Can my grandma handle 8 mice?
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Can my grandma handle 8 mice?
by GabbiLuvsMice Mon 02 May 2016, 7:47 pm
Okay, so we got three females from this hobbyist breeder who couldn't keep them anymore. Now she asked me grandma if she could take all of the mice she has left because her mom moved in with her and she doesn't have the space anymore. Could my grandma handle 8 female mice as a first time owner? I don't know if the woman is going to give their previous enclosure to us, but she most likely will. I personally don't have any problem with it, but my grandma seems to be a little over confident. How hard is it to care for a pack of 8 females?
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- Join date : 2016-04-21
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GabbiLuvsMice- Sr Member
- Join date : 2016-04-21
Posts : 220
Re: Can my grandma handle 8 mice?
by Mouseketeers Tue 03 May 2016, 1:24 am
It's more a question of can you both handle the things that may go wrong. 8 mice together is a difficult dynamic to begin with. Not to mention a reasonably large living enclosure that requires extra maintenance. I know with my big tank / colony doing a total deep clean is a lot more time consuming than the smaller tanks.
It is more likely that with 8 girls you are looking between 2-6 enclosures. 3 or 4 being the more likely. That's already three times the work you were planning on doing. If you wanted to handle them daily even at just five minutes per mouse that's already an extra 40 minutes of your day.
Yes feed is cheap, mice go through a surprising amount of food though. With my 8 at home now I can go through half a kilo of food in a few weeks pretty easily.
Then we need to look at being positive they are all actually females. If not those 8 does can quickly multiple to 80 pinkies :p
There is always the unknown risk of one or more doe already being pregnant too.
So whilst I am in no way saying a flat out no. There are just a few things to consider first. If all the things above seem pretty straight forward and manageable then by all means. But it always helps to think out the possible what if's
It is more likely that with 8 girls you are looking between 2-6 enclosures. 3 or 4 being the more likely. That's already three times the work you were planning on doing. If you wanted to handle them daily even at just five minutes per mouse that's already an extra 40 minutes of your day.
Yes feed is cheap, mice go through a surprising amount of food though. With my 8 at home now I can go through half a kilo of food in a few weeks pretty easily.
Then we need to look at being positive they are all actually females. If not those 8 does can quickly multiple to 80 pinkies :p
There is always the unknown risk of one or more doe already being pregnant too.
So whilst I am in no way saying a flat out no. There are just a few things to consider first. If all the things above seem pretty straight forward and manageable then by all means. But it always helps to think out the possible what if's
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Re: Can my grandma handle 8 mice?
by scaredymouse Tue 03 May 2016, 1:45 am
You also need to consider the potential cost of veterinary care if they get sick. I also agree with everything Mouseketers discussed as well.
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Re: Can my grandma handle 8 mice?
by CinnamonPearl Tue 03 May 2016, 5:26 am
It might be a better idea for you to get used to mouse care first and gain an understanding of how many girls you feel comfortable caring for before you take in more mice. Overwhelming yourself will only cause problems for the mice. This breeder's mice are in no way your responsibility. In fact, I don't like that she's trying to force such a huge pack on people she knows have only a few days of experienced.
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