Care of Mice and Rats

It all depends on their health. They tend to be sickly if they are from a pet store. Get rats from a breeder if you can! The things you have to do are, set out fresh food and water twice a day, clean the cage one/two times a week, and give them lots of play time! If they do get sick, you will almost certainly be in and out of the vet's office all the time. And there will be alot of complicated medicine.

In the wild - no, since there isn't any.

But if you were to give them a slice they'd probably have a go at it.

No. Rats are omnivorous scavengers. Too much protein is bad for their health. You should provide a pet rat with plenty of grains, and supplement with small amounts of sweet fruits (no citrus), veggies, and nuts.

yes! my dog is always looking and smelling one or two in a wood pile.

you can tell if your pet mouse is dying because it will start breathing hard and twitch a lot. If they shiver, or their tale turns purple or any other color than pink. If they feel stiff or they aren't moving. Another way is if you pick it up and it feels lighter than it usually is or they feel stiff and their tale stays in 1 spot or hardly moves.

Toxic might not be the right word, but mice feces can carry disease. Mice can carry toxoplasmosis and if a cat eats an infected mouse, it can contract toxoplasmosis. Then if humans clean the litter box of a cat with toxoplasmosis, humans can contract it too, and it is particularly a risk for pregnant women, since it can cause birth defects in humans.

But overall, rodent feces is not necessarily toxic, just unsanitary, with the possibility of spreading disease.

Sounds like they got into the attic. If it's accessable, you can probably find a duct hose with a hole or a duct without a hose or where they gained entry up there. you might consider getting a cat to get rid of them!

Mice have no purpose.... for that matter, mice don't excist at all... its just an illusion your mind creates to scare pretty little girls....

Besides that non-sensicle awnser you could look at the basic food chain purposes. Mice feed other creatures which effectivly keep eco-systems balanced... There is no straight awnser to "What is the purpose of mice" but as they say.... That's the way the cookie crumbles

--------------Lawlerskatz--------------

Special shampoo or you can contact your veterinarian for help, If your mouse does have bugs you should probably clean its cage or something...

yes i found one today!

you could but they have learned to live as wild mice and will not be a good pet. it is better to buy one from a pet store

This is not necessarily true. House mice do not tend to get the same sort of diseases as rats for instance. Mice are usually friendly little things, and very rarely bite, and then only out of fear.

A house mouse could be kept as a pet but would recommend freeing it some where safe and away from cats it before it gets too dependent on human handouts. A young mouse would settle into captivity easier than an older one. However if you really want to keep the little fella, get as big a cage as you possibly can, provide lots of toys they are active and intelligent, and provide the right foods and water at all times, treat it pretty much as you would any pet mouse (LOTS of infoon that if you just google it), as for handling,, start off with just stroking gently offer it something tasty (such as tiny amount of chicken, or thumb nail sized piece of wholemeal bread with a smidge of butter on it from your hand, (of course do drop it for the mouse if it doesn't take it from your hand) and it will come to associate you with pleasant things, and could well come to allow you to handle it as a pet might do.

I have one living with me at the moment, we call it Neville for some reason, and he's gorgeous.

ADDITIONAL RESPONSE -- I completely agree with the answer above. I found a very young brownish grey female mouse in the lobby of my apartment building in New York City. This was 16 months ago and Stu, (I thought she was a male at first), has become a much beloved member of my family which includes a dog, cat, and two humans. I bought a large aquarium as she was so small that she could have gotten through the bars in a traditional cage. I added several inches of bedding (AVOID the toxic cedar chips!) an exercise wheel, plastic tubing with several exits and entrances, a ladder, etc. It took a while, but after a few months of slow patient training, Stu learned to answer to her name and became completely tame. She could not be more friendly, keeps herself extremely clean, and is constantly entertaining. Although she has aged and is not as energetic as she once was, she is more loving than ever -- loves being held, stroked on the head and ears, and has been known to fall asleep cupped in my hand. I could never have imagined that I would become as attached as I have to a mouse. One thing to know if you do get a wild mouse, do NOT bring it into contact with a store bought mouse as store mice carry lots of diseases as well as mites, that a wild mouse is not immune to and will definitely make them seriously ill. Contrary to what you might think, a wild mouse is much healthier than one you could buy in a store and will live much longer -- but they will be made ill by store mice. Also, NEVER house two male mice together -- store bought or wild, as they will attack one another as soon as they are mature.

Depending on the age normally every two hours, When I nursed baby mice they were still pink and hairless. Use a small eye dropper and DILUTED kitten/puppy milk. Whole milk like humans drink will constipate them. In addition be sure to keep them warm Preferably using a heating pad. Mice are easily constipated you must induce the passing waste by gently wiping genital area with a warm wash cloth! Hope this helps

.Rats are clean, lively, personable, and make lovely pets. In our family, the longest lived was about four years old when she died. Usually they lived about 3.5. I think much depends on the quality of food, and yes, even attention. Ours would ride round on our shoulders, in pockets, and crawl over Gram. They even liked our dogs, and our dogs tolerated them.

My rat is currently going threw the same thing, I called the vet and asked them what was wrong and the vet said that it's either one of two things.1. It's a urinary infection and you can tell by giving your rat a bath with just warm water and see if the bleeding stops,and if it does make an anointment with the vet as soon as possible so it can be treated!2. It's a mass and you can tell if it's a mass if after you give your rat a bath the bleeding continues. It's a mass. Then it is NOT treatable. The best thing you can do is love them while you have them at that point and let them die peacefully.(I still suggest going to the vet either way though)

Mice will probably open their eyes when they're about 10-14 days old. About the time the hair is fully covering them they open their eyes.

My sister and I currently have 26 mice and are expecting a couple more! We've had about 5 litters and the majority of them opened their eyes when they were almost 2 weeks old. One of our litters is 10 days old today and it looks like they'll open their eyes anyday now. Good luck with your babies!

PS- Once your mice open their eyes, it wont be long until they're in the 'flea stage' and it is EXTREMELY hard to hold them. So be extra careful (and hold them over the cage so if they jump, they wont get hurt)!

As long as it wants darlin' as long as it wants. If you're concerned about your mouse, look for weakness in strength, is it having trouble moving around? Relavent to it's stage I mean.

They sleep for long periods of time.

If two brothers are kept together from birth it is unlikely that they will fight with any dramatic effects. They will have the occasional scuffle, but this is for dominance and one usually gives in before there is blood shed. In my experience (and i bred rats for the local pet shop for ten years) male rats will not live together too peacefully if they are strangers being introduced to each other after they are about 12 weeks old...although depending on the individual temperament of the rats they may come to tolerate each other. i prefer to keep two male rats together, as opposed to keeping them separate (they are social animals and need company) and i prefer male rats to female rats as they are usually more docile and easier to tame. And there are obvious problems to keeping a male and female rat together. When getting a rat, it is the best option to purchase two brother rats together.

No. Rats are rodents, not marsupials, so they do not have pouches.

Do NOT pick up a pregnant rat! It would be VERY unsafe to the mother's and the babies' health if you do! Once you find out that the mother is pregnant you can not handle her until a week or more after she gives birth!

Other rodents or food can repel mice!

Very good. I think it's either better or the same as a dogs! I have rats and whenever I leave a little treat 4 them on the floor they instantly smell it and run to it! <3 Hope that helped! From, a rodent lover.

If you don't know already your mouse is probably female, large testicles and male-like behavior are another hint. The testicles are pretty obvious in mice and rats. A male mouse's penis would be more where our belly buttons are. Also, in adult mice, testicles are usually easily visible.

Put a cup full of food in and they'll eat it when they want to