I'm really frustrated right now. We decided to start breeding mice. I was wanting to get some from someone locally that I knew would have healthy mice, but... well I can skip those details but the bottom line is we ended up deciding to get some from a pet store. I think it is safe to say I'll never buy a live animal from a pet store again.

We went out of our way to go to a store a little further away, because in the past when I've been there they seemed to have better conditions for their animals and they have lower prices. So we picked up 3.12 mice. Kind of a lot, but we wanted to sort of get a jump start plus I figured that would allow us to figure out which ones were the better breeders and not worry about feeding off any that weren't doing their job.

I did not notice any issues with the health of the mice while we were at the store, and I did examine each one. Shortly after we got home, I noticed one of the males was making a funny sound. I held him up closer to my ear and decided it sounded like some sort of respiratory problem. Sort of a rattling squeaking sound. I immediately separated him.

Later that evening, I noticed several of the females sneezing. Not constant sneezing, but more than seemed normal.

It is now a couple of days later. All of the mice are still acting at least reasonably normal, so I don't think they are seriously ill, but I also know sometimes animals will hide their illness and such tiny ones can go downhill fast. Most if not all of them are showing some signs of respiratory problems at least off & on. This morning the male that was the first one to appear sick seemed to be breathing almost totally clearly, and I started to celebrate a little bit. However, early this evening he sounds quite a bit worse again, although I think still better than the worst he has been.

I am not going to take 15 feeder mice to the vet. If they get to the point where they seem to be suffering, I'll CO2 them. But I'm hoping they may be able to get over whatever it is they have.

My question is what can I do to increase their chances of getting well again? It has to be inexpensive, as I think I'd have to treat all of them. Any ideas?