Proper Housing

by Peachy Thu 07 Apr 2016, 10:22 pm

The content on this page was first published on The Fun Mouse website and has been reposted and updated with permission. Please do not reproduce in any way.

There are a number of factors to consider when deciding on the best housing for your mouse. | Read: Mouse Husbandry -- Things to consider

Is this cage secure? Mice are active, love to chew, and can squeeze through small spaces. Make sure your cage is made of a chew-proof material and doesn't have any holes or bar spacing that your mouse can escape through.
Is there adequate ventilation? Plastic "starter" cages with tubes (such as CritterTrail cages) are often criticized for not having enough airflow, especially in plastic tubes and connections. Some debate about whether aquarium tanks allow enough ventilation also exists. The best cages for ventilation are wire cages, but suitable ones can be hard to find and expensive for mouse keepers in the US.
Is there enough space for enrichment? Mice get enrichment from each other, their owner, and the toys and activities in their cages. Male mice are territorial and will often fight with other males so floor space and out of cage time is an important consideration for them.
Is there enough space for adequate bedding depth? Many mice won't burrow as much as other small pets burrow. Most do enjoy digging, so we recommend a solid floor with 1-3 inches of bedding.
Is it easy to clean? Mice will need to be cleaned every 5-10 days depending on the number of mice and the size of your enclosure. It's important to consider the time and effort that you'll need to put into cleaning your cage.

Cage Sizes - and a note on minimums

There is no minimum or recommendation that will be suitable for every owner and their mouse, so we leave it up to you to evaluate all the housing possibilities and judge for yourself what is best. You should continue to assess whether your mice are coping well in their cage and make changes if necessary.

Cages that are too small or too large may cause or perpetuate a number of undesirable behaviors. In a cage too small, you may find that your mice are bored, inactive, or depressed, often leading to health concerns. A cage that's too big can cause mice to become stressed, territorial, and flighty. To reduce anxiety and aggression and help keep your mice at their happiest in a large space, strive to take advantage of your enclosure's floor space as well as its vertical space, avoiding large open spaces. Everywhere your mice go there should be an activity. The largest open space in a mouse's home should be the nest, which should only be slightly larger than the mice next to each other.

*The cage calculator on this site (found here) allows for approximately 65 square inches per mouse. This is a **minimum** amount of space for your mice, and we strongly recommend providing your mice with as much space as you can. This is especially important if your mice are larger or more active than average.

*Please note that a 10-gallon tank (and its equivalent in floor space) is recommended by the cage calculator as the smallest cage that you should use to house any mouse. The maximum number of mice that an enclosure this size can house is either one male or 2-3 females. Many of us prefer to use a 20-gallon long tank (30 inches x 12 inches) or a bin cage for long-term housing.

Common Enclosure Types

Aquariums and Reptile tanks
Pros: Spacious, chew-proof, easy viewing. Mesh lids allow fairly adequate ventilation, and secure lids create the smallest risk of escapees or wild visitors.
Cons: Depending on height, ventilation can become a concern. Sometimes pricy; larger ones can be heavy and difficult to move and clean.

Size: 10 Gallon Aquarium

A 10 gallon is in line with the minimums presented by many other sources, however many pet keepers prefer to exceed this minimum for permanent, long-term housing. Good examples of short-term uses include quarantine, hospital tank, nursing mothers, taming, timeouts, small introductions, etc.

Toppers can be a fun accessory for 10-gallon tanks. You may also purchase or build one for larger tanks. Some owners dislike toppers because they can be awkward and difficult to move and clean, make it difficult to get to the bottom level, and some mice are uncomfortable in toppers. If you decide to use a topper, double-check that the bar spacing is appropriate so that your mouse can't escape, and make sure that essentials (like food and water) are on both levels.

@River and @Peachy's 10 gallons with toppers.

Size: 20 (long) Gallon Aquarium

@AnonymousMouseOwner's 20 gallon tanks.

These aquariums have the same height as a 10 gallon, but more floor space. This allows for more toys and hides without compromising adequate airflow.

Other Information
For more than 3-5 mice or for more space, you can purchase a larger aquarium. These come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

A lid is needed to make sure that your mice remain safe in their aquarium. Mesh lids also allow you to hang things from the top for your mice to play with. These can include ropes to climb, hanging rope with bells, treat sacks, hammocks, along with many other things.

There are many types of cage clips available to ensure that your lid is secure, such as these:
Petco Reptile Screen Security Clips

Reptile Tanks
Alternatives to aquariums meant to hold water are reptile tanks. The built-in mesh lids make it impossible for a mouse to lift or move the lid to escape but may also make it more difficult to hang things.
Bin Cages

Pros: Spacious, light weight and hard to break, portable, easy to clean, cost efficient, easy to add more (side) ventilation
Cons: There's a risk of mice chewing out. May not look as nice or be as see through. Bins need to be modified in order to be appropriate.

Plastic tubs/bins modified to house mice are known as bin cages. Unmodified bins are never to be used as they will suffocate the mice. There are many ways to modify bins and many tutorials available, such as this one: https://hammyhappenings.wordpress.com/diy-hamster-cage-bin-cage/

There are many sizes and shapes to choose from. It's best to choose a bin with a relatively flat floor so mice don't have an easy time chewing out of it. Make sure any holes you make are covered with 1/4 inch hardware cloth/mesh.
Wire Cages

@Peachy's Ferplast Hamster Cage
Pros: Great ventilation, which is important for the health of your mouse. Bars encourage climbing and make it easy to hang toys, hammocks, etc. The detachable base makes easy cleaning.
Cons: Inappropriate bar spacing will allow mice to escape. These cages can be messy if mice push bedding out. Bar biting can damage teeth. Wire floors and shelves may cause foot and leg injuries.

Other Information
When looking at cages, make sure the bar spacing is 1/4 - 3/8 an inch. This helps ensure that mice won't be able to squeeze through and escape. If your mice push bedding, etc out through the bars, try placing the cage in or on a barrier of some kind. Wire shelves, ramps, etc can be covered with cardboard.

The wheels that come in these cages are usually less than adequate and often dangerous. For more about wheel safety, check out this link: https://www.petmousefanciers.com/t30-mouse-wheels

Suggestions
- Savic Mickey 2 XL Mice and Dwarf Hamster Cage, 1/4" spacing
  Available on Amazon
  31.5" L x 20" W x 20" L
- Ferplast Favola Hamster Cage, 1/4" spacing
  Available on Amazon
  23.62" L x 14.37" W x 11.81"
- Prevue 528 Universal Small Animal Home, 3/8" spacing
  Available on Amazon
  32.5" L x 19" W x 17.5" H
- Savic Hamster Heaven Metro Cage, 3/8" spacing
  Available on Amazon
  31.5" L x 20" W w 20" H
Plastic Trails

Pros: Expandable, eye catching
Cons: Expensive, rarely large enough to house any mouse, may pose safety and escape risks, poor ventilation, break easily, difficult and time consuming to clean

The space inside the cage is usually very limited, preventing you from adding many toys, hides, hammocks, etc. These cages often have very poor ventilation in the main house as well as all the attachments and can attribute to illnesses. Some attachments have been known to hurt small animals or allow them to escape by breaking apart. The attachments can also be very hard and time-consuming to clean, especially the tubes. There are so many plastic pieces to take apart, clean, then reassemble. Cleaning can easily be an all-day project.

If you'd like to offer these types of trails, a good alternative to the small cages they come with would be to add them into another type of enclosure, such as a tank. Mice deeply enjoy trails and tubes. Mice love to tunnel, therefore they love running through the tubes. Building trails are just as fun for people as they are for the mouse! You can give your mouse a new design with each cleaning, giving them environmental enrichment.
Wood Structures

Some really neat housing units can be made out of dressers, bookcases, armoires, etc. A large hole can be cut in the door and replaced with mesh, allowing for ventilation and access. When securing mesh, make sure the mesh isn't pokey as it can cause injury. Also, make sure that the doors shut securely so there are no escapees. Shelves can easily be added to these. Possibilities for modifying these are virtually endless and they can look very nice in your home.

It's important to remember that it is possible for mice to quickly chew out of wood enclosures. Wood also soaks up urine, making living arrangements unsanitary and a health risk. Covering and sealing the inside surface of a wooden cage with Plexiglass is a good start to remedying these concerns.

Housing mice with other animals.

Many animals are mouse predators, making the outcome of housing them with other species very obvious. For instance, rats are natural predators of mice. Rats will usually kill a mouse if given the opportunity. This is known as muricide. The rat can not be blamed as it's instinct, not aggression.
Species that are not considered mouse predators should also not be housed with mice. One will still likely kill the other. Additionally, mice have different nutritional and environmental needs than other species.

Housing domestic mice with wild mice is a risk that should not be taken lightly. Deer mice and white-footed mice can not breed with our domestic mice, and that combination does have a chance of successfully living together if the wild mouse was brought up in captivity. It's not advised, however. One reason is that the nutritional needs of the two are very different. Wild mice tend to need far more protein than their domestic counterparts, for example.

by Peachy Wed 27 Dec 2017, 12:04 pm

Does anyone have a nice picture of their bin cage? Or a Crittertrail-like cage (I might have one of those somewhere)? Maybe a reptile cage set up for mice? I'm going to start working on this page and would love some nice pictures to go along with the types of enclosures, rather than boring stock ones. I've got tanks and appropriate cages, but you're welcome to send those too.

Any other suggestions also welcome. Smile

by River Wed 27 Dec 2017, 12:34 pm

The quarantine cage I have is similar to a crittertrail - it isn't suitable long term, though, so maybe that's not useful. It's a black barred cage with a yellow base.

I'm doing cage cleaning today and finally got a lot more toys set up in Graham's new habitat if that'd be useful. No bin cages here. I think someone might have had one in the past, though?

by admin Wed 27 Dec 2017, 12:42 pm

I may have had the same yellow cage. Razz

I do have a Crittertrail picture, but it's blurry. I got rid of all those cages, now I wish I hadn't. Maybe I'll check my old Photobucket. (Edit- It won't let me log in. Grr.)

I intend to get into short-term/long-term housing a little bit. Feel free to share whatever you've got. I don't think it would be bad to fill this page with different options/comparisons and several great examples of each. I'd love a picture of the topper cage too!!

by AnonymousMouseOwner Wed 27 Dec 2017, 4:01 pm

What do you mean by "reptile cage set up"? My 20 long is a reptile tank, it has the sliding lid like one. I don't see how a reptile tank is any different than a normal one, though, besides the lid. Confused

by River Wed 27 Dec 2017, 5:20 pm

I PMed you. Hope it helps a little.

by Peachy Wed 27 Dec 2017, 7:06 pm

Thanks guys! Great setups. I'll PM y'all back later. lol

AMO, I was thinking more of the "terrarium" enclosures with doors but I have no idea if anyone here has one of those. I was sooo close to buying one, once.

by Peachy Fri 05 Jan 2018, 10:47 pm

Anyone feel like proofing this so far? I've read it so many times I couldn't keep it straight. (Also, let me know if I missed any l's or k's, because they don't work on my keyboard. lol)

by CinnamonPearl Fri 05 Jan 2018, 10:58 pm

It looks great to me!

by CallaLily Sat 06 Jan 2018, 6:59 am

Looks good to me too. The only thing I see is the link to the calculator is missing.

by chiroptera Sat 06 Jan 2018, 4:45 pm

@Peachy I PM'd you about bin cage examples!

Also, I'm a freelance editor so I can read through it more closely on my computer, but I did notice that in the first set of bullet points you used "their" rather than "there"

Edit: Also maybe add something about ASF's? I don't know a lot about them but I believe they are sometimes housed with mice.

by Peachy Sat 06 Jan 2018, 5:54 pm

Thanks guys! It's not done-done, I still have a small to-do list for it, but I need to step away from it. (Their/there mess ups is exactly what I was looking for... eventually you memorize it and start reciting rather than reading. Laughing

My other laptop has a grammar checker but I have to find the charger.) Any more thoughts on it are definitely appreciated!

I don't know much about ASF's either. Will have to do some research. Smile

by AnonymousMouseOwner Sat 06 Jan 2018, 6:05 pm

Peachy, I also have some ten gallon setups and 20 high setups, would those pics help in any way? I also have one pic of a 40 gallon if you'd like to use that.

by Peachy Sat 06 Jan 2018, 6:22 pm

Sure, you can definitely send them!

by AnonymousMouseOwner Sat 06 Jan 2018, 6:34 pm

Will do in a bit! I'm on my tablet right now, but should be on my computer soon Smile

by Sponsored content

Proper Housing

Proper Housing

Cage Sizes - and a note on minimums

Common Enclosure Types

Housing mice with other animals.

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing

Re: Proper Housing