stomach, can cause some harm to its health.

When feeding and caring for the animal, you should avoid sudden movements that may frighten it. Gradually accustom the mouse to the sound of your voice, try to speak quietly and in a gentle tone. After some time, the pet will willingly respond to the nickname that is given to it. Since mice have a well-developed sense of smell, they quickly get used to the smell of the person bringing food. Every time the owner approaches the mouse, it will greet him with a joyful squeak.

Diet of mice

Mice are unpretentious when it comes to food. They enjoy eating grains - oats, millet, wheat, barley, corn. Sometimes you can feed the seeds in small quantities. They eat cottage cheese, cheese, and boiled egg whites well. Vegetables, fruits, berries, and bread are suitable as treats. From time to time it is necessary to add vitamins and mineral supplements to the diet. Pet stores sell special food for mice and treats for rodents. Due to the high rate of metabolic processes, food must always be in the feeder. Branches of fruit trees or birch are also needed for grinding down the incisors.

Plants that are poisonous to ornamental mice include: cory, hemlock, celandine, foxglove, purple or red foxglove, borer, lily of the valley, hellebore, henbane, crow's eye, nightshade, dope, anemone, poisonous sow thistle, wolfberry, night blindness, marsh marigold, meadow lumbago, self-seeded poppy, bracken fern, marsh rosemary.

Like all small rodents, mice are very fertile. Mice, under favorable housing and feeding conditions, are able to reproduce throughout the year. Puberty in mice occurs at the age of 30-35 days after birth, i.e. long before the end of growth. Males, as a rule, mature at later stages and are able to fertilize females throughout their lives. It is believed that the working qualities of a male are highest until one to one and a half years of age. Fluctuations in the degree of sexual activity depend on the adequacy of feeding and the physical health of the animal.

Babies are born in a shelter house, where the mother mouse builds a nest from hay, paper and rags. Childbirth usually occurs at night, and there are no complications. There are from 5 to 9 mice in one litter. The mice are born naked. Their eyes and ears are closed. The weight of newborn mice is 1-2 g, body length is 3 cm. At birth, the sex is practically indistinguishable. At a later age, males become larger than females and can be distinguished from each other. Mice are helpless at birth and practically do not move.

During this period, it is necessary to maintain high milk production of the female. There should always be good quality milk and fresh water in the cage. Newborns grow quickly. Their mass doubles on days 4-5, and the linear dimensions of the body increase. On the third to fifth day after birth, the baby mice's ears open and their bodies begin to become covered with hair. At two weeks of age, their eyes open. At the third week of life, the pups crawl out of the nest and begin to consume food on their own. Young animals are weaned from females 20–25 days after birth. The female touchingly cares for the newborns, protects them, feeds them, and cleans them. The father shows parental feelings towards the children if there are no other males in the cage.

Newborn mice should not be handled. The foreign smell will remain on their bodies, the worried mother will stop feeding them, and they will die. For the first two weeks, try not to disturb the female at all: do not change the bedding, exclude perishable food from the diet.

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We continue our conversation about decorative mice at home. In our previous article we have already discussed the characteristics and characteristics of breeds of small rodents; today in our article we will talk about keeping domestic mice.

Setting up a cage for mice

To make your mouse cozy and comfortable, you need to purchase a spacious cage, which can be made from both natural and synthetic materials. The best option would be a rectangular cage with metal bars and a wooden base. The height of the cage is at least 50 cm, and the floor dimensions are 40x40 cm.

This space is enough for one mouse seed to sit comfortably in the cage. To observe the life of your tailed pets, it is best to install transparent houses and tunnels in their home.

The cage must be equipped with a feeder and an automatic drinker. This will allow you to maintain a certain cleanliness in the mouse house, since your pets will knock over food and spill water. It is best to fill the bottom of the cage with fresh sawdust.

When choosing a place to install a mouse house, focus on lighting. The fact is that house mice cannot stand bright sunlight. Due to the abundance of sunlight, pets become lethargic and may suffer from overheating, suffering from heatstroke.

If there is only one pet in the cage, then the smell from it will be almost invisible. But when keeping a mouse family, it is best to use a false bottom in the cage. In this case, through small holes on the floor in the cage, feces will be poured onto a special tray, which will allow you not to bother yourself with daily cleaning.

Nutrition for domestic mice

The diet of domestic mice should contain grain crops, such as:

• Millet
• Wheat
• Barley
• Corn.

In addition, your pet's menu must include protein foods (unsalted cheese, eggs, low-fat cottage cheese), as well as bread crumbs.

You can purchase ready-made grain mixtures for pet mice at any Zoogalereya store.

You can offer your pet seasonal fruits: pears, plums, apples. Don't forget to cut them into small pieces.

Just like degu squirrels, the care of which we have already talked about in our article, mice need to grind their teeth. Branches of birch and fruit trees are suitable for this purpose.

Since the metabolic processes of rodents occur very quickly, make sure that your pets do not starve and have round-the-clock access to food.

Reproduction of decorative mice

If your pets live in comfortable conditions, then already in the third month of life an adult female can give birth to her first offspring of 6-9 pups. The pregnancy of domestic mice lasts only 3 weeks, so a mouse family can please you with offspring up to 11 times a year.

To slow down the reproduction process, it is necessary to separate mice of different sexes, otherwise in a few months you will be able to open your own mouse nursery.

Be attentive to your pets. House mice are very gentle creatures that quickly get used to their owner. But if the mouse escapes, then over time it may go wild. This is why you should not allow your pets to walk unattended.

Decorative mice will become your wonderful friends, the main thing is to follow the necessary rules for the care and maintenance of tailed pets.

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