Mouse litter box

Question

My mice   Hi there,
I have adopted two mice, who are a year old, and I am trying to potty train them. Though I know they will never poop in the can, they are successfully urinating in it (which is exactly what I was striving for). which brings me to my question: I am using a cleaned out tuna can as their potty, I put corn cob and baking soda in the can, and have noticed a new strong smell in their aquarium, could the mixture of urine with the tin can be causing a toxic chemical reaction? I just want to make sure my little friends are safe.
Thank you for your time!

Answer
Dear Rosie,

Aww what cute little critters!

I see you use soy sauce dipping bowls for food and drip dishes. That's great :) . I use them for meds (in soy yogurt) for my rats.

If you can smell the fumes from the ammonia (that's basically what mouse pee is) on the metal, it is much, much worse for the mice, and can definitely lead to respiratory distress. I have a solution for you. There is a cat litter called S'Wheat, made simply of wheat. I don't know if you have smelled bunny pee, but it ought to be classified as toxic waste! But my bunny's pee was odorless when I used S'Wheat in her pan. Until the stupid thing decided to eat it, and bunnies must not get the wrong things in their tummies.

There is another huge advantage to S'Wheat, and that is it clumps immediately and dries into a little chunk you can just pick up. So you will barely ever have to clean the whole can. It won't stink, and you can just remove the chunks. And of course it is fine for mice to eat!

Happy mice to you!

Squeaks n giggles,

Natasha