# Pet Mice



## sweetbettafish (Sep 7, 2014)

Hello everyone, thanks for checking out this thread. I have been thinking that some time in the future I would like to adopt a pet mouse/mice. I was wondering if anyone on the forum has pet mice? If so, what particular diet do you feed them? What food brands do you recommend? What are some things you like about mice? Do you prefer keeping male or female mice? I would love to see pictures of your mouse/mice and their habitat. Thanks.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

I had a mouse about a year ago. 
Mice are fairly easy to keep in my opinion. I used the crumbled cottony paper substrate and layered it pretty thick. I used the standard bag diet you can get at petstores. I also occasionally gave him my leftover kale and baby spinach. There are sites that say which veggies are good for them. You'll also need a wood block for them to gnaw on. These are easy to find in the small pet section of petsmart. My mouse was really skittish due to his previous owner being a young child. You'll likely want to try to get a young one so you can get them used to you. I had a male fancy mouse. Mice can be smelly and you have to leave some of their poop in their cage. They eat it for extra nutrition if I remember right. They need plenty of water due to being able to dehydrate easily and mine had a bad habit of scattering his food and pooping in his bowl.


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## sweetbettafish (Sep 7, 2014)

Your mouse sounds like he was adorable! Also thanks for the tips, I really appreciate it.


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## sweetbettafish (Sep 7, 2014)

Also, do you prefer using a water dish or a water bottle? Or both?


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

He was! He was brown with a white belt and named Truffle! 
I prefered water bottle, make sure its not one your mouse can chew up and destroy though. Water bowls tend to get very dirty very quickly.


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## sweetbettafish (Sep 7, 2014)

Truffle is an adorable name, and it described his coloring well! Also, what kind of cage did you keep him in? Thank you so much for all the help!


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

He was prenamed when I got him. The little 3 or 4-year old I received him from named him. She gave him to me when she got her rat Pepper. He had one of the smaller plastic bottomed ones with the wire on top. The bottom was pretty deep but the cage was so small I wouldn't keep anything bigger than a mouse in it. It was big enough for a wheel, a small bottle and his food bowl. He slept under the bedding but I recommend a larger cage, maybe even a multi-level if you can afford it. Reason is, most of the small water bottles are cheaply made and will get damaged by their teeth and begin to leak causing a huge mess. If you can get a taller cage you can get a bigger bottle(just make sure the spout is still small), you won't have to refill it as often and they're usually better made. I also prefer solid plastic over wire.
The chance of them escaping is lower and mine liked to chew on the wires.


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## sweetbettafish (Sep 7, 2014)

I see. I have several aquariums, so I would probably end up housing a mouse in my ten or twenty gallon cage.


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