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I just wanted to post a warning about those of you who keep mice or rats in terrarium / vivarium / aquarium type setups - I bought a sneezy mouse from a petshop where she was kept in a glass enclosure, however after a few weeks with me she was still sneezing and coughing and 'clucking'. I brought her to a vet who gave her a course of Baytril and Metacam, and she cleared up. So I put her in with my other recently-adopted mouse Minnie. They both began sneezing and clucking, so off to the vet again. After some examination, the vet said they were very congested, and asked was I keeping them in an aquarium. Turns out if your mouse is prone to chest problems, these types of enclosures make the problem much much worse, due to ammonia and dust building up and air not being able to circulate to the bottom of the enclosure correctly. For proper air circulation, cages are best. And if one of your mice is prone to it, by the time they're in full blown snot-mode, the rest of the mice will catch it too. I'm guessing this might not be as much of an issue if you're getting quality mice from good breeders, but the ammonia build up will still cause some probems. Other small furries aren't affected for some reason, just mice and rats. So we're on another course of Baytril and Metacam - Holly is cleared up (the carrier) but Minnie is still very congested so we're off to the vet again for another course  Of course, it's almost impossible to find a big cage with bars close enough together that my mice won't go asplorin', so in the meantime I'm cleaning out the cage every day, and leaving the lid off.
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Nov 12, 2012 22:17
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 07:47 |
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Cleaning it bi-weekly, with warm water and a tiny bit of Beaphar Cage Clean, and spot cleaning it daily. It's 2 foot by 1.5 x 1.5, and has always only housed two female mice. The first two mice I had never had any problems with it at all, they were put to sleep due to tumours at just over two years old  But since I got the slightly wheezy mouse, she's had issues. I'm going to guess that the vast majority of mice will be fine in this set up, and won't have issues, just if people do have wheezy mice that these type of enclosures aren't ideal. I'm sure if you're able to get healthy mice then they'll be fine, but mice don't seem to be a popular pet here really, any I've found in shops have been not great - Holly was very malnourished as well as wheezy, and she was the healthiest of the lot.
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Nov 12, 2012 22:47
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Fraction posted:With a twice weekly cage clean in such an expansive space, there is no way that there is any ammonia build up there*. How long have you had the wheezy mouse? What substrate is she on? Sorry, to clear up, prior to the vet visit it was once weekly, but they would pee in the back corner (behind their sleeping area) so there may have been some fumes building up there. I've had the wheezy mouse six months, but she wasn't always in there as she was quarantined due to being wheezy. The substrate is kitchen towels, and Petlife Safebed shredded paper. Sorry, it was just what my vet warned me about, and since she's a small furry specialist vet I assumed she'd know more than me, I thought I'd share what she recommended
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Nov 13, 2012 18:40
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Oh my god  He sort of looks like a teeny weeny hedgehog. He's adorable 
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Nov 21, 2012 15:01
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