A couple questions

by Barbiefly Thu 21 Jul 2016, 3:27 am

When I get the new cages I'm going to change the location of them. Right now they are in my sons room but he sleeps with us and we are not in there a lot. I want to move them to an area where we are more often so the mice aren't lonely and I can say hi to them all the time. For the people who have cats, where do you keep your mice? The nice thing about being in my sons room I can close the door and the cats don't go in. When I move them they will be out where one of our cats is. She has been pretty good when she goes in my sons room and just watches the mice. One night she was in there over night and everything was fine.

My other question is about a play pen. I have a 16.5 gallon bin I want to use as a play pen. How should I go about using it for my boys? Can I just put one in after the other or do I need to clean anything between. Like if I have a wheel in there do I need to clean it after the first mouse uses it. What about MES's ( by the way, what does MES stand for?). And should I put any bedding in when I put them in to play?

by CAPSLOCK Thu 21 Jul 2016, 7:36 am

Are the new cages going to be tanks? My experience with cats and "tanked" critters is that it is typically safe. Tanks are too heavy for the cat to knock over and they can't stick a paw in anywhere. Occasionally acat may sit on top, but a sturdy top means this isn't a problem except for being intimidating to some mice.

I recommend doing a light layer of bedding in the play bin - just keeps every thing neater as there will inevitably be a little pee and this way they aren't walking through it.

by MouseLover Thu 21 Jul 2016, 8:00 am

MES stands for mouse entertainment system haha Laughing

I don't have cats but I think that the members that do use glass tanks with mesh lids and secure locking clips. Barred cages would be a no no with cats.

No idea about the playpen situation I'm afraid as I've only kept groups of girls. So I'll let someone else answer!

by CinnamonPearl Thu 21 Jul 2016, 8:50 am

If you're going to have mice where the cats can access them, you must use glass tanks with metal screen tops and secure locking clips. Then the mouse is 100% safe. A cat can't knock over a glass tank, a metal screen can hold up their weight should they decide to sit on it, and the locking clips will keep the cat from flipping the lid off. All of these are required, but if you can do them, then you could put that mouse tank in your cat's bed and not have any danger.

by Peachy Thu 21 Jul 2016, 8:58 am

I'd just see how the boys react to each other's scent in the playground and go from there. It might be fun, or stressful, or maybe they won't even be bothered. Personally, most of my boys never seemed to care that they were playing on used toys. You could also let them take something from home with them to the playground so there's something familiar and solely theirs.

by Barbiefly Thu 21 Jul 2016, 1:26 pm

Thanks guys. Yes, we are going to get tanks with the screen tops and clips so I'm glad I can put them anywhere. Abeona, I love the idea of putting something familiar in the play area for them. I will definitely try and see how they react to each other's scent. Maybe it won't bother them because they were housed together for a few months. Oh, and the mice don't seem bothered by the presence of the cat, they just go on with business like normal when she's standing there staring at them.

by Barbiefly Thu 21 Jul 2016, 1:28 pm

Lol, I love mouse entertainment system, very cute! Smile

by Brynne Thu 21 Jul 2016, 10:54 pm

When I had several bucks at once, most of them were completely fine with using the same toys. One mouse was frightened at first, so I gave him his own toys for a while. But he grew in confidence and eventually got used to it. A scared mouse will hide or stay still. A relaxed mouse will look like he's having fun- exploring, running, and marking EVERYTHING with his urine!

by scaredymouse Fri 22 Jul 2016, 1:52 am

I don't feel bad about having boys and girls (and different species) using the same play area. It's just like the great outdoors, nothing different than they would encounter in the wild. Also, most likely they can already smell each other.

I have cats. I only use aquariums with mesh lids and screen clips. And the mesh lids can support up to 20lbs, so even if a cat jumps on top of the tank, it won't give way. I had my boy in a high traffic area for a while, so we could say hi to him all day... but my cat started doing something that concerned me so I moved my mouse back into the critter room. I have hammocks for all my mice, so Goose would go up to the hammock and my cat would have his nose pressed to the screen... they were practically kissing. That was cute enough. But when my cat started batting at the screen mesh, claws and all, he could have really hurt Goose. He could have easily got punctured with one of those claws going through the mesh holes. Freaked me out.

So, see how it goes. Just be aware that it's not 100% safe. My female cat couldn't have cared less about the mouse. But my boy cat just couldn't stay away. And Goose didn't mind one bit. I swear he would play with the cat through the glass. I didn't mind my cat batting at the glass but batting at the lid was too much.