QUESTION 1: Where can I buy mice?
ANSWER: Here in Sweden you can buy mice in pet shops or from breeders. There is a mouse club with registered breeders, and also breeders that are not members in the club. Search the Internet to see if you can find any mouse breeders. Try to find information about any breeders you can find - some sell already tamed mice!
QUESTION 2: What should I look for when buying mice?
ANSWER: The best way to buy good pet mice is to check the parents: if both are tame and behaves nicely, let you pet them and so on, there is a good chance that their babies will turn out the same. Even better is when your new mice are already tame :-)
You will also have to check that the animal you are buying is healthy, have bright and clear eyes and fur, and are clean under the tail, with no signs of stomack upsets.
QUESTION 3: Should I buy one mouse or two mice?
ANSWER: Mice are highly social animals and should not be kept alone if it can be avoided. But if your mice starts to fight you must separate them from eachother putting them in separate cage close to eachother, leaving them together in the same cage in such a case is just cruelty towards animals.
There is definitely a difference between sexes in mice, though, the females almost always live happily together, when the males often fight.
In the wild, males are territorial, so are also females, but males are territorial to a much higher degree than females. Most pet female mice do not show much of this behaviour, but many male mice do, and it's important to realize that agression between male mice is normal.
Through the years many breeders have tried to breed for mice that live happily together, and I have owned many such mice, where also the males live happily together without any signs of wanting to fight. Even though this non-fighting behaviour is preferrable not all mice have it. Often the bigger English type mice have this behaviour, but I've owned many smaller, Swedish type mice, that had it.
QUESTION 4: Should I buy male or female?
ANSWER: As pets, I mainly recommend females. Female mice do not have the odour that male mice are known for. Female mice are also generally friendlier towards eachother. The only advantage of male mice is that they often live a little longer than female mice.
QUESTION 5: Is it true that mice has a really bad smell?
ANSWER: Only the males! Female mice don't smell more than hamsters, rabbits or any other pets.
About SMELLING: I must say that male mice are among the most smelly pets you can own! If you buy females instead you can easily avoid this problem altogether. I don't keep male mice in my apartment because of the smell. I happily keep female mice though :-) I am sorry to have to say this, but that is the truth as I see it. I have been told the ferrets are quite smelly too, but don't know if they can beat the male mice odour...
I must add though, that the degree of smelling varies a lot from
mouse to mouse, and I have met a few male mice that was quite ok
when it comes to smelling. I actually believe that this is a trait
that can be changed by a breeding programme, and I hope that there
are people out there that want to breed mice with the purpose of
reducing smelling (and aggression).
Because mice are really wonderful pets!
Copyright Eva Johansson.
Last update: 11th of August 2006.