Normal?

Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:22 pm

My psychology teacher just (as in today) got a mouse for the classroom to train for the learning unit in the class, and she offered to let me keep it when the experiment is over (she knows that i love rats and mice) so today i was playing with him and he's sooooooooo sweeeet! i came on here to see if it's normal for them to be so tame but apparently its not, he just sat in my hand and i took him for a walk around school, could that be just because he's a baby? I haven't talked it over with my mom yet but i'm pretty sure she'll let me keep him, and i just have a few questions. Do mice require pretty much the same care as rats or are there a lot of differences with them? Do they commonly carry diseases that can be transmitted to other species? Do they provide companionship? Thanks guys!

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Must fight the urge to dance! Yogie Dance Rat

oh well!

Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:44 am

Mice are wonderful little critters. They are so cute and can be super friendly if socialized

If he is just a little guy that may explain why he is probably so calm.

I've rarely had a mouse love me to death on a first introduction, though even my more skittish mice will sit in my hand they are just more difficult to pick up. (rule number 1: Do not pick up mice by the tail. Thats pretty mean)

Since he is a male there is a good chance that he wont be able to be housed with any other mice, so when you take him home you will have to pay extra attention to him so he doesnt get board.

Also as a rule keep him away from the rats unless you want him to be lunch...they can NOT be housed together despite what some insane people may think.

When looking for a cage make sure if it has bars that they have very small spacing between them (e.g if you casn stick your pinky all the way between the bars he will probably get out)
if not a bar cage,make sure you stay away from S.A.M and critter trail cages. I've had one fatal accident with one and one near fatal accident with the other Sad

and I would like to spare you the heartache

Also mice have more sensative stomachs than rats. Though they can eat lab blocks too the amount of table scraps they are able to eat is a bit more limited. Be careful with peanut butter, they can choke on it just like rats can.

I care for my meeces basically like I care for my rats though. There is play time (although I obviously dont let them run free on the floor or I would never see them again!) food time etc. I use the same bedding (aspen or carefresh. Careful with hay, it gives my meeces the sneezes) and mice MUST have a wheel. You will find they are quite addicted to it.

Also since he is a male he is going to stink a bit. Make sure your mom is ok with that. He will just require more cage cleanings than a female.

One more thing. When you bring him home I believe there are a variety of things (Including myco i believe) that can be transferred from mouse to rat so try to quarantine him for awhile and wash your hands inbetween handling them just to be safe

Well i hope some of that helped

enjoy your new mousy!

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<3 to my Fats and my Meeces

Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:26 pm

I rescued a male mouse, He is the friendliest mouse in the world (Used ot be scared of everything, he was eaten and regurtitatted by a snake) He runs to the cgae door and onto hand like rats do. Cept - he smells like Maple surup.
I dont clean his cage as often as people say to, but it makes "Must mark everything again" to a limit.
I second everything RougetheRat said.
Enjoy your fuzzy friend!

Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:43 am

Thanks for the advice guys! I don't have rats so i wasn't worried about that, my mom is worried because we breed dogs and she doesn't want the dogs to develop anything from them (she doesn't seem to beleive me that nothing should come from them). Mom is currently still thinking about whether i can keep him or not, but thanks a lot for the responses!

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Must fight the urge to dance! Yogie Dance Rat

oh well!

Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:57 am

	Spadez wrote:
	I dont clean his cage as often as people say to, but it makes "Must mark everything again" to a limit.

Tell me about it. Most of my boys are housed together so I try to not clean it that often because they all fight for territory for a few days after I clean it and also because I am one of those rare people who doesnt mind the musky male mouse smell lol!

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<3 to my Fats and my Meeces

Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:13 am

your dogs arent going to catch anything from your mouse. Shaz

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