How to keep a mouse warm.

Question
Hi, Natasha,

I don't know if you remember me or not, but I just wanted to update you to all that is going on over here with the girls. Introducing the new girl had failed so now I currently have three cages in my room. The reason for that is because the new girl (lets call her Millie) couldn't be caged with the others and the girl I tried to house her with wasn't accepted back by the main group plus she couldn't live with Millie because Millie picked on her.

The other girl that I had tried to house with Millie was also the one that was causing a continuous scratch near her eye which was getting better before I went on vacation. I got someone to mouse sit for me. When I came home though I was shocked to see that she had gotten worse. Worse as in her face on both side was all scratched up and she was missing big portions of her ears. At the first chance I got I took her to the vet to find out what was wrong with her.

The vet said she was a good weight ad checked her over for mites saying she had none. What she did diagnosis her with though is a condition that I can't remember if it was common or uncommon in rats and mice. Basically though its a condition that affects the blood flow to the tissues making them feel funny giving her the urge to itch. The vet gave me some ointment and a vitamin e supplement to give her (the supplement she takes really well on a piece of cereal) ad told me to give her the supplement once a day and the ointment at least three times a day. She wantes me to do it for ten days to see how she took it and if it wasn't working consider her quality of life.

Good news is that she had her ten day check up not to long ago and the treatment is working really well on her. Now I am running into another issue though I checked on her this morning an she seemed a little lethargic but after I warmed her up by holding her in my hand for a bit then placed her back in her nest with some warm bedding she got better and is doing normal mousey stuff. It is starting to get cold here in Iowa and since se is already a rather sick mouse I don't want her getting any worse. I keep her and the other.three in my room which is actually the warmest one in the whole house but besides doing that and adding warmer bedding is there anything else I can do to help her stay warm? Would it hurt to place a small blanket over her cage to help keep the heat in at night?

Answer
Hi Jesse,

Thanks so much for the update.

Too bad about the mouse intermouse-inal relationships. But as long as the cages are close, so they can chat, they should be OK. My guess is that you can actually hold them at the same time.

The best way to keep her warm is to put a heating pad on low, cover it with a towel, and put it under PART of the cage. She has to be able to escape the heat.

You are right that it is super important to keep a mouse warm. They have a hard time maintaining the right temperature because they are so small (tiny volume : surface area relation).

Best of luck to all the mice!

Squeaks n giggles,

Natasha