Does anyone keep mice?

[Stompythedinosaur]

Wondering if anyone can give me some advice.

We are quite an animally family, alreadybhavr quite a selection of much loved pets. The dc and I did a zookeeper for a day activity yesterday and dd1 has fallen in love with the mice we cleaned out. I can see why, they were very friendly and interesting to watch.

I am happy to add some mice to our menagerie but I haven't kept a mouse since I was about 10 years old so wanted to check a few things.

Is there any reason I shouldn't keep mice in the same room that we keep indoor guinea pigs? In desperate cages on different sides of the room (and neither will run loose in the room).

I also found a website saying that mice are not good pets for kids as they are fragile. I'm inclined to think 8yo dd1 will be fine with them, she is very careful and used to handling small animals, but has anyone had a problem with mice for kids of that age?

And is there any other advice for an aspiring mouse owner?

Mice are fine in the same room as guinea pigs.

They are fragile and all small animals are. The best pets for kids rodent wise are guinea pigs and rats.
If your child is gentle and pet savvy though I don’t see any issue.

Best to get at least two as they are social animals and I recommend girls. Males can be hard to keep in pairs and smell more.

I have a group of three does (girls), they are interesting and interactive pets.
However bear in mind the short lifespan that has the potential for upset for your child.

Any questions please ask. I have kept rodents for many years now.

Thanks crazybunnylady . I agree rats and piggies make great pets for dc, we have both!

I think a small group of females sound like they'd be good for us. Thanks for the reassurance re keeping them alongside our piggies.

We are now the proud owners of a group of female mice! They are very tame and friendly!

Better photo.

This is a really stupid question (sorry), but; is there a difference between pet mice and house mice - the wild ones that come in from outside? Are they a different breed?
Feel free to laugh

It's not a stupid question. Fancy mice are a subspecies of the house mouse, so wild house mice are Mus Musculus and fancy mice (I.e. pet mice) are Mus Musculus Domestica.

They look quite different to wild mice - much more velvety coats and different colours.

Oh, I see. Fancy mice sound so cute!

Can you tell them to tell their common cousins to stop chewing our heating pipes. There's puddles of water everywhere now and we've had to make the expensive choice of replacing all with copper.

Cute! I love your tank.