New Mouse Checklist: Preparing for the introduction of your pet mouse

It’s a very exciting time adding a new pet to the family. At Pet.co.nz we want to make sure that we help you successfully introduce your new pet mouse to your home to make the experience as stress free as possible.

New Mouse Checklist

Before the big day, ideally before you arrive home with your new mouse, you want to set things up as they will be when the mouse arrives so they don’t come home to an environment that then changes again once they have started to settle in.

Here is what we suggest to help make sure that your pet mouse settles in:

• Mouse cage
• Cage disinfectant
• Aspen bedding
• Mouse food
• Large chew proof mouse water bottle
• Ceramic chew proof mouse food bowl
• Fruit and vegetable holder
• Mouse hiding place / house for within the cage.
• Chew mouse toys
• Mice treats
• Mouse harness
• Mouse wheel / Mouse exercise toys
• Mouse ladder & climbing furniture
• Salt licks
• Parasite powder

Having all of these items ready for when you get home will mean you can focus your time on enjoying the new addition to your family.

Feeding Your Mouse

Your mouse’s diet should consist of a high quality mouse specific food. This combined with small amounts of fruit and vegetables and the occasional mouse specific treat will ensure that your mouse gets a complete and balanced diet.

Fresh food and water should always be available, if fruit and vegetables are not eaten within the day they should be removed and replaced with fresh fruit and vegetables the next day.

Mice also need chew toys to ensure that they keep their claws and teeth in check. These chew toys will vary from hard ‘lava’ toys to wooden chews – all of which are fine.

Housing Your Mouse

Giving your mouse as much space as possible with a well sized mouse cage is a great way to start, the other factors to consider are:

• The mouse cage needs to be secure and made of a strong metal or plastic. Keeping in mind that mice love to chew through things so any wooden or soft material enclosures won’t keep the mouse secure.
• Mice enjoy climbing, so having a tall cage is a great way to enable this and also help them exercise.
• Making space for a mouse hammock or some form of bed is also important.
• Placing mouse bedding in the bottom of the enclosure is important to absorb any urine and odours from the mouse. If your mouse enclosure has a slide out tray in the bottom, this makes cleaning a lot easier.

Maintaining Your Mouse Cage

It’s important to clean the mouse cage and mouse accessories regularly, we recommend once a week. This also enables you to change the mouse cage around, rotate the mouse toys and exercise aids around the cage to reduce boredom.

Ensure that the mouse food and water bowls are changed and cleaned daily, and located in the enclosure where bedding and stools are not likely to fall into them.

Mouse Health and Wellbeing

By spending time handling your mouse on a daily basis, you will notice any changes in their general body condition. Some things to look out for are; hair falling out, scabs or broken skin, any discharge from their eyes and nose, dirty bottom or diarrhoea, lethargy, or distressed breathing. If you find any of these things then we recommend you make contact with your local vet.

As well as ensuring that your mouse is healthy, handling your mouse on a daily basis can really help to ensure that they stay happy and social at all times. Twice a day is a good amount of time to spend with your mouse.