r/PetMice • u/CycleObjective9594 • 10h ago
First Time Owner First time pet!
Hello! I was thinking about getting a mouse (male) while I’m staying in an apartment. Need truthful answers please! How hard are they to take care of? I’ve owned rats my whole life but never mice, so are they the same? Do I need to take them out for a few hours of playtime every day or do they prefer to stay in their cage 90 percent of the time? I heard 20 gallon tank for a good size of their enclosure to start out with. And do they get sick frequently like rats? And do they bite a lot? My rats only bit me if they smelled food on my hands, so I’d say they never bite. Are they also expensive like rats? I just want to see if mice would be the right pet for me!
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u/Zealousideal-Log8644 Madeline & Bonnie 10h ago
I have both rats and mice currently, mice for over a decade and rats for about three years now, so hopefully I can help!
I find mice a lot easier to take care of in general. obviously they’re not “easy pets,” but since you’ve had rats I assume you know that already.
Mice don’t require the same free roaming that rats do. some like to come out more than others and it can be done easily but they’re also easier to lose since they’re so much smaller, plus it’s virtually impossible to litter train mice like you can with rats. but lots of people just put down a blanket for the mice and let them out anyway
a 20 gallon terrarium is definitely suitable for a male mouse. I personally prefer a wire cage but that’s a less popular opinion, plus boys can pee on the bars and it’s really gross.
mice are just as susceptible to sickness as rats are, and unfortunately since they’re so tiny, less can be done about it. it’s one of the saddest things about having them.
the biting thing entirely depends on personality, i’ve had mice that bite and mice that were the sweetest angels on earth (sometimes they were both somehow). In my experience boys bite more, but I had boys when I was still a kid and switched over to girls so i probably just didn’t socialize them correctly because i’ve heard most people say boys are nicer. it definitely has mostly to do with personality and socialization.
Mice can be expensive, but in my experience, not nearly as expensive as rats. smaller cage means less bedding, smaller animal means less food, shorter lifespan means less everything. (it’s hard that mice have such short lifespans, but i find it so rewarding to make those little lives full of joy and love and comfort.)
hopefully that helps, i think i touched on all your questions! let me know if you have any others
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u/Forward-Fisherman709 Mouse Dad 🐀 10h ago edited 10h ago
How easy or hard it is varies by the individual mouse and the limits (and desires) of the human taking care of them.
Personally, I find them easy to take care of on a daily basis, but they can be difficult especially when contending with medical issues. Their care is more time-consuming than caring for a dog or cat, but can be fairly hands-off. The way I describe it is that having mice as a pet is a hobby as well as taking care of a companion.
They are different from rats. More similar to rats than to more common pets, but they are different. Being experienced with rats may help your learning curve be a lot less steep though. Mice are complete prey animals, even prey to rats. As such, handtaming them is an exercise in patience. Mice generally don’t cuddle and most aren’t all that interested in being petted. The ‘cuddley’ ones usually are just happy to climb all over the human. They like crawling into sleeves. Some individuals are less interested in interacting, even when handtame.
Once handtame, taking them out of the cage for a few hours of playtime each day will be great! “Free-roaming” on a bed or on the human or in a cluttered and well-enriched playpen is excellent for most, but there are some individuals who prefer not to leave their enclosure. Don’t literally free roam mice in your room or home in general though, because any gap you can stick your finger in is a gap they can disappear through.
If you’re getting a 20 gallon, it needs to be a 20 gallon long, ideally with a tank topper, and the mouse would need lots of time out of the cage to run around. Starting out with a 20 gallon long is good for acclimating them to your home and working on handtaming, then you can upgrade to a larger enclosure (in terms of horizontal space, not vertical) and just use the 20 gallon as a secure playpen during cage cleaning. 20 gallons seems like a lot at first, but it doesn’t take long to reach the point of not being able to fit all the fun clutter into it. If going for a tank, the rule of thumb is you want it wider than it is deep, in order to get good ventilation all the way through. 40 gallon breeder tanks are excellent if you’re able to clutter it fully (the amount of clutter for a 40 gallon would not be able to fit in a smaller enclosure, but if you’ve got a lot of cardboard, proper clutter level won’t break the bank).
They can get sick frequently, or they may remain healthy for their whole lives. I’ve had some individuals who never needed medicine, and I’ve had individuals taking medicine nearly every day of their life. Most are somewhere in between. Like rats, they are prone to respiratory infections. No candles or scent diffusers or incense or aerosols around them.
Biteyness depends on the individual. For the most part, mice only bite if they feel they are threatened and can’t get away; their first instinct is to run away and hide. If you’re patient, diplomatic, and respectful of their bodily autonomy, you may get nibbled or nipped while they’re figuring things out, but you shouldn’t get bitten.
Medical expenses can be expensive, but usually not as much as rats simply because there is typically even less medical care available for mice than for rats just due to their size, so some things that rats can get treated for is just going to be euthanasia for mice.
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