anyone have mice rather than rats - as a pet for a 9 year old

[MrTumblesBavarianFanbase]

DD has her heart set on a pet mouse (the bi-coloured type) - now she has looked into it, this has changed to a pair of mice. Anyone had mice as a child's pet? She has been doing her own research so far, but as she is persistent I wondered if anyone could weigh in with experience of a child of this age as main carer for this type of pet? Are they lower maintenance than rats? Do they need cleaning out daily? She would like them in her room.

We have rabbits as a family - had the older one 9 years and his companion 7, but DD would like her own, indoor pet (rabbits are outdoor), and have no experience of mouse keeping!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

There are a few mouse-keepers (I'll look for some threads to bump for you) I had mice as a teenager (which was in the mid 1980s )

A few things I can remember though.

Male mice stink- OMG - they try to outdo each other with their aroma. You would not want them in the bedroom (understatement)

Female mice are lovely - but one of ours was pg ( Animals in the 1980s were kept differently. M/F mixed (I got a pg guinea-pig too) , rabbits with guineas )

They are escape artists

They love activities - ours had a three level home made mouse-house ( made from a big cupboard. Little ladders arranged between the floors. They climbed up the wire mesh instead) Two wheels. Little boxes to hide in.

Females aren't as smelly as males but they do need changed regularly (IIRC they are quite incontinent creatures)

They have a short lifespan, one had to be PTS , she had a growth that got in the way of her day-to-day life

If I had a choice between rats and mice (I'd stick with guinea-pigs but that's not what you're asking) I'd go for rats personally. I think the size of them and you can interact with them makes them a better option.
(They sound far too intelligent for me though.....I like my rodenty types driven by their bellies and nearer the ground )

[MrTumblesBavarianFanbase]

Thanks 70 ! So, definitely female mice, if any! Rats sound appealing but harder work, as in needing more interaction... Also bigger cage (has to be practical if in her room, which isn't huge). DH and I had guinepige before the DC were born (they had their ownbedroom ) but with 3 DC now we don't have room to get DD gps as indoor pets, and don't want more outdoor animals.

She is getting carried away with the mouse idea - one worry I have is the cleaning out if we go away - if we go camping for 3 nights a neighbor feeds the rabbits but doesn't clean them out, and as they are in a big cage they are fine that long, but would mice stink by then I wonder? Don't like to ask neighbors to clean out, just to feed and water...

[LEMmingaround]

Three days fine. You don't need to clean them out every day. They would hate that as they need a certain amount of their smell around them. I say about once a week full clean with spot cleaning if they piddle in one place.

Mice are cute and still fairly intelligent so will need stimulating. They aren't nocturnal like hamsters but i wouldn't want them in my bed room. Too noisy

[FTRsGotAShinyNewNN]

I 2nd the incontinence and the escaping and the pts due to a growth
However they are cute and nice to stroke/entertaining to watch roll in their ball/climb through tunnels in the cage.

[MrTumblesBavarianFanbase]

Ah, sounding possible! Once a week is OK for cleaning out. She says she wants to hear them at night (she has two brothers who share a room and she wants a roommate! But of course that might change in reality!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

When one of our mice had her unexpected babies, we left cardboatd loo roll tubes near their hidey house. They shredded them and took the pieces in to line the bed, and deposited all the dirty bedding outside the box.

The mum mouse would spend some leisurely time eating and drinking while her mouselets squealed. She was very much a "In my own time" type (but she was feeding 6 so needed to keep her strength up,)

Hopefully now, with more stringent controls , you won't end up with this. (Though baby mice are soocute once they start to explore)

[ClashCityRocker]

I had nice when I was younger - they are lovely fun pets. The only thing that would concern me is that they don't last very long - most tended to die around eighteen months. We had a couple who made it to three.

Have you considered gerbils? They're quite awesome too and i think a bit hardier than mice - that's certainly been my experience.

[UpsyDaisysarmpit]

I always had hamsters, which are wonderful and if bought young become really tame. They are a brilliant pet for older kids and teenagers. You can usually rely upon them to pee in one place which you can then place a jamjar on it's side with some sawdust in or a hamster toilet and they will go in there. They will hand to hand walk for ages! I had gerbils too...fun but a bit nervy. My friend had a mouse and it was nice enough but kept peeing and pooing on me (no sphincter muscle).

[UpsyDaisysarmpit]

P'S hamsters are very busy from about 6-7pm onwards. You might have to remove the wheel if it gets too noisy at night but I personally enjoyed having a bedroom companion.

[trikken]

I have both. I love both but you cant really stroke a mouse as they like to run through your hands and constantly busy. I personally prefer the rats as a pet as they are easier to play with and as mentioned above more intelligent. Rats can be very affectionate, one of mine loves to curl up on my lap with his head on my hands for a cuddle. Mice are extremely cute though, and I can while away hours just watching them.

[trikken]

Re:handling you have to handle them about as much as each other, both ideally should have half an hour handling a day.

[SuperLoudPoppingAction]

One of my mice killed and ate one of my other mice. It didn't upset me too much because I was about 14 but it would have at age 9.
The eaty one was a newcomer.
I should maybe have kept the remaining nice parti-coloured one on her own after her littermate died.
The two nice ones were good pets in the sense that they were always up to something, they didn't bite when handled, they weren't too noisy at night. I think rats are better pets if they're going to get lots of handling though.

[lljkk]

I've had experience of hammies-rats & fancy mice; mice are my favourites by far. Rats need lots of stimulation & chew the house out given any chance, hammies don't like you, mice are the most tolerant & least likely to bite. Also don't mind being in same cage all the time if your DD doesn't want to handle daily, and tend to only live about 18 months which is a huge bonus in my mind (since child's interest unlikely to last any longer). Small so portable cage that isn't expensive to keep clean, doesn't take up the whole room. DD was about 9yo when she had 5 mice for a spell, 3 incomers & 2 originals. All girl mice & worked well.

Worst thing against mice is that they poo & wee on your hands.

They're vegetarian & love to eat dandelion head seeds! Cutest thing ever.

I checked on them daily, As a 9yo I killed a few hamsters with neglect so I would never trust DC to do all the regular care. Once a week clean more than enough for us, but to be fair I have poor sense of smell.

I know this is really a downer, but what will you do at end of life? Costs £50 to euthanise a mouse here at a vet; friend of friend dispatched ours for us because we were too big wimps to do it for ourselves. The good news about mice is that the vet can do so little for them, whereas rat vet bills can be extremely pricey.

[mouses]

mice are lovely pets, I love to spend time watching mine run around arranging their home. my girls come up to the front of cage when they hear me near by.
they need time and daily interaction to trust a human hand so let DC know it will take a while before they would willing walk onto the hand if ever.
males have a strong unpleasant odour, females not so bad. spot cleaning is better than a whole clean as they will re scent more. I always leave some old bedding in for their smell.
they like to burrow so a deep bedding would be good, megazorb is ideal, wood shavings and not sawdust. put hay in which helps form tunnels. do not use straw it can be to sharp for them.

bar spacing needs to be less than 1cm ideally. tho cages marketed for mice a ridiculously small! and some hamster cage bars are too wide. my cat pulled a mouse through a 1x1cm chicken wire.
I kept mine in an exo-terra (glass tank for reptiles) on top of a unit and they never tried to escape even with the doors open as they (well mine) didn't like the height. even on the sofa they never attempted to jump off.
I made a cage from a plastic storage box with chicken wire (which the cat got to!) so now I am saving up for another glass tank to put my furbabies in.
females like to live in pairs or groups, males will kill each other. they like to shred,chew, I put torn kitchen roll in for my girls and they drag it around and shred it to suit them. mine love millet spray! I buy my food from a site called rat rations, I buy bulk as it works out cheaper. mine prefer seeds, grains, porridge oats. if buying food from pet shop id say dwarf hamster and gebil food be best if no mouse food available.
I found that my mice peed on my hand while they were young, not so much as they got older. ive been keeping mice for 13yrs and think they are adorable :-)

[Fuzzymum1]

I have mouselike hamsters (neither mice nor hamsters in actual fact) and they are awesome. They are very cute (they have enormous ears) but don't smell in the way normal mice do, they're desert creatures so wee very little. They are very busy, seemingly teleporting around their tank but the downside is they are generally nocturnal.