Feeding mice isn't really all that difficult. There are a variety of different things you can give them to keep them healthy. First one is a standard rodent mix, for mice and gerbils. This can be the mainstay of your mouse's diet, but watch out because a lot of the seeds in them (like sunflower seeds) can be fatty. I fill their bowls with this stuff once every day, and none of my mice seem to be fat all.

As treats you can give them fruits and vegetables, and some cereal flakes. I've read that mice love Cheerios, but I've never fed them to my mice because nobody in my house eats them, so we don't buy them. Here's a couple of lists of what you can feed your mice:

Main Diet:

laboratory pellets (these aren't that flavorful, so you'll want something else to go with them)
stale wheat bread
dried vegetables
fruits (but no citrus fruits, may cause diarrhea)

Treats:

Cereals (but not sugary ones of course)
Peanut butter (but I read you should spread it on something IE like a chew block, cause of it's stickiness)
Sunflower seeds

Sometimes I also give them commercial treats, but these should be fed in moderation as most of these are either sugary, fatty or both. My mice seemed partial to Vitakraft Strawberry Drops, which my hamster loves. I'll tell you one thing - my mice go nuts over Kaytee Chew Biscuits. I usually feed them to them through the bars of the cage. Even though I'll give enough so that one mouse each gets one, they'll still fight over one certain biscuit. I don't what it is about these things, but my mice go crazy over them.

From what I've read, if males are brothers, and the housing is large enough, and there are lots of places where they can have their own territory (houses, tubes etc) then they should get along OK. With males there are almost always squabbles, but I've read that males shouldn't be separated unless they actually have to be, as living alone is very unnatural for mice.

If you're males are seriously fighting though, and there is blood and wounds, then they should be separated. A lot of people have told me that males can do well in twos in a ten gallon tank. I'm just going to try my hardest to get the biggest housing possible and try to get my boys to get along for hopefully a long time to come. If not, I have extra cages so it wouldn't be too much of a problem if I had to separate them.

Let the mouse sit in your hand. After it settles down it will crawl over your hand. Let it crawl from one hand to the other. It doesn't take very long to tame a mouse (it all depends on the mouse though) and before you know it they'll be zooming up and down your arm and may even learn to sit on your shoulder.

Remember that all mice are different though, and some may not even care to be handled. I have mice that will jump right into my hand, or zip right up my arm when I put my hand in the cage. Others though, will sneak around and give me a good sniff first before they crawl into my hand, and I have some who won't come to me at all. It all depends.

This section isn't necessarily going to tell you how to mate mice or anything like that, but what happens if or after your mouse has babies. It was never intended for my mice to have babies, I'll tell you that. When I went to buy my mice, I wanted two females, but the dimwits in the pet store sold me a male and female, and as you know, a few weeks later there were ten more mice than I thought I would have.

BEFORE YOU BREED

If you're thinking of breeding your mice, consider a few things first. First of all, why are you breeding them? If it's for fun, then that's not really a good reason, and there's some things you need to seriously think about. I can tell you right now that watching mice grow up is a really fun, and educational experience, and from it you really learn to respect and value their lives, but it is a lot work. Not only that, but what are you going to do with all of those babies? Finding homes for mice isn't as easy as finding homes for hamsters. A lot of people think mice are creepy and smelly, so they won't want to adopt a mouse.

If you think "I'll just keep all the babies", remember how much work that is. That can double or triple the amount of cages you'll have to buy and clean, the amount of food you'll need, the amount of bedding, and the amount of toys too.

Housing the females is usually easy and painless, but what if the males begin to fight, and they all have to go to separate cages? If there is five males, that means five more cages. Five more wheels. Five more everything!

Also consider the fact that there are thousands of mice in pet stores and shelters who need homes. So if you are breeding just because you'd like more mice, than instead of bringing more into the world to possibly go homeless, adopt a couple of already homeless mice.

I'm sure if you've been to other mouse sites, than you've heard this all before, but please, please consider these things before you jump right into breeding mice. You could be biting off more than you can chew.

How Can I Tell If My Mouse Is Pregnant?

A mouse will usually start to show at about two weeks. Click here for a picture of a pregnant mouse at Lee's ::Mouse:: Site (Link opens in new window so you can just click it off when you're done)

If you're mouse is pregnant, she'll also do a lot of nest building. She may even seem kind of nippy and may not want to be handled. This will pass after the babies are born though. Some mice will get like this and some don't. It all depends on the mouse, really.

Caring for Mommy

Make sure she always has food and water. You may also want to feed her a little more than usual, some fatty foods for milk production, and a drop of liquid vitamins in her water bottle. After the babies are born, make sure she gets lots of food and always has water especially. If she thinks there won't be enough food or water, she may think she won't be able to care for the litter and eat them. Don't take this the wrong way-mice are not disgusting nor cruel, she would be doing it in the best interest of the babies.

When babies are born

You may notice that the babies have been born by hearing little squeaks coming from the cage. This is how I realized that Lovely's babies were born-I heard little squeaks coming from the Cheese House. You should leave the mother and babies alone for the first day or so. Don't keep poking your head in, you may make the mommy nervous.

When the babies are about five days old you should start handling them. Be very, very careful as mouse babies are very delicate. Don't pick them up by their tails. Scoop them up in your hands.

You should keep handling the babies every single day to ensure that your mice will grow to like human hands and be very friendly. Be extra cautious though when the babies are between ten and twenty-three days old-as this is when they enter "the flea stage". When they enter this stage they will jump around and be a little more difficult to handle. You should hold them over the tank or over a soft surface in case one jumps from your hands.

When the mice are fully weaned (meaning they eat solid food and drink from the water bottle and don't nurse off of their mom anymore), which is usually about four or five weeks old, the males and females should be separated from each other. If you don't know how to sex mice (especially young ones) then take them to somebody experienced. I took mine to a local pet shop and a lady there split mine for me. I can sex them now-I just needed a little bit of help and wanted to make sure I didn't get overrun with mice.

All information on this site is info I got from personal experience and from other sites. If you think there is something that is terribly wrong on here, then let me know so I can correct it.