Handling

During the first 24 hours in a new home, the mice should be left to themselves as much as possible, so that they can get used to the new surroundings.

Act carefully and avoid sudden movements and noises that could frighten the animals.

You can let the mice get used to your hand by gently poking it into the cage while holding a small treat. Keep your hand calm and let the mice explore your hand and familiarize themselves with your smells. Here you need to be patient. After a while they will become familiar with you and will let themselves be lifted into your hands without objection.

Do not lift the mouse by the tail. It hurts and can harm the animal. Instead, let it sit securely in the palms of your hands and use both hands. You can hold gently around the root of the tail with your index finger and thumb while it rests its body against the palm of your hand. Make sure that the mouse does not fall from a great height or injure itself in any other way if it tries to escape.

Health and Disease

A healthy mouse should be quite active, always on the move and curious. The tail should have smooth skin.

Musa should not be too thin or thick. Eyes, ears, nose and mouth must be clean, without running or smelling bad. The coat must be dense, shiny and well-groomed, without hairless areas. A tame mouse should not object to careful handling and it should be relatively easy to pick up from the cage.

If you maintain good hygiene in the mice’s home environment and give them the right food and clean drinking water, they rarely get sick. It can often be difficult to detect if mice are ill, as they are good at hiding that something is wrong with them. When looking after the animals, you should therefore always check if anything is different or if they are behaving unusually. Signs that something is wrong can be an abnormal amount of sleeping during the active periods, poor appetite, diarrhoea, watery eyes and moisture around the nose and mouth. If the mice spend a lot of time gnawing on the sprinklers in the cage, this may be a sign that they need larger cages, more activity objects or more time outside the cage.

Some common ailments in mice:

Dental problems in small rodents are often about teeth growing too long. It can be due to deformities in the oral cavity, but often the reason is that they have too little to gnaw on. Check your mouse’s teeth regularly and contact your vet if you suspect dental problems.

Diarrhea can be caused by a bacterial infection, spoiled feed, single-celled parasites or other conditions. The problems may be due to unhygienic conditions in the cage.

Tyzzer’s disease is caused by a bacterium (Clostridium piliformis) and is a serious disease, often with a fatal outcome. Symptoms are diarrhea and lack of appetite.

Tapeworms and roundworms can cause diarrhoea, poor general condition and weight loss. Infection with worms is detected by laboratory examination of the faeces. Intestinal worms can be treated with medication. Contact a veterinarian.

A cold causes symptoms such as wheezing lungs, runny nose and heavy wheezing. The most common cause of a cold is a virus or bacteria. Poor hygiene in the mouse cage increases the risk of infection.

Tumors in mice are often malignant. Contact a veterinarian if you notice lumps in the animal’s body.

Skin boils are often caused by bites from other mice. They usually heal themselves after a while.