follow up on pet mice died young....

Question
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.We still have three mice left and we would like to take care of them the best we can. It was so sad to lose the first two.

Here is more info on the mice. They live in a large glass aquarium with a mesh top. They have a strawberry shaped "cave" and  a wooden "house" to hide in. They have two mice wheels to run on and chewing blocks. We use recycled paper bedding. Our local pet store only really offers one type of food for mice, so we are using that.

I have taken your advice to heart about cleaning their enclosure too often, however, mice do tend to smell quickly. I am not sure what to do about that....

Something I thought of today....My daughter tends to sleep with her TV on, and that puts off quite a bit of light and low sound all night. Could that be effecting their need for nocturnal time at night?

Thanks for your help,
Keep Smiling!
Val  

Answer
Dear Valerie,
thank you for getting back to me.
I don't think that the TV disturbs them unless their tank is right next to it.
The paper bedding is fine for the mice, but doesn't absorp smell that well. Wood shavings are better, aspen bedding for example (not pine,  which can actually cause respiratory disease with rodents).

If you feed a varied diet, you can throw out the chewing blocks. Leafy greens like dandelion, dasies, chickweed, ribwort, carrot greens, chard and leaves/twigs/branches/leaves from hazel, beech, birch, willow, poplar, oak, apple and pear contain a lot of minerals. The branches/twigs are also a good way for them to shorten their teeth and make good climbings toys. It's just important that the trees are not treated with insecticides.

You can mix your own mouse food: 1 part birds seeds (containing as many different seeds as possible) and 1 part grain mixture, you can buy that at health food stores, it should contain five or six different grains (wheat, barley, oats, millet, rye for example). Add some sunflower/pumpkin seeds, but not that many because they are so fatty. If you cannot get the grain mixture, you can mix the bird seeds with the mouse food you use now. Usually, commercial mouse/gerbil foods contain not enough small seeds, which is why I recommend mixing it with bird seeds.

I don't see that you are doing anything wrong, maybe you just got unlucky with the two mice. I've had young mice just die, too, it happens sometimes. I hope that the others will stay with you for a very long time :)
Jennifer