# The Mighty Mice



## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

Lately I have been having mouse withdrawals. I try to cure it by holding my rats but my rats are my rats not my mice nor will they ever be my mice. Though I love them to bits for being my rats. My last two amazing girls past away just before I moved at the ripe old age of 3, about 120 about in human years xD. My other two girls I gave to my cousin because I couldn't move them to Texas, the trip would be too stressful and they are going to be around 1 in December so they are getting in age and might not spring back from illness as well. The risk was too great. 

But now I am mouseless in Texas. I have my two rats, I have my betta, my cat is well cared for back in MN but I have a very very empty lonely 20gal mouse cage here that once housed my mighty mouse colony. I am struggling, looking at it just reminds me of my beloved Ophelia who was honestly the est pet I have ever owned and it makes me very sad and heartbroken. I have been thinking about turning it into a betta tank for a sorority of girls but then I have also been toying with getting about five girl mice and having another colony like the good days when all my mice were youngins and would run my house. I really do miss them so much and I miss their little whiskered mousey faces. 

Which would you go for if you were me? I have been keeping mice for about 3 years now and have been researching as a breeder for four years but won't be breeding until my 40's when I can afford it and have the spare time to pursue mouse breeding and showing. Yet I am a breeder at heart and a keeper for sure. I also really love betta's and kept them as a child and currently have Aquarius right now. However every time I go to a petstore and look at mice I want nothing MORE than to hold them and snuggle them and pet them like I did with my girls and I really do miss those faces too much. those bright eyes and tiny fat bodies and round little noses with massive ears. there was just something so charming about my mice girls.


----------



## MoonShadow (Feb 29, 2012)

I say do what's in your heart. You obviously love mice and feel lost without them in your life (like I am with bettas and rats), and if you have the knowledge, the space and the means to take care of them then i say go for it! 

I've always wondered about mice, are they friendly? Are they hard to hand tame?


----------



## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

Mice can be very friendly if handled daily, even mice from petshops can be tamed. I have had god...so many mice it seems and only one could never be tamed and it was because she was abused by her original owner and was afraid of people and other mice and acted out with aggression. Coraline who was lucky to be alive since it sounds like her owner was a monster to her and treated her like a toy. My mice have all warmed up to me and even enough to learn tricks. Ophelia was best known for teaching herself to give you kisses. 

In taming mice it takes more patience to tame them but once you do boy are they social. Males are easier to tame than girls because they have to be kept alone and you become their only friend. But if you get a male you need to make sure you have time to spend a lot of time with him or they will become depressed. Females are more like rats where they learn to love you but they have other girls to play with so are okay when you are away. I fostered a male mouse once and cried when he got adopted because he use to sit on my lap and watch tv with me.


----------



## djembekah (Feb 13, 2012)

awee I really would love to try mice sometime. what kind of care do they need? You sound like you know a lot about them


and i agree, get some more mice. you seem to really miss yours


----------



## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

Mice need a decent amount of care. Now any good owner would spend at least two hours with them every day though some people buy mice and never take them out then wonder why the mice fear them when they have to clean the tank. Otherwise they are pretty low matnance animals. Clean the tank once a week, feed and water daily, and about 2 hours of playtime. It does not need to be all in one sitting either, 4 times a day of 30 minutes or 2 a day of one hour is good but my girls got out 4 hours a day until I got rats and they only got 2 hours a day.

I could go into all the details of mouse care starting with the 12% protein they need, no more no less but wow I have a crazy long list I made of the scientifically healthiest and most beneficial habitat for mice and clearly I was correct as my mice live an average of 3 (all petshop bred). Most mice only live 1-2 years.

And today at the petshop while getting stuff for my fish tank I went to look at the mice and noticed a beautiful angora satin THAT'S RIGHT ANGORA SATIN :O boy. He was broken chocolate. I wanted to take him home sooooo bad, that empty 20 gal has never looked so empty. If only I had all my mouse stuff here in Texas he would have come home with me. I need to have my mounds of mouse stuff shipped here somehow.


----------



## gn3ranger (Jul 7, 2012)

I'd say get the betta's as tanks build up ammonia quite easily it would make it easier for you, but on the other hand if you really want mice then by all means get mice.  

I'm taking care of my friends mice for the weekend they are very cute so i can understand why you want them so much lol :lol:


----------



## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

I do remember with my 20gal having the four girls in it I was cleaning the tank twice a week because it stank up so quickly and Ophelia had bad lungs so I always had to be on top of the cage cleanings to keep her alive.

Such hard choices. It made it worse by seeing like 6 beautiful male mice at petco a few days back but then I would need 6 10gal tanks for them >.<


----------



## MoonShadow (Feb 29, 2012)

I'm such an enabler! Get the mice!


----------

