Mouse wont bathe

Question
Dear Jedediah,
I have a fancy mouse named Edgar, he's 8 months old now. When I first went shopping for mice supplies, the pet store employee recommended some chinchilla powder for him to bathe. She told me to put some powder inside a mug or something, and the mouse would bathe himself. When I put some in the cage, I found strange that the powder had such a strong scent -- almost like baby powder. Edgar didn't even get near it, so I did some online research and decided to try cornstarch. He didn't like it either. I pick him up sometimes and rub very gently some powder on him, so his fur won't get greasy; but that seems to stress him a bit. People say that mice love to take dry baths, so I wonder if the problem is with the powder (and I should try to find another brand), or it's just his personality. And if that's the case, should I continue to rub powder on him?
Thank you very much :)

Answer
Dear Isabele,
thank you for your question.
Fancy mice don't need a sand bath for their fur. Rodents with very fine fur that gets greasy very fast like chinchillas, dwarf hamsters or duprasis need it, but fancy mice have a different fur type and keep it clean just by grooming themselves.

You can offer a sand bath, but if he doesn't want to use it, then that's not a big deal. Rubbing him with sand/cornstarch is just stress for him and doesn't do much for the fur. he may decide to use the sand bath as a toilet, which makes cleaning the cage much easier, though.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer