Opinions on this cage?

by CuriousWhiskers Mon 30 Nov 2020, 6:37 pm

This is the cage I have for housing my rat when I clean his cage. Would it work for a mouse/mice? Dimensions are 16 inches long, 11.8 inches wide, and 14.6 inches tall.

Note: all of the accessories that came with the cage are pretty bad quality, so I would probably just use my own DIY shelves and such.

by Peachy Mon 30 Nov 2020, 7:13 pm

I’ve used this cage for one of my old boys. You can see my set up with it here:
https://www.petmousefanciers.com/t230-housing-pictures#2704

It’s a little on the small side for one male and I would say too small for any number of females, especially given a recent reconsideration of “standards” among pet owners, but if YOU are ok with that and you have lots of time to dedicate to time out and making it interesting, then it’s just fine!

by disastervibe Mon 30 Nov 2020, 7:25 pm

Hi! The recommended minimum floor space for 1 male mouse or 2-3 female mice is 300 square inches, but some people prefer to bump that up to 400 sq. inches, so at 188.8 sq. inches I would say go bigger. Burrowing space is also super important for them, so you'll want a minimum of around 3-4 inches of bedding, meaning the tray/pan at the bottom should be deeper than 4 inches ideally (not sure how deep this one is).

You'd be looking for something that's at least 20in x 15in. or 20in x 20in. Personally, I have a couple of female mice in the Prevue 528 Universal Small Animal Home, which is also a barred cage with a tray about 6 inches or so deep and a floor space of 617.5 sq. in. (32.5in x 19in). My girls seem to love it, and the one I received is well built and easy to assemble, so I definitely recommend it. https://www.amazon.com/Prevue-Pet-Products-528-Universal/dp/B074FH47MQ/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=prevue+528&qid=1606785512&sr=8-2
Of course, you can still go quite a bit smaller than Prevue cage.

by CuriousWhiskers Mon 30 Nov 2020, 7:39 pm

disastervibe wrote:Hi! The recommended minimum floor space for 1 male mouse or 2-3 female mice is 300 square inches, but some people prefer to bump that up to 400 sq. inches, so at 188.8 sq. inches I would say go bigger. Burrowing space is also super important for them, so you'll want a minimum of around 3-4 inches of bedding, meaning the tray/pan at the bottom should be deeper than 4 inches ideally (not sure how deep this one is).

You'd be looking for something that's at least 20in x 15in. or 20in x 20in. Personally, I have a couple of female mice in the Prevue 528 Universal Small Animal Home, which is also a barred cage with a tray about 6 inches or so deep and a floor space of 617.5 sq. in. (32.5in x 19in). My girls seem to love it, and the one I received is well built and easy to assemble, so I definitely recommend it.
Of course, you can still go quite a bit smaller than Prevue cage.

Okay, good to know. I actually have the Prevue 528 as well, but it is currently occupied by the cutie in my avatar. Smile

by chiroptera Mon 30 Nov 2020, 8:05 pm

I definitely would suggest going bigger for girls, it's pretty small, especially if you only consider uninterrupted floor space. I'd also be a bit nervous about bar spacing, from the pictures it looks like they're pretty wide.

by River Mon 30 Nov 2020, 8:40 pm

I assume you're interested in a boy?

The minimum cage size is widely debated, especially when it comes to males. I have heard everything from 'a single boy needs a detolf to make up for the social isolation' to 'males patrol their territory and stress when given too much of it.'

Personally, I don't think either is quite true. What I do is base it on the individual mouse if you have the resources to do so. For example, when I got into mice 200 sq. inches was seen as the minimum for one on pretty much every site you came across. So, that's what I used. Most of my mice seemed fine with this. After bringing home my new boy I realized rather quickly that he was not. I added a tank topper (I've noticed most mice do appreciate levels, though I'd still have a minimum for unbroken space), and he settled in right away. What I learned about him was that his minimum wasn't 200 sq inches -- it was probably more like 300. Since there's no set 'minimum' right now and every page and site I'm on seems to disagree, I think basing it on the individual mouse is a good way to go about it. Maybe I'm wrong, though lol. I feel like I'm new to this all over again.

If you don't have a lot of different cage options laying around I would probably buy something around 360 sq inches (the equivalent of a 20 gallon). They're easy to find and a good medium-size approved by almost everyone...though we know standards are always changing. As they should, I suppose.

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