Q about keeping mice

I looked a few of these thigns up on google but couldn't find anything detailed.

1. How do you care for them

2. How big of a cage do you need to keep them?

3. How long do they live?

Thanks!

i kept mich when i had a monitor, and it sucked. i cleaned the cage top to bottom every week, changed 100% of the bedding every week, and they still stunk.

all you need to care for them is a 10 gallon tank, screen top, water bottle, substrate, mouse food, and mine reallt liked a cardboard box to do as they pleased with. i have no clue how long they live for tho, i only had my breeding setup for about 4-5 months.

~Will.

I've had mice both as pets and as breeders for food, and I can tell you I won't be doing it again unless I have an outbuilding to put them in. They will stink up an entire small house. Rats are maybe 1/10th as stinky as mice, and a lot better for handling to boot. You might want to consider breeding them instead.

Well I was thingking of keeping one as a pet just for the irony of keeping a mouse and a nskae. But I think rats might be better ythan icefrom what I've heard.

If you are keeping a rat, as a pet... watch out... They get BIG quick. A adult rat deffinly wont fit in a 10 gal tank.
some of them have great personalities and make great pets but the get huge. So becareful with a 10 gal, dont get carried away

mice are pretty eassy, you just have to clean the tank like every week to prevent it from stinking, usually when you walk into a pet store and there is a bad smell.....its the mice

Mice only live around 2 yrs or so. Rats live around 3-4 if taken very good care of. The regular rat and mouse food (Nutriphase) is pretty much crap and I have found that feeding them large parrot food with unshelled peanuts and fruit and dog food has made mine much healthier. They need actual animal protein and regular seedy rat food doesn't provide that, but the dog food does. One rat would be comfortable in a 20 gallon tank. I keep mine in tanks because it is SO MUCH EASIER TO KEEP CLEAN. The bedding doesn't go all over the floor. They are smart, and you have to provide them with some sort of stimulation. They need to be out of the cage about an hour a day to avoid starting bad habits. They do drink alot of water, and when I say alot I mean ALOT. I usually fill up the bottle about 3-4 times a week.

Anyway, about personality. Rats are comedians. That's all there is to it. Our two little girls housed together love to play wrestle and jump all over each other. When you hold the boy, he loves to lick your fingers, hands, ears...nose...eyelids...forehead... Ok I could go on and on, but it'd be a long list. He's just a licky boy. Very cute and hairless. Our oldest female, Mama, is just great. Very licky and very personable. When they are happy, they chitter their teeth and their eyes bug out a little. It's just adorable.

If you do decide to get one, look online for a breeder near you so you won't end up with a parasite-infested rat. If you get a male, definately get him neutered because it calms him down and makes their pee a little less stinky (nowhere near mice though). Our boy isn't neutered because he's hairless and he's a breeder. We want hairless babies :)

If you have any other questions, I'll be around. Just ask :)
Sorry such a long post.

Sweet! Hairless rats! Thanks fo the info. My friend's friend has a female black rat, when I'm over there I usally get to hold her.

Yes, an adult rat can be comfy in a 10 gal. We have 2 of ours in 2 10 gallons, they are full grown. The reason is, we don't have the space for bigger tanks right now, but they get to be out of the cage ALOT. And they don't get that big. Adult males might average a little over a lb. The majority of them, not just some, have great, outgoing personalities. Ours love to sit on your shoulder and just chill or since my boyfriend lives in an apt complex, we take them, on our shoulders, to the laundry room. They like to go outside every so often. We have yet to buy one of the leashes for them, but they do make 'em specifically for rats.

The thing about them though, they have alot of problems with cancer. Mammary tumors and salivary gland tumors being the most common. Even males can get mammary tumors. Getting the males neutered though will help prevent prostate cancer. Fatty tumors come about from being...well.. too fat :) So don't feed them again until everything is gone from their bowl. Keeps them from being picky about food. Picking out yummy stuff and not eating the more nutritious stuff.

And about our hairless rats... Sneezy(he does sneeze alot), I can't tell what color he was when he was born. But our little hairless girl we just bought, Sniffles(going with the sneezing theme), seems to be black with white front feet. You can see she has black skin, but still has white fuzz on her front feet where she hasn't lost all of her baby hair yet. So cute.

well, they must grow to thier surrondings then, becuase my friend has two pet rats, in a hugggge pen and they are MASSIVE, almost as big as a small cat, and from what i have seen, wouldnt fit in a 10 gal. but with you expirence with them, you obviously know first hand